The Initiative was revealed back at E3 2018 and is likely the team at Xbox Game Studios, which is going to offer the most ambitious game as soon as it's ready. It's being assembled with the best talents in the industry and has a big budget, so Xbox fans can look forward to what they're working on.

We do know that times are going to be a bit longer still before we can see what they're working on, actually, but thanks to a tweet from Sunset Overdrive's game director Drew Murray, now at The Initiative, we can see that the work on that unannounced title is underway and proceeding pretty well. 

In a first tweet, Murray posted a photo with the team and said that "playtesting is informative, essential, and, if you have any ego, will leave you in the gutter." He added that "fortunately, the design team have souls of iron coated in Teflon, so we just have fancy cocktails and talk about what we learned and what to fix next."

So, it looks like the studio has done the initial phase of game design and now is testing stuff right as they end a portion of the game to see how and if it works at all. He also shared a second tweet where he claimed that the "playtesting phase for me runs from the day you have anything working onscreen until after you’ve shipped. Don’t read too much into it."

Playtesting phase for me runs from the day you have anything working onscreen until after you’ve shipped. Don’t read too much into it. 😀

— Drew Murray (@PlaidKnuckles) October 15, 2019

Again, it's very early, but the simple fact that The Initiative has something working on a screen is a step forward if you consider that the studio has been founded only one year ago or so.

It features Christian Cantamessa, the writer and designer of Red Dead Redemption, God of War producer Brian Westergaard, veteran employees of Respawn, BioWare, and Naughty Dog among its ranks, and is led by Square Enix and Activision boss Darrell Gallagher, so we can surely expect something big to come out of that.

From what we know, it should be a third-person action-adventure game, so something in the vein of God of War or Red Dead Redemption should work, and of course, considering the trends in gaming, it should be open world or at least feature some sandbox areas. Is this your cup of tea?

It’s official -- things are about to go big with Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield. Actually, make that Gigantamax.

The official Pokemon YouTube channel shared a new trailer today, confirming the return of several older favorite characters to the new games -- in gigantic form. The trailer features the likes of PIkachu and others transforming into enormous Pokemon characters, changing the landscape of the battle significantly.

First up is Pikachu, armed with his G-Volt Max Crash. It can paralyze all opponents in their tracks. Players can unlock him by using play records from Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu!

Next is Eevee, who can be unlocked with the same method for Pokemon: Let’s Go Eevee! In Gigantamax form, they can make rivals infatuated with them through the G-Max Cuddle.

The next Pokemon is none other than Gigantamax Charizard, who, as you might imagine, can deliver a ton of damage. He unleashes mega damage with fire, which is bad news for all those non-fire types.

Ready for some winged fun with Gigantamax Butterfree? Prepare for their onslaught of G-Max Befuddle, which causes poison, paralysis or asleep status upon contact. Even the biggest Pokemon don’t stand a chance with this.

And finally, Meowth -- that’s right! Activate his Gigantamax character by pre-purchasing the game, with the offer available through January 15. Unleashing the Gold Rush, he can create confusion amongst enemies, while earning an in-game cash bonus!

Want more information? You won’t have to wait long, as a new Nintendo Direct is set to take place later today. It’ll air around 2 PM BST, so keep those eyes peeled.

In the meantime, enjoy the trailer below and prepare for Gigantamax good times when Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield release on November 15 for Nintendo Switch!

Fortnite is a game of medium difficulty, obviously everything depends not only on skill, but also on luck. Do you want to increase the difficulty even more or do you want to make your screenshots or videos more beautiful? Don't worry, you can remove the user interface and the HUD. This is not a difficult process, but you will need to know some basic things so as not to disturb your gameplay sessions in any way.

How to remove the HUD in Fortnite?

Removing the Fortnite HUD is not complex, here are the steps to follow:

• Step 1: Actively participate in the game.
• Step 2: Go to the settings menu.
• Step 3: Deactivate the various cursors present.

Step 1 is the most annoying because you cannot remove the HUD unless you actively participate in a game, ie you are not dead or you are not on a break.

