XSEED has announced that Fate/EXTELLA: The Umbral Star is out now on Nintendo Switch and PC. The Steam version is 10% off in the first week of sale and all DLC is 20% off. Switch owners might get the better deal, however, as the Switch version comes with over 30 DLC costumes and the exclusive "Unshackles Bride" outfit. Nathan really enjoyed this Musuo-style hack-n-slash title when it debuted on the PS4 back in January, so if you missed Fate/EXTELLA the first time around it might be worth picking it up for the platform of your choice. Here's the launch trailer if you want to get a feel for the game.

2K Games has released three new pictures showcasing NBA 2K18. Isaiah Thomas of the Boston Celtics and DeMar DeRozan look pretty spot on. You also get the first look of Paul George in an Oklahoma City Thunder uniform after being traded from the Indiana Pacers.

With all the news surrounding Kyrie Irving this past week, don't be surprised if the cover athlete is sporting a jersey of a different team. Cleveland is looking to trade their star point guard after he requested it, but I wouldn't be surprised as well if he was still on the team day 1.

NBA 2K18 will be coming to the consoles and PC on September 19, 2017.

Starfire, most notably of the Teen Titans, will be making her way to Injustice 2 in August but a look at her was revealed over the weekend.

You can see the signature supernova green powers as the Queen of Tamaran and she's pretty angry that her love, Dick Grayson, was killed by Damien Wayne. This is her debut in a fighting game and it looks like the folks at NetherRealm has done a great job of translating her to the video game space.

For those who haven't heard, the recent Pokemon GO festival over in Chicago was...well, apparently calling it a "dumpster fire" is being nice. Because of that trainers now have the opportunity to battle and capture the legendary Pokemon Lugia and Articuno via raids. However, there was some confusion as to how long they'd be around.  Yesterday we were told by Niantic that the bonuses that were obtained at the festival that were going to end last night will now continue through Thursday evening, and today we got an update about the birds.

As trainers are aware, Lugia and Articuno are both available in raids. According to a blog post by Niantic, Articuno will be available through Monday July 31st. When it comes to the other two, Moltres will be released on Monday July 31st and will be available through Monday, August 7th, while Zapdos will be obtainable from Monday August 7th through August 14th. Basically each bird will be available for about a week with Articuno having a couple of extra days since it was released this past Saturday. However, I didn't see anything about how long Lugia would be available or any info on Ho-Oh, Mewtwo, Mew, and Celebii. For more info regarding the legendary birds and how the recent festival went, check out Niantic's blog post.

Good guy Supergiant Games just released the full Pyre Original Soundtrack on YouTube for everyone's listening pleasure. As with Supergiant's previous games, Darren Korb composes and, along with Ashley Barrett, brings the indie ballad vocals. It's always iffy recommending video game music outside of video games themselves. Like, I'm not going to be playing the Pyre OST in my car with the windows down and the system up. But it's good stuff, if you're looking for chill old-world instrumentals that aren't afraid to add a rusty trip-hopped edge to the musical layering. More importantly, I found that the soundtrack, in-game, advances and retreats with an uncanny, balletic ability. Especially in a dialogue-rich game that involves plenty of reading on the player's part, the musical mood setting in Pyre plays a tangible role in character development. It's not just a dramatic shift in pitch and volume; it's like the music interweaves itself as part of the fabric making up Pyre's landscape, not to mention its cast of characters.

Without the game's context, I'm sure some of that would roll off your back. But if you want to listen to what it sounds like when a composer is every bit the world developer that the artists and writers are, then give this soundtrack a spin.

There are 39 tracks, starting with "In the Flame," which is, lyrically, a primer for Pyre's gameplay. It's nearly two hours of music, all said and done, making it Korb's longest published work to date. Pyre's OST alone doesn't blow my mind like when Bastion's OST came out; six years later, I still give that one spins. But Pyre draws a familiar tonality from Korb's previous work on both Bastion and Transistor.

