ONE of the youngest drivers on the Sandown 500 grid upstaged the veterans to top Practice 3.

Toowoomba’s Will Brown, embarking on his first Enduro Cup campaign, put Anton De Pasquale’s No.99 Erebus Holden to the top of the timesheets in Friday’s final hitout.

Just 0.0062 of a second separated the three fastest, with rookie Brown in illustrious company.

Second behind him, just 0.0032s adrift was two time Le Mans 24 Hours winner and reigning World Endurance Champion - but fellow Supercars rookie - Earl Bamber in Shane van Gisbergen’s No.97 Red Bull Holden, while third quickest was four time Bathurst 1000 winner Steven Richards in Craig Lowndes’ No.888 Autobarn Holden.

Although it wasn’t a perfect session for Brown.

He took the No.99 for a trip through the sand trap at Dandenong Road Corner late in the session after locking a brake.

“Tell me about it; I thought he was going to tear my rear wing off!” joked Richards, who’d been immediately ahead of him.

Brown managed to avoid getting bogged, keeping the throttle in and doing a lap of the sand trap in the reverse direction to find his way back onto the track.

“I just didn’t want to get stuck!” Brown said with a laugh.

Along with Bamber and Richards, Brown was surrounded by some of the sport’s biggest names at the end of day press conference, including Lowndes, Jamie Whincup, Paul Dumbrell and Shane van Gisbergen.

“To be sitting up here up alongside these guys that I was watching throughout racing go-karts, it’s pretty cool,” he said.

“You never thought you’d ever race Supercars, it was always a dream.”

The final session passed without Dumbrell’s new lap record from the morning session being troubled, the No.1 Red Bull Holden setting the two fastest times of the day in each drivers’ hands and the only car to dip into the 67 second bracket.

The Walkinshaw Andretti United cars of Jack Perkins and Warren Luff were fourth and fifth ahead of Dumbrell, while the first of the non-Holdens belonged to Alex Rullo in seventh, just 0.15s adrift of Brown’s time aboard Simona De Silvestro’s No.78 Harvey Norman Nissan.

The cars hit the track for one more practice session on Saturday ahead of qualifying and the Races to the Grid, setting the starting order for Sunday’s Sandown 500.

Australian Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo posted the fastest time in the first practice for the Singapore Grand Prix on Friday.

The sinewy Formula One circuit is well suited to Red Bull because it negates the power advantage of quicker cars like Ferrari and Mercedes.

Ricciardo was 0.2 seconds ahead of Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen, while Sebastien Vettel was third ahead of Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen.

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton was sixth, the Mercedes driver having a nervy moment as he momentarily veered off the track when his front wheels locked.

Sauber driver Charles Leclerc, who is replacing Raikkonen at Ferrari next year, mangled his front right suspension after clipping the barriers near the end.

There is a second practice under floodlights later Friday.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen has set the fastest practice time for the Singapore Grand Prix but the Finn's team mate Sebastian Vettel has suffered a frustrating start to the weekend in his bid to overhaul championship leader Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton opened a 30-point cushion over Vettel with a surprise win in Monza two weeks ago and while Ferrari are regarded as having a superior car, the Briton set the second-fastest time of the day on Friday just 0.011 seconds back in his Mercedes.

Vettel has been criticised for dropping points due to some poor tactical driving this season but there was little he could do looking on from the Ferrari garage after his car suffered a radiator fluid leak midway through the second practice session.

Raikkonen lapped the 5.063km Marina Bay Street Circuit in one minute 38.699 seconds, with Hamilton just behind as the rejuvenated Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Australian Daniel Ricciardo finished third and fourth respectively half a second further back.

Valtteri Bottas was fifth fastest in the second Mercedes, ahead of Renault's Carlos Sainz, Haas' Romain Grosjean, McLaren's Fernando Alonso and Vettel down in ninth place after completing just 12 laps.

In the first session of the day, Red Bull enjoyed a welcome return to the top of the timesheets after a few quiet races with Ricciardo and Verstappen securing a one-two for the team in the baking afternoon heat.

The demanding 23-turn circuit has traditionally favoured the Red Bulls and Ferraris, so it was no surprise to see Vettel and Raikkonen clock the next quickest times as Mercedes opted to concentrate on long runs instead of qualifying simulations.

Ricciardo has failed to finish the last two grands prix since Formula One returned from its summer break but the Australian again showed his street circuit prowess by clocking one minute, 39.711 seconds in the scorching Singapore sun.

Dutchman Verstappen lapped in 1:39.912 to edge out Vettel by 0.085 seconds but the German will be looking for an improved third practice session and qualification on Saturday as he seeks to rein in Hamilton with seven rounds remaining.

WELCOME to our live coverage of all the Supercars action at the 2018 RABBLE.club Sandown 500.

The Red Bull duo of Jamie Whincup and Paul Dumbrell tore the Supercars lap record to shreds in near-ideal sunny conditions during Friday practice, but Saturday has dawned wet and windy with storms and hail forecast during the day that will set the grid for Sunday’s race.

The schedule for Saturday (all times AEST):
10:10am - Practice 4 (15 Min)

11:40am - Qualifying (20 Min)

1:40pm - Race for the Grid 1 (20 laps, or 1 lap after 2:13pm)

4:15pm - Race for the Grid 2 (20 laps, or 1 lap after 4:49pm)

Tune in to FOX SPORTS 506, head to the FOX SPORTS Supercars Race Centre for live timing and team radios during qualifying and the Races to the Grid.

Lara Croft has come a long way over the years, and with Shadow of the Tomb Raider out on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, we figured it would be a good time to take a look at the game that started it all.

PS4's Spider-Man makes dozens of references to the stories, allies, and enemies from the wall crawlers' comics. There are quite a few littered throughout the game's final moments, which all seem to be pointing towards a specific comic series.

Although Insomniac has not confirmed a connection, most of the characters in Spider-Man are similar to their counterparts from the Ultimate Spider-Man comics. As opposed to earlier stories that used radiation and pseudoscience as the basis for how Spider-Man and his rogue's gallery of super-villains came to be, Ultimate Spider-Man takes a more modern approach and uses genetic splicing, tinkering, and degradation as the origin story for its heroes and villains. The comic debuted in October 2000 and ran for nearly 11 years, making it the second longest continuous Marvel series that's created by only two people.

