Far Cry 5 has some dark and gritty moments as you infiltrate a doomsday cult, but much more of the open-world exploration is light and even wacky. That extends to the Easter eggs Ubisoft inserted into the game, which reference other Ubisoft games, Uwe Boll, and even President Trump. Many of the references to other Ubisoft games are kept in the family of Far Cry itself. You can find bobbleheads of characters like Vaas (Far Cry 3) and Pagan Min (Far Cry 4), and cave paintings as a subtle wink toward Far Cry Primal. Plenty of references are also made to the sci-fi spin-off DLC, Blood Dragon. You can find a movie set for making the campy schlock-fest, or dress up as one of its Cyborg Soldiers. Then there are moments when Far Cry 5 borrows liberally from the real world. One mission has you obliquely securing a video tape to avoid embarrassing a powerful man. As it progresses it becomes more clearly a reference to the rumored Donald Trump "pee tape." For more Easter eggs, including this latest iteration of the famous Far Cry "see credits in five minutes" secret ending, check out the full video above. And be sure to check out GameSpot's full Far Cry 5 review for more on this romp through Montana on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

DC Entertainment isn't struggling when it comes to its television series. Currently, it has Gotham, Arrow, Supergirl, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Black Lightning and I, Zombie, most of which air on CW. But for many people, CW's style of television may not be appealing. Now, DC has an eighth show--and in just the first two episodes, Syfy's Krypton has become one of the best comic book shows on television. It's all the more impressive for a show about Superman's history that doesn't feature one millisecond of Superman himself. Krypton follows Seg-El (Cameron Cuffe), the grandfather of Superman, who is in his mid-twenties and lives in the city of Kandor. His science-minded family had their titles, name, and rank stripped from them and now live among what's called "the rankless"--the lower class. A man from the future named Adam Strange (Shaun Sipos) warns Seg of a threat by the name of Brainiac who is headed to Krypton. If Seg and the rest of the Kryptonians don't stop this menacing alien, he will destroy the planet, and Superman--who is the universe's greatest hero--will never be born. The planet Krypton has been explored in television, comics, and movies numerous times but never with this much depth or attention to detail. No, we don't see Russell Crowe flying around on a dragon like in Man of Steel, but what we do get is a planet and culture not too entirely off from our own, which is a brilliant way to make the viewer feel at ease. Yes, it's an info-dump in the opening half of the first episode, but so much of it feels close to home. There is a divide which has created classism, which in turn has resulted in what feels very close to a police state. Those in charge of Krypton have almost almost found themselves in a theocracy, which follows a creepy multi-faced dude named The Voice of Rao, who wears a laughable gold helmet. There's a sense of infallibility and extreme narcissism from those in charge as well. These aspects may or may not exist in the real world, but they are exceptionally easy to understand for the audience, which only help in the world-building of Superman's home planet. And the only Superman we get on this series--at least the opening two episodes--is his cape, which Adam Strange gives to Seg. The cape serves more as a ticking time bomb than a representation of the character, as the more the cape disappears--like Marty's family in Back to the Future--the less of a chance Seg-El has to save the future. And in all honesty, as a longtime comic book reader, Superman is exceptionally boring to me. His personality and prowess has the same appeal as watching paint dry in the pouring rain. Where Krypton shines is that it has no problem saying Superman is perfect but where he came from was a mess, a planet on the verge of falling into a civil war. It's less about his legacy and more about understanding a world he had little-to-no connection to, which is in the middle of a cultural crisis. Krypton takes the Gotham route, in a sense, but takes itself far more serious than its wacky, tongue-in-cheek Fox counterpart. The basics of Krypton, the planet's culture, and most notable families are merely a starting point, and the show expands from there. It doesn't treat the source material as holy literature and lets the showrunners create something new and special for comic book readers and those who have never picked up a comic book in their life. It's accessible and plays much more to a science-fiction crowd than fans of the superhero genre. My only fear is that this ambitious show may outpace itself as it lays a lot on the line right off the bat, including making Brainiac the looming cloud of doom over Kandor, as he's one of Superman's most diabolical baddies. The seeds for the whole season's plot and sidestories seem to be laid very quickly, and barring some major surprises, feel like they could also be wrapped up relatively fast. Regardless, there is a lot of room to grow on this show, as it follows Seg-El, rather than Superman's father Jor-El, so there's potentially multiple decades the show can work with. Because the Syfy series feels like such a departure from the Superman comics, it may be a tough pill to swallow for comic book fans. However, Krypton is its own thing. It may pull elements from comics and science fiction, but the show is incredibly smart and at times, a bizarro reflection of our own society. It stands on its own merits, and hopefully, the rest of the first season can keep keep up the high-bar the first two episodes delivered.