Pyre just launched to nearly universal critical acclaim [GN score: 9 out of 10]. And with good reason. It's the best party-based RPG I've played in the last 12 months, and that includes Torment: Tides of Numenera and definitely includes Mass Effect: Andromeda.

Pyre is available (as of today) on PC and PS4.

WWE 2K18 will be getting some kind of Collectors Edition this year with physical goodies, but the contents of said edition haven't been revealed. If a recent Tweet from the official WWE 2K Twitter page is to be believed however, we may get info this coming thursday. 

Who thinks we should do something about that question mark? #WWE2K18 #Thursday

The question mark refers to the chart released when the game was announced about what you get with each edition. The Collectors Edition was simply marked with a question mark in regards to what was included with it. 

The WWE 2K17 Collectors Edition included an NXT Wrestlers DLC pack, a Finn Balor action figure and a lithograph autographed by Shinsuke Nakamura so I would assume this years edition will include some similar content including another figurine and an autograph. 

WWE 2K18 releases on October 17 for PS4 and Xbox One. 

PlayStation stopped by Supergiant Games for a little one-on-one time with Greg Kasavin, writer and creative director behind Pyre. PlayStation is asking Kasavin, on a basic level, what Pyre is, and the two eventually go head-to-head in a multiplayer match.

Pyre's game arena—where the "Rites" take place—all happens on one screen, so there's no splitscreen to dissect your TV, and, naturally, this makes couch competition very doable. 

The Rites, the in-game game you see them play, is a little football, a little soccer, a little hockey; a little bit of a lot of things. Kasavin finds those observations interesting, but cites more arcade-like sports games, like NBA Jam, as a greater influence on their design.

The PlayStation guy hints in the YouTube video's notes that he's "only played, like, one time before," but does quite well for himself. He picks it up and plays it without any direction from Kasavin, and even scores a few goals that weren't given to him for free. But Kasavin had a lot more strategic moves in his tool belt, and wasn't going to let some rookie come into his house and walk away with full bragging rights.

Pyre is out tomorrow, July 25. If you're familiar with Supergiant's previous work, Bastion and Transistor, then you're the choir and don't need any preaching to. If you don't know, then understand that this sports-RPG isn't the be all end all of Pyre, because the music, the art, and the writing carry Pyre even further than dunking on your opponent in the Rites.

Our review of Pyre goes up bright and early tomorrow morning.

Eagle Dynamics has posted the first of what will presumably be a series of YouTube videos introducing their long awaited model of the DCS F-18 Hornet Fighter/Attack aircraft. The F-18 will be by far the most complex aircraft they've developed - the A10-C was the former holder of that honor. 

Unfortunately they have disabled embedding of the video, so you will have to use this link. It's worth the click.

My general rule is to wait until new airplanes or helicopters go on sale before I buy, but this case might be different. I've waited a long time for a study-level, carrier-capable American fighting jet. 

Tolkien fans are no doubt familiar with Shelob, the giant frikken spider that gave Frodo and Sam so much trouble in The Two Towers (Return of the King, if you're following the movies). Shelob will also be making an appearance in Middle Earth: Shadow of War, but as revealed in this San Diego Comic Con trailer, Shelob can take the form of both a terrifying arachnid and a beautiful, but forbidding woman.

Apparently she can share prophecies and premonitions with Talion, but calling this a Faustian bargain might be underselling it a bit. Take a look at the trailer below. Shadow of War is still on track for an October 10th release date.

Nidhogg 2 has got a new trailer. It's light on runtime, but the thing is, it's Nidhogg 2. It's run, kill, get eaten by giant space wurm, repeat. As reported by Patrick Aloia,  we had a great time destroying each other and just seeing who got the upper hand in each of our short, adrenaline-fueled matches. The character design seems a little different than when we played at E3 in June. Most notably, it looks like players can customize their characters, with faces looking a bit more expressive. Altogether those are welcome changes though, as it gives the game a few more layers.

Nidhogg 2 comes out August 15th