Like Ultimate Spider-Man, PS4's Spider-Man gives Peter Parker a larger background in science and mathematics, making him an engineering prodigy. Mary Jane is also the first to find out that Peter and Spider-Man are the same person. Plenty of other characters have similar personalities and appearances to their Ultimate counterparts too, including Aunt May, Rhino, Kingpin, and more.

Admittedly, some of the game's characters do not match up with their Ultimate Spider-Man counterparts. Spider-Man's Vulture is Amazing Spider-Man's Adrian Toomes, and not Ultimate's Blackie Drago. The Vulture costume is similar in both the game and comics though, as is Toomes' poor health (he's initially not in Ultimate because he dies from an illness). There are enough similarities, though, to use Ultimate Spider-Man to help dissect the final scenes of the game.

The Ending: A New Ally
A lot happens in the final moments of Spider-Man, but one of the more puzzling developments is the departure of Silver Sable. After being prominently featured in promotional material for the game, Silver Sable has a pretty minor role in the overall story. She leads the private military force hired by Norman Osborn to keep order in the city, but after warming up to Spider-Man she just leaves. Moments before the final battle, she calls Peter to say she's gone home and we never see her again. It's odd she was included in the game at all with how minor a role she plays.

That changes if this Silver Sable is inspired from her Ultimate counterpart. In Ultimate, Silver Sable is initially one of Spider-Man's villains, but only because she was hired to hunt him down. She has a begrudging respect for the wall-crawler and tolerates him when a job needs to get done. More importantly, Silver Sable and Spider-Man eventually team up in Ultimate, and it's to take down Venom in the "War of the Symbiotes" arc.

Spider-Man's post-credits scene reveals that Venom's origin might be on the horizon, and that lends more credence to the prediction that Silver Sable will return to New York. Silver Sable might have been introduced in this game so that she and Spidey can work together to hunt down Venom in a future expansion or sequel.

The Mid-Credits Scene: Peter's Successor
In Spider-Man's mid-credits scene, Miles reveals to Peter that his body is undergoing some changes, before showcasing that he can stick to the ceiling. Peter immediately jumps up to join him to reveal that he's Spider-Man. It's a touching, almost brotherly moment.

Miles Morales was first introduced in 2011's Ultimate Fallout, which ties into Ultimate Spider-Man's final arc. Like Peter, he's bitten by a genetically enhanced spider from Oscorp's lab. This gives Miles similar powers to Peter, including the ability to stick to walls, super strength and reflexes, and an enhanced sixth sense. However, Miles is bitten by a different species of spider, so he ends up with a few more powers. Miles isn't as strong as Peter, but he can emit a paralyzing venom from his fingertips and camouflage himself against nearly any surface, rendering him invisible.

We'll have to wait and see whether or not Miles has inherited all of the powers he has in Ultimate, but the fact that he has powers at all might foreshadow a dark future. In Ultimate, Miles becomes a superhero to honor Spider-Man after New York watches Peter Parker give up his life to stop the Green Goblin in the "Death of Spider-Man" arc. There's no guarantee that Insomniac is moving towards that storyline, but the post-credits scene does hint at the rise of Green Goblin. In the game's final battle, Peter also lets himself get stabbed so he can stop Doctor Octopus and save the ones he loves, so it's not that big of a stretch to imagine him sacrificing himself in a future game.

The Post-Credits Scene: Two New Foes
As stated before, Spider-Man's post-credits scene hints at two possible supervillains appearing in Peter's future: Venom and Green Goblin. There's a lot to unpack in that final scene, including the fate of Harry Osborn. Earlier in the game, Peter and Mary Jane learn that Harry didn't go abroad for vacation but instead left the country to receive intensive treatment for a genetic disorder. In the post-credits scene, we find out that Harry didn't even leave. His father is keeping him in a tank that's filled with green liquid.

This green liquid is most likely OZ. In Ultimate Spider-Man, Norman Osborn develops the green goo as an experimental drug that boosts strength, reflexes, and intelligence. He's not completely successful in keeping the substance stable, and so he tests the drug on other animals, one being spiders. When the spiders bite Peter and Miles, they transfer the drug in a less volatile state into their systems, which is why Peter and Miles are enhanced without becoming deformed in the process. Perhaps in the game's continuity, Norman developed OZ as a way to strengthen his son and stabilize his genetic condition. However, it's clearly not enough as Norman also has a black substance webbed around Harry that's seemingly keeping him alive in suspended animation. The black web reacts to Norman when it senses the man's presence. It might be what's keeping the OZ from mutating Harry.

In Ultimate Spider-Man, the symbiote isn't an alien, but a man-made suit that's seemingly alive. Its primary purpose is to cure cancer by strengthening the host body's immune system and giving them superhuman levels of strength and endurance. Perhaps--much like the OZ--Norman builds the suit for his son, and the suit--much like its Ultimate counterpart--desires more humans to feed on in order to strengthen its host. If the suit's hunger for more humans is strong enough, or if it feeds on the OZ, it could break Harry out of his tank and transform him into the toothy black monster that pushes Silver Sable and Spidey to work together.

If that's the case, stopping the suit would kill Harry, as it looks like it might be the only thing keeping him alive. The loss of his wife and son would probably drive Norman to madness and cause him to try and take revenge on Spider-Man and Silver Sable, who he'd see as murderers. If Norman ingested unfiltered OZ, then like his Ultimate counterpart, he'd transform into the monstrous-looking Green Goblin. His war against Spider-Man might lead to Peter giving up his life to save the city, and pave the way for Miles to become New York's next friendly neighborhood wall crawler. Insomniac has already proven they're willing to kill off major characters--like Aunt May--in order to tell an emotional story, so killing off Peter at the end of Spider-Man 2 so that Miles can be the protagonist of Spider-Man 3 is not so far-fetched.