BRITAIN would consider launching a cyber attack against Russia in retaliation if Russia targeted British national infrastructure, the Sunday Times reports. The developments comes amid reports that Russia is planning to launch a wave of crippling cyber attacks on the UK in retaliation for the Syrian missile strikes. British PM Theresa May is facing a growing public backlash for bombing Syria without the backing of Parliament. Vital transport links, water supplies, gas networks, banks, hospitals and air traffic control could be targeted following the US-led strikes, The Mirror reports. Britain’s relations with Russia are at a historic low, after it blamed Russia for a nerve agent attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England, prompting mass expulsions of diplomats. Russia has denied involvement, and on Saturday also condemned strikes against Syria by Western powers, which Britain took part in. Cyber security has become a focal point of the strained relations. On Thursday, a British spy chief said that his GCHQ agency would “continue to expose Russia’s unacceptable cyber behaviour”, adding there would be increasing demand for its cyber expertise. The Sunday Times also said that British spy officials had been preparing for Russia-backed hackers to release embarrassing information on politicians and other high-profile people since the attack on the Skripals. Meanwhile the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the nerve agent used to poison Skripal could have been the BZ substance - which was never produced in the Soviet Union or Russia. Lavrov said experts from a laboratory based in the Swiss town of Spiez had analysed a sample of the substance used in the poisoning. Citing a report from the lab dated March 27, Lavrov said the evidence suggested the nerve agent used could be in the arsenal of the United States and Britain. The global chemical weapons watchdog concluded on Thursday that the poison that struck down the former Russian spy and his daughter Yulia last month was a highly pure type of Novichok nerve agent, backing Britain’s own findings. British Prime Minister Theresa May has said it is highly likely that Moscow was behind the attack.

ACCORDING to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, America could be headed for another financial crisis on the scale of the 2008 Great Recession. During a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” last week, Gates was asked if he thought America would see another major financial crisis. He said: “Yes. It is hard to say when but this is a certainty.” The financial crisis of 2007—2008, originated with a crisis in the subprime mortgage market in the US, but grew into the Great Recession. Its effects were felt globally for several years and many economists consider it to be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The 2008 financial crisis cost America millions of jobs with many still feeling the after-effects. A decade after the recession, an estimated one in three Americans have not financially recovered, according to CNBC. While Gates says we should prepare for another such crisis, he also feels optimistic about our ability to recover from such major economic downturns. “Fortunately, we got through that one reasonably well.” At the conclusion of the Ask Me Anything session Gates said: “Despite this prediction of bumps ahead, I am quite optimistic about how innovation and capitalism will improve the situation for humans everywhere.” Gates also mentioned his friend, fellow billionaire Warren Buffett. “Warren has talked about this and he understands this area far better than I do.” In an optimistic op-ed Buffett wrote for TIME magazine in January, Buffett predicts that, in general, “most American children are going to live far better than their parents did” and that “large gains in the living standards of Americans will continue for many generations to come.” According to CNBC, Buffett’s 2016 advice is still the best for riding out any economic or financial crisis: Buy, hold, and don’t watch your investments too closely. Said Buffett: “If you aren’t willing to own a stock for ten years, don’t even think about owning it for ten minutes.”