This means that before making the changes you have to start the game and participate in a game. So as soon as you start the game you will have to:

• Step 1: Press ESC on the keyboard.
• Step 2: Go to the game settings menu.
• Step 3: Look for the gear on the top panel and select it.
• Step 4: Here you should see two tabs ie Game and HUD, select the second and you will have a series of new options to choose from.

The options you can toggle on and off include:

• Reticle
• Player Health
• Resources
• Minimap
• Quick Bar
• Target Info
• Pickup Loot Stream
• Map and Backpack Keys
• Elimination Feed
• Net Debug Stats
• Quest Progress.

The advice is to disable these items by positioning the cursor on OFF. Be sure to also turn off the Net Debug Stats option. Once the HUD is turned off, things will appear on the screen, ie your team members, the compass, the timer and the remaining player icons.

How To Take Completely Clean Screenshots

Even though you can, as described above, remove the HUD, some elements will still remain. The best way to take completely clear screenshots, or record footage, from Fortnite is to use the Replay Mode.

Replay Mode allows you to save your matches, play them back in the game, and a number of different settings, including camera angles. You can set a drone camera to follow any player, or watch from the standard third person perspective. 

To access your Replays, you just go to the Careers tab, then click on Replays at the bottom of the screen. This will open a folder containing replays of your recent matches. You can sort replays by length, date, or how well you did in the match, making it easy to find your winning rounds.

After you have loaded up the match, you can then use the timeline to quickly jump to a section of the game you want, make your camera selections, set things like Exposure, Aperture, Focal Length and Auto Focus options, and then take your screenshot. 

To completely hide the HUD, just hit the small Eye icon shown above in the red box. This will completely hide all elements of the HUD, allowing you to take perfectly clean screenshots. 

While there is a little more work involved that just disabling HUD elements in the game, it leads to a better in-game experience while playing, because you don’t lose important information, and also a better screenshot because you can take time to set it all up, and get a completely clean image.

Ever since its announcement a little while back, Vampire: The Masquerade -- Bloodlines 2 has been getting fans all sorts of riled up for its early 2020 release. That said, it looks like Drac is going to need a little extra time in the coffin.

The official Twitter account for the upcoming game shared an update, announcing that it has been delayed to late 2020. It links to a blog post straight from the development team at Hardsuit Labs, with Andy Kipling and Brian Mitsoda going into detail about the delay.

“For the last three and a half years, we’ve worked hard to bring you a worthy successor to Bloodlines 1. To us, that meant not only making good on the ambitions of this remarkable game but also a duty to ensure we would not repeat its mistakes. Today, we have to tell you that we need some more time to get you the game you’ve been waiting for. Although Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 will still launch in 2020, we have decided to value quality over making the Q1 launch window,” the team explained.

“There are some things we wanted to hit under all circumstances when we set out to follow in Bloodlines’ footsteps: A deep, branching storyline; fascinating and amazingly acted characters; the rich universe of the World of Darkness. We firmly believe that we’re on the right track to get you all of this.

“On the flip side, there’s the responsibility to avoid some of the issues that plagued the first game, which was famously launched too early. Over the last few months, it became clear that to stick to our original date would risk repeating that mistake. We won’t do that. In the end, everyone working on this game wants to offer you the best Bloodlines 2 we can.

“This hasn’t been easy- nor our first choice. Throughout 2019 we have been improving our processes and growing our teams. However, it soon became clear that this alone won’t allow us to deliver the quality we want at the date we promised.”

The company also noted it will present at PDXCon this weekend, with a livestream taking place on Saturday, October 21. A Reddit thread will be available for those that have questions about the game.

The delay is sad news, but that will make Bloodlines 2 all the better in the long run.

Vampire: The Masquerade -- Bloodlines 2 will release for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC in late 2020.

Pokémon Sword and Shield fans cannot get enough of learning about the game. Luckily, Game Freak is eager to share little tidbits about the game at small, steady increments until the game releases later this year on Nov. 16. While we may have plenty of time until it comes out, there's still plenty to learn and explore it.

Another way trainers are going to get their first glimpse in the game is an upcoming Web Application Game Freak is going to release showing off the game's Wild Area. The Wild Area is where trainers are going to explore the world with the chance to encounter random Pokémon and other battle-hungry trainers.