But of course, that's all just speculation based on the information we can glean from Spider-Man's final scenes. We'd love to hear what you all think. Again, not all characters in Spider-Man follow the same beats as Ultimate Spider-Man so Insomniac could draw inspiration from a different comic--like Amazing, Spectacular, or All-New, All-Different--or create a completely unique storyline. What type of future do you think the final scenes of Spider-Man are hinting towards? Leave your responses in the comments below.

Spider-Man is currently only available for the PS4. We loved it, and gave the game a 9/10 in our review. Insomniac has revealed that the game is getting a New Game Plus mode in the future, as well as a three-part DLC expansion called The City That Never Sleeps.

Ubisoft has announced a remaster for Assassin's Creed III. The 2012 entry into Ubisoft's franchise concluded the storyline of modern day protagonist Desmond Miles, and started what would become known as the Kenway Saga.

Assassin's Creed III: Remastered can be bought as a standalone title but it also comes included in the season pass for Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Regardless of how you buy it, the game launches for Xbox One, PS4, and PC in March 2019.

In our Assassin's Creed III review, Kevin VanOrd gave the game an 8.5/10, writing, "Assassin's Creed 3 is a big game that gives you a lot to do, some of which is fleshed out relatively well, and some of which isn't. It is not, however, content to rest on the series' laurels. It takes chances with its opening, with its story, and with its characters. It expands the series' gameplay in enjoyable and sensible ways. As with many ambitious games, not every arrow fired hits the bull's-eye, yet this big, narratively rich sequel is easy to get invested in. Other games stimulate emotion with manipulative music and teary monologues; Assassin's Creed III rouses your mind and your heart by giving you a glimpse into its characters' souls and letting you judge them on their own merits."

The remaster of Assassin's Creed III isn't the only piece of content that comes included in Odyssey's season pass. You'll get the 2014 HDremaster of Assassin's Creed III: Liberation--which we gave a 6/10 in our review--as well. You'll also get two story add-ons that are each divided into three episodes: Legacy of the First Blade and The Fate of Atlantis. Legacy of the First Blade sees Kassandra or Alexios meeting the first individual to use the hidden blade--which Assassin's Creed II tells us is the Persian assassin Darius--and The Fate of Atlantis delves into the history behind the famed underwater city.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey launches for Xbox One, PS4, and PC on October 5.

A new update for Overwatch introduces several changes to four of the game's heroes, as well as bug fixes and a new map. The update rebalances Ana, Brigitte, Reinhardt, and Widowmaker in response to previous Overwatch updates and hero additions.

For Ana, the update increases the level of precision when determining the sensitivity of her rifle's movements while zoomed. To make her match her counterparts, Brigitte now gets knocked down when shield bashing Doomfist's Rocket Punch or Reinhardt's Charge. Previously, only Doomfist and Reinhard would be stunned which would allow Brigitte to get in extra hits before either hero could recover.

Both Widowmaker and Reinhardt have larger changes. Like Ana, there's now more control over Widowmaker's sensitivity while zoomed. She also now retains her full momentum when using her grappling hook if she connects to a structure that doesn't have a ledge. Reinhardt's Earthshatter ability has been completely overhauled. It will now always travel up inclines and around the payload, and consistently hit enemies near a wall. Also, it will no longer damage enemies behind barriers or hit enemies that enter the ability's damage cone after the wave has passed.

The update also patches a few bugs as well, the most notable of which caused weapons that fired multiple shots at once--like D.Va's Fusion Cannons and Reaper's Hellfire Shotguns--to inconsistently deal critical damage to enemy heroes. The full patch notes can be found on Overwatch's website, but we've outlined the more significant bug fixes below.

Overwatch Update Bug Fixes

General
Fixed a bug that caused players to sometimes slip off railings
Fixed a bug that prevented Torbjörn Armor Packs Created statistic from updating if the ability landed directly on a friendly target

Communication Wheel
Fixed a bug that caused a delay in selecting options on the Communication Wheel when cycling left using a mouse

Heroes

Brigitte
Fixed a bug that caused Brigitte's Shield Bash movement to be interrupted when she impacted Symmetra's turrets

Doomfist
Fixed a bug that caused Doomfist's Seismic Slam to cancel when using Symmetra's Teleporter

D.Va
Fixed a bug that allowed D.Va to escape the map if she used Call Mech while standing on Mei's Ice Wall

Hanzo
Fixed a bug that caused the Dragonstrike arrow's size to be larger than his other arrows

Mei
Fixed a bug that caused Mei's Cryo-freeze to block the line of sight for Mei's Blizzard

Mercy
Fixed a bug that allowed Mercy to gain ultimate charge from using her damage beam on attacks that cannot be damage boosted

Reaper
Fixed a bug that prevented Reaper's Shadow Step from going on cooldown if he was interrupted

Reinhardt
Fixed a bug that allowed Reinhardt to pin targets that were behind him when using Charge
Fixed a bug that prevented Reinhardt from pinning some targets when he turned during Charge
Fixed a bug that allowed Reinhardt to use Earthshatter while standing on an enemy’s head
Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented Reinhardt's Earthshatter from hitting enemies standing on a payload
Fixed a bug that prevented Reinhardt's Earthshatter from traveling up certain inclines

Roadhog
Fixed a bug that sometimes caused Roadhog's Chain Hook to break after hitting an enemy while maintaining line of sight
Fixed a bug that prevented Roadhog's alternate fire from calculating falloff damage correctly
Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented Reinhardt's Earthshatter from landing if he was launched into the air while activating it

Sombra
Fixed a bug that prevented Sombra from translocating to a moving platform
Fixed a bug that prevented Sombra from destroying her Translocator if she was stunned or hacked
Fixed a bug that prevented Sombra's Translocator from accurately indicating where Sombra would arrive when the ability was used

Symmetra
Fixed a bug that prevented Sombra's Hack from canceling Symmetra's Photon Barrier placement
Fixed a bug that caused Symmetra's teleport UI to persist after being eliminated

Widowmaker
Fixed a bug that prevented Widowmaker's Grappling Hook from connecting to some ledges
Fixed a bug that caused Widowmaker's scoped shots on hero placed objects to count against her Scoped Weapon Accuracy statistic, like Symmetra's Teleporter and Torbjörn's autocannon

Wrecking Ball
Fixed a bug that prevented Wrecking Ball's Piledriver from dealing falloff damage
Fixed a bug that allowed Wrecking Ball's Piledriver to deal damage twice if he slid off the environment during its duration
Fixed a bug that allowed Wrecking Ball's primary fire to continue working even if it was disabled in custom game

Xbox has announced that Forza Horizon 4 has gone gold. The announcement also contained information about the game's demo, as well as the reveal that Horizon 4's Day One Car Pack contains vehicles from both old and recent James Bond films.