IT is ladies’ night at Kuala Lumpur’s hip Mantra club and a vivacious 18-year-old model is the life and soul of the party. Sipping gin and tonics, Ivana Smit catches every clubber’s eye as she swirls to the beat on the dance floor. She has every reason to be in high spirits, with an upcoming role as a contestant on TV hit Belgium’s Next Top Model, as well as a diary full of photoshoots and fancy parties. Yet just hours later she was dead. According to The Sun, after disappearing into the night with US tycoon Alex Johnson, 44, and his wife Luna, 31 — allegedly for a sex and drugs session — Ivana’s naked body was found on a balcony. The Dutch-born teen had plummeted 14 stories from the couple’s upscale apartment on the 20th floor. Police in the Malaysian capital classified the tragedy on December 7 last year as a “sudden death” — the result of an accident or suicide. But Ivana’s family have told The Sun they believe a crime was involved. Her uncle, Fred Agenjo Weinhold, 47, said: “She had the world at her feet. We simply don’t believe she killed herself or it could have been an accident. “She promised she would be in Belgium for the Top Model final — but she came back in a casket.” Such is the family’s conviction, they have hired former detective and award-winning TV investigator Mark Williams-Thomas — who exposed Jimmy Savile as a paedophile in 2012 — to shine a light on this murky case. He is convinced it should be probed as a murder. Mr Williams-Thomas told The Sun last night: “I cannot believe she went over that balcony of her own free will. There’s no way this was a suicide — and she sustained injuries before her death.” So what really happened in the hours before her death, on the sweltering night of December 6? Ivana’s German-born boyfriend, Lukas Kramer, had come home from work after 8pm to find her on her way out. Lukas, 21, said: “She told me she wanted to go out with some model friends. She gave me a hug, said, ‘I love you’ and left.” At Mantra she met Alex and Luna Johnson. It is believed the trio were already intimately acquainted. The Johnsons, who describe their relationship as “progressive”, claim they were already in a sexual relationship with Ivana after an earlier meeting. On November 4 the trio had spent the night at a hotel. Luna claims the 18-year-old had told them she was 26. After meeting again at Mantra on the fateful night, the group moved on to the late-night 9 Club. CCTV footage of the trio leaving the club at 5.22am on December 7 shows cryptocurrency tycoon Alex carrying Ivana into a lift as Luna looks on. They headed to the Johnsons’ ritzy apartment in the Capsquare Residences, where, according to Dutch media, a “drug- fuelled swingers’ party” took place. Mum-of-one Luna later said: “Ivana was hammered. I kept talking to her as I got my daughter ready for school. Ivana lay down while I took her there.” When she returned from the school run at 8.15am, Kazakhstan-born Luna — also a model — claims she found Ivana in bed with her husband. She said: “I came over and said, ‘OK, now I’m free’. We sat on the sofa and after 20 minutes she put on some music and took off all her clothes. So we went into the bedroom and were intimate.” Luna claimed that she was “tired from all the partying” and eventually both she and Alex fell asleep. Meanwhile, at 6.30am Ivana’s boyfriend Lukas had phoned her. He recalled: “She sounded all right. She said it had been a long night and she was at her girlfriend’s place.” Then, at 7.24am, he received a Whastapp message — the last contact they would have. It was a selfie of Ivana and Luna with the text: “Chilling at my chick’s place.” Lukas found the message suspicious, saying: “She would have said she was at her girlfriend’s place, she never used ‘chilling’ or ‘chicks’.” Luna says she woke up at 1.25pm and saw that Ivana’s clothes, shoes, bag and phones were in the lounge, but the model had disappeared. She then fell asleep again and at 5pm police rapped on the door to say the teen had been found dead on a sixth-floor balcony. The family claim the Johnsons’ account of Ivana’s raunchy behaviour is a “smear campaign”. And investigator Mark said: “She might have been in a sexual relationship with this couple but from our investigation she was by no means promiscuous. Luna was a young girl finding herself.” On her journey of self-discovery, Ivana also found drugs. Her post-mortem showed dangerously high levels of PMMA, a highly potent drug with similar effects to ecstasy. Alex and Luna also tested positive for drugs and were charged with drug abuse. Those charges have since been dropped. Meanwhile, leading Dutch pathologist Frank van de Goot did a new post-mortem, at the family’s request, and found Ivana had significant head bruising and multiple bruises on her arms. He said: “Something happened before she fell from the balcony. Maybe she slipped or maybe someone hit her on the head. Bruises like this one are only possible when the heart is still beating.’’ And when Ivana’s father Marcel Smit first saw her body lying in a Malaysian morgue, he claims he saw strange marks on her neck. He said: “I saw bruises on her neck, like fingerprints, as if someone had grabbed her there.” Williams-Thomas also claims that a lack of blood around her body after the fall could indicate she was dead before the impact. The documentary-maker added: “I am convinced she was dead before she fell. Something happened in that apartment probably around the time Luna was out taking her daughter to school. “Perhaps Ivana fell, perhaps she was struck, but she sustained an injury to the head.” The Johnsons were contacted by The Sun but were unavailable to comment.