However, you can't get into the Web Application at this time. Game Freak is going to release the experience for players to explore on their PC, Mac, and other smart devices sometime in early November. It's going to serve as an excellent marketing point for the games right before they release. Players can get excited about exploring these lush areas, encountering wild Pokémon on a day-to-day basis, and scout out areas they're going to go camping with their companions.

The application is going to have a 360-degree camera, giving those who jump into the experience the chance to look around as if they were legitimately there in the digital environment. 

Earlier today, we also got a new glimpse at a new series of Gigantamax Pokémon through a brand new trailer. You can check out the trailer over here to see who made the cut. We're also likely going to get more updates as the launch date for Pokémon Sword and Shield gets closer. 

You can pre-order both, or one of the games, right now before they launch on Nov. 16 for the Nintendo Switch.

Are Gears 5 fans interested in checking out some new characters? There's six coming in hot, and they're going to be available today. These new Operation 1 characters are COG Gear, DeeBee, the Warden, and General RAAM. For the upcoming Terminator: Dark Fate movie, players are going to get the chance to play as Grace, voiced by Mackenzie Davis, and the new Terminator model Rev-9.

Here's what we know about the upcoming heroes and villains coming to the game:

COG Soldier

A trained soldier in the Coalition of Ordered Governments is known as a Gear. After they’ve completed their extensive training, they must pledge “…I shall hold my place in the machine and acknowledge my place in the Coalition. I am a Gear.”

• Horde & Escape Abilities (Support Role)
  • Ultimate – ‘Team Revive’ Instantly revive yourself and any ally in your team which are down, but not out
  • Passive – Enemies that die with your mark reduce the cooldown on your Ultimate
• Versus Arcade Abilities
  • Loadout – Lancer, Auto Pistol, Smoke Grenade
  • Passive – Kills reward supply of Active Reload ammo to current weapon (0.5 multiplied by the clip size of the weapon)
  • Bounty – Multi-kills reward +1 skull (six-second window frame)

DeeBee

From construction and civil service to all manner of military applications, DeeBee automation has fundamentally transformed COG society.

• Versus Arcade Abilities
  • Loadout – Lancer, Auto Pistol, Smoke Grenade
  • Passive – Short range X-Ray vision through walls
  • Bounty – Execution kills award +1 skulls

General RAAM

General RAAM rose to command the Locust military through incomparable cunning and ruthlessness. In the name of Queen and Horde, RAAM and his blights marched resolute to conquer the surface of Sera – and nearly succeeded.

• Versus Arcade Abilities
  • Loadout – Lancer, Auto Pistol, Smoke Grenade
  • Passive Ability – Kills reward supply of Active Reload ammo to current weapon (0.5 multiplied by the clip size of the weapon)
  • Bounty – Multi-kills reward +1 skull (six-second window frame)

Warden

A Warden is a Scion of immense size and strength, adorned with capes and helmets that evoke the raiment of elite Locust Guards. These intimidating foes were likely once high-ranking members of Myrrah’s army.

• Versus Arcade Abilities
  • Loadout: Lancer, Auto Pistol, Smoke Grenade
  • Passive: X-Ray vision through walls (1500 Unreal units/49 feet)
  • Bounty: Execution kill rewards +1 skulls

Unfortunately, we only get a smaller glance at the two Terminator: Dark Fate characters, but you can read what we know about them below.

Grace

• Horde & Escape Abilities (Tank Role)
  • Ultimate – ‘Enhanced Melee’ – All melee hits will knockback and stun enemies
  • Passive – Taking damage reduces Ultimate cooldown time
• Versus Arcade Abilities
  • Loadout – Enforcer, Snub, Flashbang
  • Passive – 75% Explosive resistance
  • Bounty – Explosive Kills +1 skull

Rev-9

• Bounty – Multi Kills +1 skull

Interested players can purchase each of these new heroes in the game's store for 500 iron or unlock them by going through a few series of objectives.