The Forza Horizon 4 demo is currently available on both Xbox One and Windows 10 PC. You'll have access to all four of the seasons in the demo, allowing you to drive through the open-world Britain hub and complete challenges in a diverse assortment of environments. Of the game's 450-plus cars, you have access to about 10.

If you have Mixer, you can start earning Influence in the Forza Horizon 4 demo that you can use in the main game. Influence is Horizon 4's version of measuring progression, and can be accrued in the main game by exploring, racing, performing stunts, and taking photos. If you watch someone playing the Horizon 4 demo through a Mixer stream, you'll gain Influence. You can also earn Influence by streaming Horizon 4, and you'll get larger rewards for attracting more viewers.

When Horizon 4 launches, a Day One Car Pack will release alongside it. Called the Best of Bond Car Pack, the DLC includes 10 of Bond's famous vehicles from his past films, two Bond-inspired outfits for your driver, and six exclusive quick chat phrases you'll be able to use in multiplayer. The pack can be bought separately, or comes included in Forza Horizon 4's Ultimate Edition.

Here's the full list of what comes in the pack:

1964 Aston Martin DB5 inspired by Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965), GoldenEye (1995), Skyfall (2012), and Spectre (2015)
1969 Aston Martin DBS from On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
1974 AMC Hornet X Hatchback from The Man With the Golden Gun (1974)
1977 Lotus Esprit S1 from The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
1981 Citroën 2CV6 from For Your Eyes Only (1981)
1986 Aston Martin V8 from The Living Daylights (1987)
1999 BMW Z8 from The World is Not Enough (1999)
2008 Aston Martin DBS from Quantum of Solace (2008)
2010 Jaguar C-X75 from Spectre (2015)
2015 Aston Martin DB10 from Spectre (2015)

According to Microsoft, several of the cars can use the gadgets seen in the films while in Forzavista mode. "For example, the 1964 Aston Martin DB5 will feature numerous gadgets such as revolving number plate and extendable bumper rams," Xbox wrote. "In addition, the Lotus Esprit S1 will feature a special body kit option inspired by the 'Wet Nellie' submarine vehicle from The Spy Who Loved Me."

Forza Horizon 4 releases on October 2 for Xbox One and PC. If you pre-order the Ultimate Edition, you'll get to play Forza Horizon 4 four days earlier on September 28.

uring Nintendo's September Direct, the company announced a new Joy-Con controller for Switch. These new Joy-Cons are shaped like NES controllers, and you'll only be able to buy them if you're an online subscriber.

The new controllers have the same Joy-Con bluetooth connection, so you'll be able to play wirelessly and charge your controller by connecting them to your Switch or a Nintendo charge station. That being said, you can't use the controllers while they're plugged into your Switch, so you can't use them in handheld mode. Two controllers, a right and a left Joy-Con, are sold in each box for $60. Shipments of the controller begin in mid-December 2018.

The biggest surprises were reserved for the end of the Direct. Nintendo announced that Animal Crossing's Isabella is joining Villager in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. A new, currently unnamed Animal Crossing game is coming to Switch in 2019 as well. Nintendo hasn't announced any other details concerning the new game yet, so, like Metroid Prime 4, we'll have to wait for another Direct down the line.

The last main series Animal Crossing game was 2012's Animal Crossing: New Leaf, although there was a mobile spin-off--Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp--in 2017. We loved New Leaf, giving the game an 8/10 in our review.

Insomniac Games has announced that PS4's Spider-Man is getting a New Game Plus mode. The developer revealed that a team is currently working on the mode via a tweet.

New Game Plus will allow you to replay through Spider-Man with all of the wall crawlers' abilities and skills that have been unlocked in a previous save. Although it hasn't been confirmed for this game, most New Game Plus modes also increase enemies' health and damage output. A few, like the one in Batman: Arkham Knight, even make minor changes to certain cutscenes and add late-game enemies to the earlier fights. Insomniac doesn't have an estimate for the New Game Plus mode's release date yet.

New Game Plus isn't the only post-launch addition coming to Spider-Man. Insomniac has also revealed a three-part DLC expansion for the game titled The City That Never Sleeps. The first part, called The Heist, releases on October 23. The Heist focuses on the return of one of Peter Parker's former flames, Felicia Hardy. Also known as the Black Cat, Felicia is an ex-jewel thief who abandons a life of crime in an attempt to be worthy of Spider-Man's affection. Felicia is referenced throughout the main game in one of the side-quests, promising "her Spider" that she'll see him again soon.

The second part of The City That Never Sleeps is called Turf Wars and will be releasing in November. The final chapter, titled Silver Lining, launches in December. All three parts add new story missions, challenges, enemies, and suits to the game. You can purchase each one individually for $10, or buy The City That Never Sleeps collection for $25.

Spider-Man has been one of our favorite PS4 exclusives of 2018. In our Spider-Man review, we gave the game a 9/10.

The closed beta for Blackout--the battle royale mode for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4--is now available on Xbox One, PS4, and PC. You can join by pre-ordering Black Ops 4, and the beta will remain live until September 17 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET / 6 PM BST.

We've spent hours playing the Blackout closed beta, and after awhile we've noticed six features that you should pay attention to if you decide to jump in yourself. In the video above, Aaron walks you through them all and offers advice on how to stay alive in Call of Duty's new multiplayer mode.