OSCAR-WINNING Czech-born film director Milos Forman, known for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Amadeus, has died aged 86, his agent told AFP on Saturday. “I heard from (Forman’s wife) Martina Forman very early this morning letting me know Milos passed away at Danbury Hospital near his home in Warren, Connecticut,” Forman’s friend and agent Dennis Aspland said. The Czech news agency CTK quoted Martina Forman as saying Forman died suddenly on Friday after a short illness. “He passed away quietly, surrounded by his family and his closest people,” she said. In an obituary on Twitter, Hollywood actor Antonio Banderas labelled Forman a “genius of cinematography.” Born in the town of Caslav east of Prague on February 18, 1932, Forman lost both parents in Nazi concentration camps. In the 1960s, he joined the New Wave of filmmakers standing up to the Communist regime in what was then Czechoslovakia, making himself famous with Black Peter, Loves of a Blonde and The Firemen’s Ball. Shortly before the 1968 Soviet-led occupation of Czechoslovakia, which put an end to a liberal period known as the Prague Spring, Forman moved to the United States via France. CINEMA ‘GENIUS’ His career overseas started with Taking Off in 1971, followed by One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest four years later, which brought Forman his first Best Director Oscar. An American citizen since 1977, Forman returned to still-Communist Prague in 1983 to film Amadeus, which earned him a second Oscar for best director and won eight out of 11 nominations. “He was my dad’s best friend and we both looked up to him,” Czech director David Ondricek, the son of Forman’s cameraman Miroslav Ondricek, told the website of the DNES daily. “He had a beautiful character and fantastic energy. People wanted to be near him, he was a fabulous storyteller and a kind man,” Ondricek added. Gilles Jacob, former director of the Cannes Film Festival, said Forman had been the only director who proceeded from the New Wave to “great, popular American author films covered with Oscars.” “He loved beer, tennis, Cannes. He said: ‘Tell the truth, that’s all’,” Jacob tweeted. British director/writer Edgar Wright (Baby Driver) said Forman had “a tremendous filmography that documented the rebel heart and human spirit.” Antonio Banderas also paid homage to Forman. “Milos Forman has left us. Genius of cinematography and master in the portrayal of the human condition,” wrote Banderas. Meanwhile, American writer/producer Larry Karaszewski who made two films (including Larry Flynt) with Forman, said the director was “our friend and our teacher. He was a master filmmaker — no one better at capturing small unrepeatable moments of human behaviour. We made two movies together and every day spent with him was a unique adventure. Milos loved life. I will miss his laughter.” Actor/comedian Josh Gad also mounr ed the director’s passing, tweeting that Forman’s work was “up there alongside the greats”. Forman’s other films include Hair (1979), Ragtime (1981), Valmont (1989) and The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), which won him another best director Oscar nomination, as well as Man on the Moon (1999) and Goya’s Ghosts (2006).

LAWYERS are preparing for an “unprecedented” flood of hundreds of compensation claims for victims of child sexual abuse in WA once a major legal barrier is officially lifted. Reforms to lift the statute of limitations, which required victims to launch civil action within six years of the abuse, passed State Parliament this week. Under the new regime, there will be no time restraint placed on survivors — many of whom have not been ready to disclose their ordeals until decades later — to sue their perpetrators or institutions. The Sunday Times spoke to three legal firms this week who said their combined current case load for WA claims was almost 400. Senior solicitor at Bradley Bayly Legal, Renea Capararo, said the firm was working on more than 200 cases and aimed to lodge up to 50 claims in the WA District Court on the same day the legislation to remove the time restrictions came into effect. She said it would be unprecedented in terms of the avalanche of impending claims. “In a sense, they’re opening the floodgates,” Ms Capararo said. She said about half of the cases, which dated back to the 1950s, were against State Government departments — mainly education and child protection — while the remainder involved other organisations including the Catholic and Anglican churches, Salvation Army and Christian Brothers. “Money is not the main driver,” she said. “A lot of these victims were abused at a time when they would not have disclosed it because it was shameful and they feared being called a liar. This is an acknowledgement of the truth of their stories.” Shine Lawyers is working on up to 150 cases, while another firm, Tindall Gask Bentley, has about 40. It’s not clear how many of these cases will end up in the courts. WA Treasury figures show the State Government could be liable for between $70 million and $647 million in damages over the next four years because of the removal of the statute of limitations. Greg Reidy, 55, is one of hundreds of victims of child sexual abuse who are ready to make their long overdue bid for compensation. He said his childhood was “stolen” when his teacher at North Inglewood Primary School, Robert John Lefroy, molested him over four years in the 1970s, starting when he was just eight. Lefroy was jailed for four years in 2003. Mr Reidy said his abuse stunted his education, which has limited his job options. After his abuser was convicted, Mr Reidy said the compensation on offer to him was up to $4000. “I feel happier now, but I now have to fight for decent compensation,” Mr Reidy said. There will be no cap on civil damages under these new laws, except for a limit on legal fees. WA is yet to sign up to the Commonwealth redress scheme for victims of institutional child sex abuse because it has concerns about how the scheme, which has a $150,000 cap, will apply to child migrants and child sex abuse survivors with criminal convictions.