Beyond the characters, what else can Gears 5 multiplayer fans get excited about? In the next few weeks, The Coalition is going to bring out brand new Escape hives, additional multiplayer events, and new customization rewards for players to earn when playing Versus, Horde, and Escape. 

Make sure everyone stays on the lookout for these upcoming events to learn more and how they can get involved.

h/t: Xbox Wire

A big question players in Fortnite are asking right now is if there are bots in the game. There were no bots before the game's latest update, where it jumped from Season 10 to Chapter 2, Season 1. The game's original map got left in a giant black hole, and when it came out, not everything was the same. Among the many new changes in the game, did bots get added to the game?

Are There Bots in Fortnite's Chapter 2?

Yes, there are bots in Fortnite. We've had to learn this from some things Epic Games spoke about a few months ago, where they did detail they were interested in getting more bots in the game to help develop players' skills. With bots, they're going to give players the chance to get better at the game without always having to fight other players for the number one spot.

When asked about it many weeks ago, this is what Epic Games said about the addition:

"In the next Season, we are adding Bots to Fortnite. They will behave similarly to normal players and will help provide a better path for players to grow in skill. Bots will work in conjunction with the new matchmaking system, and as your skill improves, you’ll face fewer Bots. Bots will not be present in Competitive playlists. This is another system that we will continue to update and iterate."

The bots are going to serve as useful slaughter to throw around additional numbers, but they're not going to break the game by making it harder to get first place. They're likely going to be much more comfortable. Some streamers and players might be able to pick out when they do spot a bot because they might be happily attacking a wall with a pick-ax, picking up supplies, or roaming around the map. Although these bots have an AI controlling them, they're not too sophisticated. However, this could change in the future. Epic Games have plans to introduce a brand new mode where players can choose to fight against bots solely. The mode might not get players the most points or let them grind up their battle pass levels, but it could help newcomers get used to the game.

Here's a footage of a Bot lol! (via: @TheYoyoMon)pic.twitter.com/1nXmgFKFvB

— HYPEX - Fortnite Leaks & News 🎃 (@HYPEX) October 15, 2019

These bots cannot use boats or do too much to cause trouble for players. They're going to roam around the map and maybe shoot every once in a while, but it's unlikely a player is going to die from one of them. 

While bots are in the game, but players shouldn't expect too many problems from them. Epic Games is likely going to include more modes and enhance them in the future. It's doubtful they're going to get good enough to drive vehicles, though, they could get better at shooting and making players run around a bit more to get that Victory Royale.

Chimchar will be the star in the next Pokémon Go community day event on Nov. 16.

Community Day in Pokémon Go is a monthly event where one specific Pokémon appears more commonly in the wild. Shiny versions of these particular Pokémon are more likely to appear, and the more of this Pokémon you capture, the more experience you gain. If you can evolve the specific Pokémon to its last evolution, then it learns a completely new move.

Other bonuses go to players who take part in the event, including unique lures and a higher hatch rate for eggs. Community Day only lasts for a few hours in a day, making the time for players to capture that specific Pokémon and evolve them extremely limited.

Related: Best Pokemon Gym Leaders

October’s Community Day centered on Trapinch, the bug looking ground-type Pokémon from Generation three. Evolving Trapinch, all the way to a Flygon, lets it learn Earth Power, a ground-type move it couldn’t learn in the game beforehand.

Today, it got announced that Chimchar would be the star for November’s Community Day. Chimchar is a fire-type monkey Pokémon, who served as the fire starter in Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum. It can fully evolve into Infernape, a fire and fighting-type monkey Pokémon.

Get fired up, Trainers—November’s Community Day Pokémon will be none other than Chimchar, the Chimp Pokémon! 🙊 https://t.co/d9NW6x5gaFpic.twitter.com/a8PCcc5tA1

— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) October 16, 2019

The Chimchar Community Day event launches on Nov. 16. Three hour lures will be available for participating players, and any Chimchar that fully evolves into an Infernape will learn an exclusive move. However, at this moment, the select move is being kept a secret. The event will last from 11am to 2pm

Image Header Source: Serebii

There are a handful of new characters available in Gears 5, and they're available right now. Players are going to have the opportunity to grab these characters through two different members. The Coalition says, if players want to go about getting these characters the hard way, it's going to take ten hours each of playing the game. That's not too bad, especially for those who love to play the game.