The first thing you'll probably notice that differentiates Blackout from Fortnite, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, and H1Z1: Battle Royale is the use of vertical space. Blackout has numerous locations where you can explore both below and high above the ground. You'll even find hidden item caches underwater, some of which contain powerful weapons and gear. For the best examples of how Blackout uses vertical space, head to Construction Site, Cargo Docks, or Factory. Be sure to bring a grappling hook or helicopter to take full advantage of these locations.

Blackout isn't strictly PvP like most other battle royale games; you'll have to contend with computer-controlled enemies too. In this case, Call of Duty's zombies roam certain areas of the map. Most are marked with a beam of light, but that's not the case for a few that patrol Asylum. Regardless, zombies hold powerful weapons and gear, like ray guns, so seeking them out and killing them for their loot isn't a waste of time or bullets. If buildings aren't yielding anything good, hunt down some undead.

In Blackout, guns and gear aren't the only things you'll find while scavenging, as Call of Duty adds special abilities to the battle royale formula. You can't hold many abilities at once, and each one is single-use and only lasts for a limited time, but they can provide phenomenal superpowered effects. We suggest picking up and immediately using every ability you find in the beta to get a feel for how each one works. Our personal favorite allows you to see weapons, items, and vehicles through walls so you don't have to go through a whole building to see what's inside.

You'll also notice Blackout takes a page out of Fortnite's book and implements special events that spice up each round between the firefights. Try them as you encounter them; it'll be good practice for Blackout's official release.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is launching on Xbox One, PS4, and PC on October 12.

The Ultra Bonus Event is now underway in Pokemon Go, bringing an influx of Gen I Pokemon with it. For a limited time, Pokemon originally found in the Kanto region will appear much more frequently in the wild. That isn't all, however; the three Legendary birds Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres have all also returned to the game, but for only a few days.

From now until September 20, you'll have another chance to fight the three Legendary birds in Raid Battles. While the three are available, the duration of Raid Battles has been extended to 90 minutes, giving you some extra time to battle and catch them. Niantic also says you'll have a chance of running into Shiny versions of each Legendary.

On top of that, you'll now be able to get your hands on some previously region-exclusive Pokemon. Until September 30, you'll have a chance of hatching Farfetch’d, Kangaskhan, Mr. Mime, and Tauros from 7 km Eggs. Each of the aforementioned Pokemon is typically only available in a certain part of the world, making this many players' first opportunity to add them to their collections.

On the same day Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres leave Raid Battles, another Gen I Legendary, Mewtwo, will take their place beginning at 1 PM PT/ 4 PM ET. This isn't the Psychic-type's first appearance in Pokemon Go, but it has up until now only been available through the invite-only EX Raids. This marks the first time Mewtwo will be available in regular Raid Battles, making it much easier to finally capture one. It will appear in Raid Battles until October 23.

While not part of the Ultra Bonus Event, players still have only a few more days to capture a different Legendary Pokemon, Regirock, which is also scheduled to leave the game on September 20. Pokemon Go's next Community Day event will take place not long afterward, on Saturday, September 22. This time, the featured Pokemon will be Chikorita, one of the three starters from Pokemon Gold and Silver.

We're now in the final week of Fortnite Season 5, which means a whole new season and other big changes are just around the corner for the popular battle royale game. That also means this is your last opportunity to complete Season 5 challenges and unlock any remaining Battle Pass rewards if you still haven't on PS4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch, and mobile.

As it has done in previous seasons, Epic released 10 weekly batches of challenges for players to complete throughout Season 5. For this season, the tasks were divided up into two categories--Free and Battle Pass--so even those who haven't purchased a Battle Pass, which was typically the only way to gain access to the challenges, could be able to complete some and earn rewards.

Season 5 is slated to run until September 25, meaning you have until then to finish up any remaining challenges. If you need help getting them done--or would just like some pointers on how to clear them as quickly as possible--we've assembled guides for each weekly set of missions in our complete Fortnite Season 5 challenge roundup. You can also see all of the items and cosmetics you can earn by completing the challenges in our Season 5 rewards gallery.

Week 10's challenges arrived on September 13, and as usual, they featured a mix of straightforward tasks (like dealing damage to opponents and consuming enough apples or mushrooms) as well as some slightly more involved ones. One of the trickier challenges has you searching for Jigsaw Puzzle Pieces in basements; we've put together a guide of their locations here. You can see the full list of Week 10 challenges below.

Epic recently rolled out Fortnite's 5.40 content update, which introduced another new weapon to the game's ever expanding arsenal: the Suppressed Assault Rifle, a new gun that lets you take out other players stealthily. The update also moved the Drum Gun into the vault.

Fortnite Week 10, Season 5 Challenges

Free

Search Jigsaw Puzzle Pieces in Basements (7) -- 5 Battle Stars
Consume Apples or Mushrooms (20) -- 5 Battle Stars
Hard: Eliminate Opponents (10) -- 10 Battle Stars

Battle Pass

Search Chests in Salty Springs (7) -- 5 Battle Stars
Deal Damage to Opponents (5000) -- 5 Battle Stars
Search Between a Covered Bridge, Waterfall, and the 9th Green -- 10 Battle Stars
Stage 1: Eliminate Opponent in Pleasant Park (1) -- 10 Battle Stars

As video games continue to mature as a narrative form, the medium has allowed a growing number of developers to explore issues that wouldn't typically be confronted in a game, whether it be the plight of refugees trying to cross a border as in Papers, Please, or the pain of losing a loved one to an incurable illness as in That Dragon, Cancer. Jupiter & Mars, a new PSVR-compatible game coming to PS4 later this year, tackles the growing issues of climate change and mankind's impact on the environment, and it wraps its message up in a beautiful and surreal undersea adventure that calls to mind Sega's classic Ecco the Dolphin series.

Jupiter & Mars is the debut effort of Tigertron, an independent studio founded by former game journalists James Mielke and Sam Kennedy. According to Mielke, the idea for the game first began to germinate after the release of The Cove, a 2009 documentary about dolphin hunting. Mielke was working at Q Entertainment (Lumines, Child of Eden) at the time and was deeply affected by the film. "I started to think, could I be doing something better with my time rather than just making another game for another console cycle?" he said. Rather than embark on a new career path, he decided to use his years of experience developing games as a way to raise awareness of ecological issues, enlisting his longtime colleague to help bring his idea to life.