THE exporter at the centre of the latest sheep ship calamity is no stranger to carnage on the seas. West Perth-based Emanuel Exports and sister companies EMS Rural Exports and International Livestock Exports have been involved in multiple mass-mortality shipments. Animals Australia, which obtained the damning video footage aired by 60 Minutes last Sunday, claim there have been 37 shipments involving these companies where more than 1000 sheep have died on each voyage, since 2005. It states a dozen of these were “reportable incidents” — where the mortality rate exceeds two per cent —requiring an investigation under the Australian Standards for the Export of Livestock (ASEL). In 2003, veterinarian Dr Tony Hill, formerly with International Livestock Exports, described the horrors he’d witnessed two years earlier on a voyage aboard the Al Khaleej. Although about 2000 sheep had died in searing heat, he claimed he was told by the ship’s captain to report only 105 deaths. Dr Hill said a build-up of damp manure had produced ammonia, which turned the ship into a “gas chamber”. “We saw sheep leaning out of the ship and trying to throw themselves out through the bars and frothing at the mouth and then just expiring,” he told media at the time. Another Emanuel Exports’ associated company, Rural Export and Trading (WA), had its licence suspended by the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) in 2003 over four mass mortality shipments, including one in which more than 6 per cent of the sheep had perished. Then federal Agriculture Minister Warren Truss described the situation as “clearly unacceptable.” The disaster that made national headlines and sparked public outcry, prompting a review of the trade and the introduction of ASEL, involved the MV Cormo Express in late 2003. Some 5,600 sheep died during 70 cramped days at sea on the Cormo Express. After Saudi Arabia rejected the sheep, claiming they were diseased, Australia paid Eritrea to take those still alive. International Livestock Exports was the exporter. In 2007, the WA Department of Local Government and Regional Development prosecuted Emanuel Exports and its directors, Graham Daws and Michael Stanton, for animal cruelty in what was regarded as a test case relating to a shipment of sheep to the Middle East aboard the MV Al Kuwait in November 2003. More than 1000 sheep died, even though it wasn’t summer in the northern hemisphere. When the case was heard in 2008, Magistrate Catherine Crawford found the “elements of the offence of cruelty to sheep, in the way of transport, were proven”, but she acquitted the accused because the WA Animal Welfare Act conflicted with Commonwealth law. In 2008, Emanuel Exports and Rural Export and Trading (WA) took court action to overturn a decision by AQIS to reduce stocking densities on sheep ships with two-tiered decks. The AQIS decision followed a spate of mass mortality shipments. The exporters argued the decision had a significant adverse impact on them, reducing their “overall profitability.” Last November, Emanuel Exports’ managing director Graham Daws was named the industry’s LiveCorp Hall of Fame recipient at a gala dinner in Perth. LiveCorp’s new chairman Terry Enright said Mr Daws had been “a driving force in the live sheep trade from Western Australia to the Middle East.” “His place in the industry’s Hall of Fame is thoroughly deserved.” he said. Emanuel Exports were contacted for comment. The company issued a statement earlier in the week, apologising to farmers and the broader community for “absolutely unacceptable outcomes.” “High mortality incidents like that which occurred in August 2017 on the Awassi Express are devastating,” Mr Daws said.