Here are the six new characters over here for you to view and check out.

Character Unlocks for Gears 5

Using Iron

The most straightforward method for getting these characters is to pay for them. All of them are worth 500 iron, which equates to around $4.99. For players who may not have the time to play the game or get any of the objectives taken care of, this is the best route to take. Some players may have been earning iron from playing the game and completing the weekly challenges since the game launched. Now is the perfect opportunity to use any iron you've built up to grab your favorite new character.

Playing the Game and Completing Totems

Gears 5 is getting a character to unlock through a new system using totems. Players are going to equip these specific totems to cater to a particular character they're going to be after. There are only four right now: COG Gears, DeeBee, the Warden, and General RAAM. Each totem is going to have five objectives attached to it. Every totem contains the first four objectives, but then there's a fifth explicitly tied to the unique character.

Here are the four objectives, the unique one for each of the four characters:

General Objectives for the Totems:

• XP: Earn 60,000 XP in Versus, Horde or Escape
• Versus: Complete 40 Rounds of Versus
• Horde: Survive 50 Waves of Horde (does not need to be in one match) – any difficulty
• Escape: Survive 18 Acts of Escape – any difficulty

Special Objectives for the Characters of the Totem:

• COG Gear: Get 200 assists as a COG Team character in Versus, Horde or Escape
• DeeBee: Get 100 Reject kills in Horde or Escape
• Warden: Eliminate 10 Wardens in Horde or Escape
• General RAAM: Execute 30 COG characters as a Swarm character

Players are only able to carry one totem at a time. When they're carrying a specific character totem, the objective numbers do not carry over to another totem. During future events, players have the chance to unlock unique skins and look for characters. However, they won't be available unless a player has unlocked that particular character. If you want to make sure you can use every skin you unlock, go through the totems as quickly as possible.

Good luck with Gears 5.

There's a probably going around that seems to be a routine problem for Niantic right before they release a new Pokémon to Pokémon Go and turn it into a shadow. The shadow Pokémon in the game have their hearts turned evil by Team Rocket, and players have the opportunity to reopen them. However, players also have the choice to keep the Shadow Pokémon and keep them in the game. Here's what we know about the current glitch going around regarding Weedle, one of the newest Shadow Pokémon to come to the mobile game.

Shadow Weedle is expected to officially launch on Oct. 17 with other Shadow Pokémon.

What We Know about the Shadow Weedle Glitch in Pokémon Go

If many Pokémon Go players remember the issue with Turtwig from last month, they're likely going to encounter many of the similar problems that are showing up right now. 

For those who are unfamiliar with this issue regarding specific Shadow Pokémon when they first release, here's a quick rundown on what can occur. Players are likely going to see some weird silhouettes of Weedle on their tracker, much like they would when they want to know what creatures are nearby. When they try to narrow in and encounter this Pokémon in the wild, it's going to be a dark shape of Weedle. However, getting closer to Weedle or attempting to confront it could cause the client to crash.

Some players even had the unfortunate issue of seeing a broken Turtwig in their tracker and then crashed shortly after. At the time, Turtwig wouldn't show up in some players' Pokédex or had their screen turn completely blue as if they were staring up at the sky or a white screen.

This error seems to be a returning pattern for Niantic when they introduce a new series of Shadow Pokémon to the game. It initially happened with Ralts right before their Community Day in August, and then Turtwig in September right before their Community Day. It's happening to Weedle this time around. However, it's going to be Chimchar's Community Day in November, which got announced earlier today.

There's no immediate way to prevent this issue from happening. It's all on Niantic's side. Despite this, some players have gotten out of these problems with their game by restarting their application and rebooting it. If the problem persists, players should attempt to leave the immediate area where they found the Weedle and try to load back in when they're gotten enough distance.

Players can expect to see the upcoming Oct. 17 update to add Weedle, among a series of other Pokémon, as a catchable Shadow Pokémon. You can have the option to catch Weedle to unlock their hearts or keep them as a Shadow Pokemon in your roster.