Much like Ecco the Dolphin, Jupiter & Mars is an underwater adventure game set in the distant future, after humanity has disappeared. The planet is slowly recuperating after being ravaged by the effects of climate change; major coastal cities have been submerged by the rising sea levels, and neon-colored fish and coral reefs have begun to gradually repopulate the sunken steel and cement ruins left in man's wake. Despite the Earth's steady recovery, mankind's impact can still be felt in the traces of technology that linger on the ocean floor, particularly the "space stations"--mysterious bases that continue to disrupt the environment even in their semi-powered state.

While Tigertron's message is clear even from this brief synopsis, Jupiter & Mars doesn't lecture players; rather, the game conveys these issues subtly through its world and gameplay. "We're not trying to preach, we're not trying to be heavy-handed and tell you, 'You're such a bad person for using plastic and wearing leather Nikes,'" Mielke said. "What we want to do is, we want to present a really compelling world. Our goal is to get people to think, like, 'Well, could this really happen?' And if they become curious enough to investigate for themselves what the reality is, then for us that's mission accomplished."

The game casts players in the role of the eponymous Jupiter and Mars, two highly evolved dolphins with special abilities. The pair are entreated by an ancient race of whales known as the Elders to find and shut the remaining space stations down, and their ensuing journey takes them through five diverse and visually stunning biomes, from crystalline tropics to murky ocean depths and even the submerged remains of London. To shut the space stations down, however, the dolphins will first need to figure out how to slip past the AHDs--acoustic harassment devices--that surround each base and emit audio pulses that deter marine life.

Both Jupiter and Mars have their own innate abilities that players will need to utilize to navigate the ocean. Jupiter, who players control directly from a first-person perspective, is able to emit pulses of echolocation to illuminate her surroundings and interact with other marine life; Mars, your constant AI companion on the journey, can ram into objects on command to break through crumbling gates and open new passageways. In the same vein of a Metroid game, the dolphins will also need to acquire power-ups to gain access to new areas of the world; the Aqualung ability, for instance, allows Jupiter and Mars to dive much deeper below the surface than they typically could, while the Tail Kick power lets them swim against strong currents that would normally be impassable.

While the overarching goal of the adventure is to neutralize the space station located in each biome, Jupiter & Mars also features lots of light environmental puzzle solving and other kinds of moment-to-moment gameplay. Throughout the journey, you'll encounter various sea life in need of assistance; early on in the game, a mother turtle asks you to rescue her babies, who are scattered about the area and tangled in plastic. You'll need to use echolocation to track down the turtles and free them, thereby opening up a pathway to a new location. During the course of your adventure, you'll also come across collectibles in the form of trinkets and other remnants of human society. These are hidden around the environment and tucked away in clam shells that Mars can crack open, encouraging you to poke around and explore each locale.

Jupiter & Mars doesn't yet have a release date, but the game is slated to release for PS4 in late 2018. While the title is compatible with PSVR, the headset isn't required to play it. For an even closer look at the game, you can watch us play 13 minutes of it in the video above. The footage is taken from an early build and may not necessarily be reflective of the final version.

Zone of the Enders got a bit of a bum rap as a series overall, being more famous as the game that came with the Metal Gear Solid 2 demo than anything else. Those with the patience, however, would discover one of the most distinct mech games of the day, with more than a heaping dollop of trademark Hideo Kojima madness therein. The 2nd Runner is an improvement on the original in many ways, to be certain, but held against modern standards, Zone of the Enders comes off awful rusty.

There is a story, but it's nigh incomprehensible, even with the caveat that Kojima's fingerprints are all over it. Having prior knowledge of the original doesn't help much either. Basically, two years after the events of the original Zone of the Enders, a miner named Dingo Egret on one of Jupiter's moons finds the frame-mech hero, Jehuty, buried beneath the surface. When the evil army BAHRAM nearly kills Dingo trying to retrieve the armor again, Jehuty is forced by a rebel spy to join with Dingo, keeping him alive using the mech's life support until they complete their mission of blasting the army straight to hell.

Ideally, you'd be able to simply barrel past the story and get to what's good, which is the mech combat, but The 2nd Runner's pacing stutters along. Every stride the game hits is interrupted to deliver more nonsensical ranting on unstoppable power, duty, and the nature of war. Soured even further by English voiceovers that are one step removed from Symphony of the Night-level broad theatrics, the story is a irritating rash all over what should be a fairly straightforward mech combat experience.

Simplicity, really, works in the game's favor. You have a sword, a laser, a rocket-assisted boost, and a shield. Each stage progresses on a fairly linear path, with tiny corridors and loading areas opening up into massive arenas where, for the most part, you're expected to kill everything that moves. Your enemies are generally either flying grunts around Jehuty's own size that go down easy, or swarms of tiny annoyances you can take down en masse by using a special missile barrage. That's generally the gameplay loop, and it only gets more exhilarating the more cannon fodder the game throws at you.

ZOE shows its age most is in its control scheme. It's not necessarily unworkable, but it involves unlearning 15 years of developers figuring out elegant ways of moving around 3D spaces. Two face buttons control elevation, while the dash button is unintuitively set to the shoulders. Despite much of Jehuty's moveset relying on dashing, and fast counter-maneuvers to get in and out of an opponent's space, the motions required to do so feel awkward, even in the new “Pro” configuration that remaps the shoulder buttons and subweapon selects.

The 4K bump in resolution and soundscape enhancements are certainly noticeable, but aside from introducing brand-new textures to the mix, ZOE was always going to wear its PS2 roots rather boldly. Honestly, the game would lose something without that trademark Kojima Productions cinematic judder during intense moments. Instead, Konami went the next step, allowing the entire game to be played in VR. It's a great idea, one that'd be a welcome experiment for a lot of older titles--there's certainly an extra level of immersion, and the aforementioned new soundscape really comes to life in VR, forcing you to use your ears more than your eyes to figure out where enemies and projectiles are coming from.

ZOE shows its age most is in its control scheme.