Cable subscription giant Comcast will now offer subscriptions for streaming giant Netflix in their TV bundles, as a move towards allowing consumers more bundling options. While Netflix has remained dominant in the streaming field, they are looking to expand even further by getting into as many cable boxes as possible. There are many more a la carte options at consumers’ fingertips now, much of which are associated with streaming platforms such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video. Consumers looking to save a few bucks have been picking and choosing their entertainment services with more discretion and customization than ever before, which is understandable considering how many options there truly are. This led many experts and analysts to worry about the state of traditional network and cable television; cord cutters were allegedly destroying an entire industry. But that industry has struck upon an intriguing new business model that may lure some of those lost customers back into the fold. THR reports that Comcast will now provide Netflix subscriptions bundled with their Xfinity X1 packages – both old and new. Comcast conceded to Netflix’s unparalleled success, saying that the streaming giant provides one of the “most popular on-demand services” out there right now, making it an “important supplement” to their cable package. Netflix’s global head of business development, Bill Holmes, added: “Our partnership with Comcast on Xfinity X1 has brought easy access to Netflix for our mutual customers. We can’t wait to introduce more X1 customers to Netflix with Xfinity’s new packaged offers.” This match-up is right in line with Netflix’s goals. The company has recognized consumers’ need for simplicity and has been attempting to secure a steady presence on cable box platforms. Netflix already has similar agreements with companies such as Atlantic Broadband, Grande Communications, and Suddenlink Communications. But that’s not all; they are also looking to break into the film industry by pushing releasing Netflix Original movies in theaters. The team-up between Netflix and Comcast is being billed as a convenience for the two companies’ mutual subscribers. Comcast says around 60 percent of their consumers are subscribed to the Xfinity X1 package. Of those users, approximately half are also Netflix subscribers. According to Comcast, this bundle will be of great benefit to those customers. Indeed, this will save them a few dollars on the Netflix subscription and will provide the convenience of having two different content providers on one platform, but consumers who are looking to keep their subscriptions separate may not be interested in yet another TV bundle. Of course, this move also brings Netflix closer to premium cable networks like HBO, which have been bundled in cable packages for years.

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Firewatch, one of the best games of 2016 that tells a stirring story and has gorgeous visuals, is coming to the Nintendo Switch. Developer Campo Santo announced the Switch port on its website today, slating the title to come to Nintendo's hybrid system sometime this spring. The game was originally released in February 2016 for PC and PlayStation 4, before landing on Xbox One in September of that year. It was Campo Santo's first title and reviews for the first-person, narrative-driven adventure game were positive across the board. It was also a commercial success, selling more than 1 million copies in its first year. There is no word about how the Switch version may differ from the others, but Campo Santo called out the console's hybrid nature in its description. "Imagine: The sounds of a babbling brook, a cool mountain breeze blowing through the timber. And in your hands, your trusty Nintendo Switch," the studio said. "This Spring, take your Nintendo Switch on an outdoor adventure..." Set in 1989, Firewatch takes place in the Wyoming wilderness and puts you in the role of Henry (voiced by Mad Men's Richard Sommer), a man with a troubled past who seeks a new life as a fire lookout. The other main character is Delilah (Cissy Jones), whom Henry speaks with using a walkie-talkie. A Firewatch movie is currently in the works at Good Universe, the film company that also produced the well-received horror movie Don't Breathe and Last Vegas. Campo Santo's next game is the intriguing-looking In The Valley Of Gods, which was announced during The Game Awards in December. The game is still a long time off, as it's not scheduled to come out until 2019.