Hopefully, Niantic learns of this consistently persistent error and gives players a suitable solution during this update rollout. You can reference the update Niantic posted earlier this week regarding the newest stuff coming out Pokémon Go's upcoming Halloween event.

There's been a lot of things going on this week for Fortnite. Not only does the game have a new entry in it called Chapter 2, but there are plenty of new mechanics, vehicles, a handful of new weapons, and a brand new battle pass. Players who take part in the battle pass are going to gain access to a variety of unique costumes, emotes, and special in-game cosmetic items. Epic Games posted the most recent patch notes for hotfix 2.40.

Fortnite 2.40 Patch Notes

The patch notes cover a handful of issues and problems some players encountered during the first day the game came back online. It had been gone for roughly 48 hours, stuck in a black hole. When it came out, not everything was the same, and some players were having issues.

Here are the latest patch notes for the game:

2.40 Patch Notes for PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4

• Resolved an issue in which players see the wrong Achievements completed. Don’t worry: your correct Achievement progress is being tracked!
• Fixed restart issue.
• Fixed an issue where the screen appears cropped/zoomed in on consoles.
• Fixed issue related to settings — including keybinding — returning to default.
• Fixed an issue causing drops in FPS on PC.
• Addressed crashing issues.
• Added network connection improvements.
• Added fixes for framerate drop and freezing issues.
• Performance and stability improvements.
• Added fixes for stuttering/lag issues.
• Other under the hood fixes.

For players who were getting the incorrect achievement progress bar for something they weren't working on, it should now correctly show on your profile. While this wrong bar is going away, players are going to receive progress for the achievements they should have been earning.

Another considerable issue plenty of players on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and occasionally on PC was the incorrect screen format. It made the screen look cropped, forcing players to go into their settings to modify how things looked. We had an article over here discussing how to correct this, and what steps players needed to take. If you're still encountering this issue, make sure to check it out right now and make sure you can see your whole screen correctly.

Fortnite's 2.40 patch has already gone out, so players should see the changes and the download immediately when they get into the game.

Sea of Thieves has just released a spooky-themed update, just in time for Halloween.

The Sea of Thieves YouTube channel has released a six minute long video, which showed all the new content available in the game. The biggest new thing included in this update is a brand new fort called Fort of the Damned.

Old Boot Fort from the Ancient Islands has been turned into Fort of the Damned, which is a creepy island filled with smog. There’s a special skeleton fort battle that takes place on this new island, however players need to do a specific ritual to summon the skeletons.

Players will need to get the six colored lights of the Flame of Fate, and a Relic Skull. Different Flame of Fate can be found on the Ferry of the Damned, which is a ship where players are transported to after they die. Each color is determined by how the player died, and the player needs to die in a particular way to get each one of the individual colors. You’ll need each of the colors to fight against the Shadow of the Fates Skeletons in the skeleton battle for Fort of the Damned.

Related: Best Games for the Summer

To get a Relic Skull, players need to accept specific missions from Duke at his black market, which can be found at most outposts. Once at the Fort of the Damned with all the require ingredients, players can light up all the lanterns and place the Relic Skull on a headless skeleton. This will activate the skeleton battle, and players can even face off against an old foe who returned from the dead.

The update includes a bunch of new cosmetics for players. There are now several new outfits for players to buy, with female avatars having more skirts and tops options. You can now even change the colors of some of your outfits, and you can even dye your hair in two different tone colors. The two tone hair colors are only available in the Legendary Hideout.

There’s also brighter colors for gamers to dye their hair into. Most of the new outfits can be found in Duke’s black market shop. Some of the outfits are limited time offer.

Other new things coming in this update are new taunts, and new skeleton skins for pets. Skeleton Captains can now be encountered on islands, and two players can enter the PvP Arena mode, which was originally only made available for four players. A new banjo instrument is also now available for gamers to play.

Related: How to Buy Pets in Sea of Thieves

There’s also a new premium ship based on Killer Instinct, which players can purchase in the game.

If players want to know more about this new update, check out the video below. Sea of Thieves’ October update is available right now.