The control scheme still mucks things up quite a bit, however, and not being able to see your special moves as you use them is a pretty big detriment in busy stages. The game does try to mitigate this, keeping a holographic representation of your avatar as it would be in the regular game on the right-hand side of the cockpit, but taking your eyes off the action is a bad idea, especially during the game's frantic boss fights. Unfortunately, sometimes you have to; bosses have a bad habit of getting up close and personal. In a crowded area, the only thing stopping you from being cornered and slashed to death in three hits is the kind of situational awareness the VR mode doesn't inherently give you. There is a special VR difficulty mode that makes dealing with enemies easier, but it swings the game too far in the other direction towards cakewalk territory.

While Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner pushed the envelope when it first launched, it's more admirable for the ways in which it tries to inject depth into a formula that never required it to be successful. There are certainly ambitions to be appreciated, and Konami has at least put some effort into preserving the experience as it was, for better or worse. Still, those ambitions aren’t enough to fight the feeling that it hasn’t been outclassed several times over in the years since.

Yesterday I wrote about how, despite being otherwise gorgeous and fun, Battle for Azeroth has some big problems with its gear system. For the last few weeks, the WoW community has been very vocal about these issues, and today game director Ion Hazzikostas is taking to the Warcraft subreddit to respond to these concerns.

You can check out the thread for yourself, but we'll be rounding up Hazzikostas' answers to the most pressing questions as he posts them and sharing them here to make it all a little easier to read, sorted by topic.

Azerite Armor
If you didn't read my full account of why players hate Azerite Armor, here's the basic run down. Azerite Armor are pieces of head, shoulder, and chest armor that are effectively like individual skill trees with special traits that unlock at different tiers based on the level of your Heart of Azeroth. This necklace gains experience points from all sorts of activities. It's a cool system by design, but players have three major issues with it:

Azerite Armor traits are often boring or not that powerful.
The grind to unlock traits feels disproportionate to the reward.
Equipment that should be an upgrade often isn't because your Heart of Azeroth isn't leveled up enough to unlock traits on more powerful gear, or the traits just plain suck compared to ones you already have.
That's a rough summary of the problems redditor 'drysart' laid out in hopes that Hazzikostas could provide some insight into how Blizzard feels about the system and players' reception of it.

In response, Hazzikostas had this to say: "We’re certainly not entirely happy with how the system is playing out, and all of these are very valid concerns. We agree that it’s a problem for someone to look at a 30-ilvl upgrade under normal circumstances and feel like it’s not worth equipping. I know this risks sounding like a cop-out, but a few of the problems you've outlined simply boil down to tuning."

You can read the full response here, but Hazzikostas goes on to say that even though players might not be able to unlock all their Azerite traits right away, the system is designed so the most powerful traits unlock first. He also points out that while Azerite Armor of different degrees of power might share the same traits, those found in more powerful pieces will scale upward and be stronger. "That was by design," Hazzikostas wrote, "so that you wouldn’t feel as much of a loss when upgrading to a higher level item that isn’t yet fully unlocked."

Hazzikostas then explains there are problems with the system. Some traits that are actually cool are just too weak to be useful, and they will be buffed. Likewise, traits that are too overpowered will be tuned down. What's really exciting though is that traits that are just plain boring are going to be swapped out with more interesting ones in a future patch. And as more updates add new raids and dungeons, whole new traits will be added as well.

"In terms of long-term prospects, we see the current system as a foundation upon which to continue building, not a treadmill to throw out there and let sit passively for the rest of the expansion. We’ll be adding loads of new traits in future content updates, for starters. But tuning work is something that is already ongoing, and which will ramp up in the very near future as we now have most of the data we need to make these adjustments."

Island Expeditions aren't rewarding
Redditor 'jakl277' asked about Island Expeditions and why they're not rewarding and feel too similar each time you play them.

Hazzikostas responded by saying that a hotfix is being implemented which will boost the drop rates of cosmetic items. More importantly, however, he explained that Island Expeditions are a "entirely new type of content" and implied that comes with a whole new set of design challenges. To combat the familiarity that comes with running them, Blizzard is looking at adding new events to "increase the variety of the experiences players have when jumping into Expeditions." 

Similarly, the layout of the islands is being looked at to add more diversity. Like Azerite Armor, Blizzard is looking to refine and build on the feature over time which will hopefully offset how routine they feel.

In response to jakl227's point about Islands feeling too fast paced and competitive, Hazzikostas said that's the nature of the experience and it "isn't for everyone." In the future, Blizzard wants to use the underlying tech, like advanced AI and procedural generation, and apply it to other different types of activities that might suit less competitive-minded players. 

Some class specializations suck
Sarcastryx brings up a really good point by asking Hazzikostas about the state of certain class specializations. Though I briefly mentioned it in the initial review, Battle for Azeroth's class design felt more out of wack than usual—especially for certain classes like shamans.

Hazzikostas responded by saying that WoW's class design revolves around making sure each of its 36 specializations (think of each of these as their own separate class) should bring something to the table that other specializations don't necessarily have.

In regards to shamans, Hazzikostas said that the healing Restoration spec already received some buffs and they expect it'll continue to improve over time. Elemental and Enhancement shamans, however, "could use their niches more clearly defined" but will have to wait for an upcoming patch since it's beyond the realm of what they can easily hotfix.

The Humble Monthly Trove is a collection of games available to active Humble Monthly subscribers, including Humble Originals and a selection of other DRM-free games—similar to Origin Access but with more of an indie bent. Until Sunday, nine of the games in the current Trove, including Alan Wake's American Nightmare, Limbo, Arawkanoid, and Crescent Bay, are free for the taking. 

Free for the taking and the keeping, to be clear, but in something of a departure the games will not be delivered via Steam keys. Instead, because these are specifically DRM-free versions, you'll download and run standalone installers for each. 

Here's the full list of the games up for grabs: 

Alan Wake's American Nightmare
Limbo
Uurnog
Fortune 499
Tiny Echo
Cat Girl Without Salad: Amuse-Bouche
Arawkanoid
Thor.n
Crescent Bay

The full Humble Trove has more than 60 games, with new ones added each month. The nine freebies will be available to download until 11:59 pm PT on September 16.