It isn’t likely that a new PlayStation console is going to be arriving any time soon, as it’s been suggested that the PlayStation 5 will not see release until at least 2020. Sony has once again become the dominant force in the video game console industry this generation, with the PlayStation 4 leading the charge to make this the fastest selling console generation in gaming history. As such, many were left wondering exactly when the tech giant would look to move things forward. In response to this, a number of rumors began to fly regarding a proposed PlayStation 5. Last year, analysts predicted that Sony would launch a backward compatible PS5 in 2019, but this year a potential new PlayStation took an even more solid form in the eyes of many gamers. A supposed leak let slip both the rumored specs and release date of the PS5, with the console allegedly meant to arrive in 2018 or 2019. However, those excited about an imminent new console release may need to settle down, as it’s looking more likely that the next PlayStation is some ways off yet. As reported by Kotaku, the facts around a 2018 or 2019 release for the PS5 don’t quite add up, and instead it’s far more likely that the console will launch after that point. So, PlayStation fans may be waiting until 2020 at the earliest to see a brand new console from Sony. This primarily comes down to the lack of knowledge around the new console that can be seen from developers themselves. According to the report, those familiar with Sony’s plans have put a 2019 release as extremely unlikely, barring some kind of massive change in competitor activity, while even first-party Sony studios have not been briefed on an upcoming new console release. Given that these developers would require access to close-to-release developer kits by now to start making games for the console, it does seem that either Sony is keeping things close to its chest or the rumors may be way off. Instead, whispers among devs themselves suggest a 2020 launch is far more likely. It’s perhaps not surprising that Sony isn’t looking to launch a PS5 immediately. After all, there was a seven year gap between the PS3 and the PS4, and although the industry has moved on since then the relatively recent launch of the beefed up PS4 Pro meant that a new console outright was always unlikely for this year. Given that the PS4 in its various forms is still selling well, Sony cutting into its profits to launch a brand new console doesn’t seem like a strong game plan, particularly given the cost of developing the PS4 Pro in the first place. Of course, anything can happen in gaming, and a major change in strategy from Microsoft in particular could force Sony’s hand on the matter. However, with the Xbox One X only launching last year, it would again be strange to see the company abandon such an expensive investment so soon. Instead, expect Sony to focus on hitting that new sales milestone with the help of releases such as Spider-Man.

If you're like us, the upcoming Red Dead Redemption 2 has you extremely eager to get back into the saddle for some gun-slinging cowboy action in the Old West. But if you're having trouble keeping your spurs from jingling and jangling in the lead up to its October 26, 2018 release date, Microsoft's got the cure for what ails you — the original Red Dead Redemption has joined the list of Xbox 360 titles that are now Xbox One X-enhanced, so you can re-experience New Austin, West Elizabeth, and Nuevo Paraiso with a shiny new 4K sheen. Along with the aforementioned Rockstar classic, Darksiders, Gears of War 2, Portal 2, Sonic Generations and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed have also received the 4K treatment and join previous Xbox 360 fan faves such as Crackdown and Forza Horizon, adding to the growing list of older titles that now offer enhanced visuals when played on the Xbox One X. We can say that Red Dead Redemption looks incredibly good on Xbox One X — check out the staggering difference in visual clarity that this 8-year-old game has received in this comparison video from ElAnalistaDeBits. More backwards compatible titles announced Xbox One X-enhanced titles aside, two more rounds of new backwards compatible Original Xbox and Xbox 360 titles have been announced for this month. April 17 sees Blinx: The Time Sweeper, Breakdown, Conker: Live & Reloaded, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Hunter: The Reckoning, Jade Empire, Panzer Dragoon Orta and SSX 3 become playable on Xbox One. And on April 26, Destroy All Humans!, Full Spectrum Warrior, Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, MX Unleashed and Panzer Elite Action: Fields of Glory will all be backwards compatible on Xbox One, as well as a bevy of Star Wars titles, including Star Wars Battlefront, Star Wars Battlefront II, Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, Star Wars Jedi Starfighter, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords and Star Wars Republic Commando.

The 2016 Doom reboot put the venerable series back on rock-solid ground, garnering enthusiastic reviews and selling over 4 million copies, but what’s next for the franchise? Id Software definitely has a sturdy framework to build on now, so could we see a sequel sometime soon? Well, Doom fans may want to keep a close eye on this year’s E3. DualShockers recently spoke with Bethesda’s Pete Hines about the company’s E3 plans, and the exec might have slipped in a bit of a Doom tease… “I couldn’t give you any guesses as to what we’re going to announce and when those games will be out. But I will say, we’re going to have a lot of new stuff to talk about at E3. Whether or not folks realize it, this is the hell on earth time for us with E3. We are in the midst of so much planning and work for all of that content but I’m really excited. I think we have a lot of stuff that folks are going to like. To my earlier comment, it’s going to be a big mix of stuff that’s all over the place. It’s not going to be like all [one] kind of game or genre. It’s going to be a lot of stuff in a lot of different areas and hopefully, there’s something in there for everybody.” What’s with that awkwardly-phrased “hell on earth time” line? Well, the full title of the original Doom 2 released way back in 1994 was Doom 2: Hell on Earth. Hmmmm! Could id Software be cooking up a full sequel? Or, at the very least, a major DLC infusion (the original Doom 2 was basically just a big level pack)?