Plants vs. Zombies fans. Battle for Neighborville is just about ready to be unleashed, bringing with it some more single and multiplayer fun between the two teams. You’ll find hours of fun waiting here, but the first thing you’ll want to get the hang of is promoting your characters. 

There’s a benefit to promoting characters, as some fans may have seen in the previously released Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2. It enables them to earn several goods a few more times. This includes upgrades for your character, with a list for each one.

Let’s take a look at how to promote characters in this hit multiplayer game!

Plants Vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville - How to Promote Characters

Find the Promotion Point

The first thing you’ll need to do, once you rank up properly, is finding the promotion point in your camp. This works for both Plants and Zombies sides.

To find the promotion area, it’s usually located up the stairs in a nearby terrace. But if you need a reminder, stand on the question mark pad in the middle of the camp. This shows you everything available in your section. Look for the “Promotions: Earn New Upgrades’ and head that way.

Go up the stairs and look for a glowing plunger in front of one of your colleagues, who’s ready to discuss promotions. Now let’s get ready for what’s next.

How To Promote Your Character

Once you earn the proper amount of XP, you’ll be able to place promotion on your character. 

There are a few things to keep in mind. A character has to reach level 10 before you can hand down a promotion, just like from Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2. Also, you can only promote up to five times. But each promotion opens up new upgrades.

You’ll see five stars in the promotion menu, starting with Recruit. You can select which characters you want to promote as you proceed with your whole squad shown. Select which one you want to promote.

You’ll see the available promotions for each character, usually with two to choose from. This includes better storage for weapons, the ability to knock back enemies, and other perks. You’ll want to decide which one works best, depending on your style of play.

Once that’s done, the upgrade you select will unlock, and can be applied to your character! From here, you can customize your upgrades, selecting which ones to equip yourself with. Stick around with Leveling Up, as it’ll help you build up XP faster. This, in turn, will help you earn upgrades much, much faster. If you prefer, you can also use your in-game currency to buy XP, which also helps.

And that’s it! All you have to do now is decide which upgrades work best with you for Promotions! Experiment and see what’s available.

Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville releases on October 18 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.

EA’s Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville is a huge draw when it comes to its online multiplayer. (Its singleplayer content isn’t too shabby, either.) That said, some would rather play together locally, as the game supports local co-op with two players.

So how does someone partake in this? Well, there are a few steps to take, but they’re generally easy, no matter which platform you’re playing on. Let’s run down what you need to do!

Plants Vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville - How to Play Split Screen Co-Op Mode

Getting Started With Co-Op

First off, the local split-screen co-op mode is not supported for PC. This may bum some players out, but EA made it explicitly clear that the feature would be exclusive to Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

Still with us? Okay. The next step you’ll need to take is to find the mode. Get into the menu, then have someone plugin a second PlayStation 4 or Xbox One controller. Once they do that, they need to hold either the square or X button, respectively, to activate the second player.

Now, there’s a catch. With the second player, there needs to be a separate profile for them to log into, either on Xbox One or PlayStation 4. The reason for this is because the first player is already logged in with the default account, and the second one can’t skim by as a guest. They need their profile.

Fortunately, this should be easy enough to do in the system’s main menu. You don’t need a heaping amount of information. Just set up the profile, have your friend login, and you’re set!

What Then?

Once you get that profile set up, you should be good to go. The only problem we’ve seen with Battle for Neighborville in this regard is when there’s a message for “no space in the group.” This is a temporary oversight. Once you create the second account for your friend or guest, that message should go away, and you should be set. Then hop in your mode of choice, and it’ll kick in!

You can choose from a variety of modes to battle alongside your friend, so feel free to look around and see what’s right for you. Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville is a friendly game for kids and parents alike, making it the ideal family experience -- no matter which side you choose. It’s a blast for friends that love shooters, too!

Enjoy -- and make sure to get a good teammate!

Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville will release on October 18 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.

While Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville is loaded with great single and multiplayer action, it also has secrets. And we’ve just found a doozy in Giddy Park that will give you access to a pretty cool Secret Gnome location.