ReCore was very disappointing, not just because it looked so good but turned out so bad, but because if you wanted it you had to deal with the persistent unpleasantness of the Windows Store. No longer, however: Today, it and four other previously MS-exclusive games—Super Lucky's Tale, Disneyland Adventures, Rush: A Disney – Pixar Adventure, and Zoo Tycoon: Ultimate Animal Collection, are all available on Steam. 

The appearance of these games on Steam is the result of a deal between Microsoft and THQ Nordic, announced in August at Gamescom, that grants THQ the right to distribute Microsoft-published games on Steam and in physical formats. As reported by Variety, it's not known if other games are included in the deal, but it doesn't reflect particularly well on Microsoft's efforts to make the Windows Store (which still sucks, by the way) into a viable competitor to Steam. Or Origin. Or Itch.io, or Uplay, or pretty much anything, really. 

The Steam version of ReCore is the Definitive Edition, which was originally released in August 2017 and features improved graphics and performance, higher level caps, new achievements, new weapons, dungeons, and overworld locations, a new T8NK Corebot frame, and more. It goes for $20/£15/€17.

if you're looking to build a new gaming PC (or upgrade the foundation on your existing one) and want to go with AMD, you can save a chunk of money on a bundle deal at Newegg.

The site is selling an AMD Ryzen 5 2600 processor and MSI X470 Gaming Pro motherboard for $249.98, plus there's a $20 mail-in-rebate available, bringing the price down to $229.98. That's $70 below the combined list price for both items.

AMD's Ryzen 5 2600 is a good bang-for-buck option for a gaming PC. It's a 6-core/12-thread part clocked at 3.4GHz to 3.9GHz, with 16MB of L2 cache. The Ryzen 5 2600X is slightly faster at 3.6GHz to 4.2GHz, but this bundle deal is only $10 more than the price of that chip by itself.

As for the motherboard, pertinent specs include two PCIe 3.0 x16 slots, a PCIe 2.0 x16 slot, three PCIe 2.0 slots, six SATA 6Gbps ports, two M.2 slots slots, and USB 3.1 connectivity.

Resonance of Fate didn’t exactly set the world on fire when the JRPG launched on consoles in 2010, despite a brilliant combat system, but it might be getting another chance to show off. A PC and PS4 version recently appeared on Germany’s video game classification body’s website. 

There’s no official announcement yet, so here’s an eight-year-old trailer.

EVGA is making it easy to add a dash of color to its line of GeForce RTX 2080 Ti and GeForce RTX 2080 graphics cards by bundling in a trim kit, though if you're not happy with the included color choice, the company is offering to send a different one at no additional charge.

"The EVGA Trim Kit Promotion offers you a great way to customize your new EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti or 2080 graphics card. Although each eligible card ships with one trim color, you can now have a chance to pick another. EVGA trim kits are easy to install and covered by warranty," EVGA says.

At present, trim kits come in three colors: black, white, and red. Eligible cards ship with different color trim kits, so your choice of an additional color will depend on what came with your model to begin with. So for example if your card shipped with a white trim kit, you would be able to choose between black or red.

The trim kits consist of little pieces that install on various parts of the graphics card, as shown above. To claim an additional trim kit, you have to answer a short, three-question survey, then upload a valid proof of purchase from an authorized reseller. You also have to register your card with EVGA when it arrives.

Once you meet those requirements, EVGA will send you an email asking to confirm which color trim kit you want. Looking over the fine print, qualifying cards include all 16 current GeForce RTX 2080 Ti and 2080 models.

Daemonical flings a group of people onto an island where they must survive until daybreak, but there’s a catch. Obviously. One of these people is secretly a demon primed to slaughter the group. It sounds a lot like Dead by Daylight but with the paranoia and deceit of party games like Werewolf. It also appears to be looking for new players, hence the free weekend on Steam. I decided to see if my demon-surviving skills were up to snuff. 

Even by Early Access standards, Daemonical is a bit slight. There’s one map and one monster at the moment, and when you strip away the paranoia and treachery, it devolves into a game of hide-and-seek. Or in my case, run-around-in-the-woods-and-get-eaten. 

Things took a bad turn pretty quickly. Before I even had time to get my bearings, the demon revealed itself and killed one of us. We were all a bit surprised, including the demon, who just stood around staring at us. Thankfully, that hesitation gave us a chance to make a break for it. Unfortunately we all picked different directions. That would be the last I’d see of my fellow survivors. 

While the demon can be injured and slowed down, it can’t be killed; the only way to win as a human, then, is by staying alive until dawn or by sending the demon back to Hell. The latter involves a ritual that requires a series of components hidden in buildings dotted around the forest. I got lost pretty quickly. It’s dark, a thick haze covers everything, indoors and outside, and I didn’t spot any landmarks. 

I did meet a lot of friendly mannequins though! Note that these screens have been brightened up so you can see what the hell is going on:

Developers keep trying to bring back Jagged Alliance, without much success. There was the misguided MMO, Jagged Alliance Online, in 2012; the scaled back remake of Jagged Alliance 2, Jagged Alliance: Back in Action, also in 2012; and finally the Kickstarted Jagged Alliance: Flashback in 2013, which wasn’t very good either. Now there’s Jagged Alliance: Rage, developed by the same studio behind the MMO. It was announced last month and now there’s some gameplay footage to go along with it. 

Rage is set 20 years after the first game, in a jungle full of drug-fuelled enemies. You drop in with a team of battered veterans who, along with gun-toting foes to worry about, must deal with dehydration and psychological trauma. It sounds a bit grim, in stark contrast to the cartoon aesthetic. 

Over on the official site there are a few more details, including character biographies for the three revealed mercenaries. Expect two-player co-op, adventure elements mixed in with the tactical shenanigans and ‘rage skills’. The latter are unique abilities that get increasingly more powerful as fights continue. 

Will this be the game to finally live up to the ‘90s originals? I’m not going to hold my breath. 

Jagged Alliance: Rage is due out on Steam on September 27.