There are a few things that you’ll have to do to access it. However, with our step-by-step guide, it’ll be a cinch to activate, and the gnomes’ goods will soon be yours!

Plants Vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville - Giddy Park Secret Gnome Puzzle Solution

Tracking Down the Stone Slabs

First off, as you first enter the park from the boost pads, you may notice a stone tablet sitting in the middle of an area with blue circles. This is the first of six markers you’ll need to activate in the park to open up the secret gnome entrance.

To activate each one, stand on it and press down on the D-pad to go into your emote menu. Now, a randomized emote will not work. You have to select one manually from the menu, though it doesn’t matter which one. As you do that, the stone marker will activate with a bright blue glow.

The picture below will give you an idea of the first tablet’s location.

From there, you’ll want to look around for the other five markers. They’re pretty conveniently located throughout the map, and you can take your time to activate them, just in case enemies are trying to pin you down. Once that’s done, head over to the carnival booth area and go past the one with the balloons. (It’s on the upper floor right where the arcade should be.) You’ll see a small area where you can walk in and see a door with a demon face on it.

Enter and Solve the Puzzle

As you get to the door, you’ll see its eyes coming aglow. It’s here that it’s going to ask for the phrase to get into it. All you need to do is press up on the D-pad and look through your phrases for the word “Gnomes.” Find that, say it, and it’ll open up.

Next, after opening a nearby chest, you’ll get to a puzzle with several symbols on it, in front of three levers. Here’s how the levers work:

The first moves all the symbols to the left side. The right does the opposite, to the right. But the middle will only swap the third and fifth symbols around.

You’ll need to use these accordingly to put the right symbols in place. Once they’re set, you’ll see the gem right below the symbol light up. But you need to get all seven to solve the puzzle.

It could take a bit of time to get them aligned, but here’s what you’ll need, left to right: the shovel, the fence, the flamingo, the flower pot, the glove, the rake, and the boot.

A Reward For Your Efforts!

Do this, and the three chests at the end of the hall will open up. The left and the right ones have 30,000 coins apiece, while the center one holds a Gnomish Spot-Shroom costume for your buddy Night Cap. You can see this rad costume in the pic below.

That’s it! It will take some work and a little patience, but these will nab you great skin, along with some cash!

Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville releases on October 18 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.

Some people look at Minecraft and see a very simple, very ugly looking game, whereas others see beyond the simplistic graphics and see the real beauty on offer. Sure, it's never going to win any best graphics of all time awards but it has a certain something about it that has kept gamers worldwide coming back to it for the last decade. 

Yet even the most ardent Minecraft fan can get bored of looking at the same old textures, over and over again, and you may find yourself yearning for something a little different to add a bit of spice to your game. 

The best part of texture packs is the people that create them try to keep to a theme and, as a whole, they usually succeed. This adds a whole new element to your game and makes you feel, at times, as if you're playing in a different world.

The 10 Best Texture Packs For Minecraft

So today, we take a look at The 10 Best Texture Packs For Minecraft, but before we do, a quick How-To when it comes to installing these things.

How To Install Texture Packs

• Download the pack you want
• Boot up your game
• Click on Options then Texture Packs
• In the Texture Packs Folder, drag and drop the file you've downloaded
• When you launch Minecraft, the new texture should be available for you to play with

LB Photo Realism Reload!

You'll never get a texture pack that looks completely real, like some of the mods you can for GTA V,  but CurseForge's attempt is pretty damn close. Everything is as close to reality as you can expect in a game made up of blocks, and that water effect looks amazing, so if you fancy spending some time in a very pretty world then you could do a lot worse than downloading this.

Cartoon Default Texture Pack

This cell-shaded texture pack makes everything look at tad Borderlands, and that is no bad thing. You might be able to hunt vaults or load up on the most outrageous weapons known to the human race, but if you're looking to brighten up your game, then the Cartoon Default Texture Pack is a good place to start.

Modern HD Pack

It's all well and good living in a forest, fighting off Creepers, and building a house out of twigs and moss but sometimes a guy or gal just longs for the home comforts of modern society. This pack gives you just that. Make your own home, yacht, or skyscraper fit your personality and live the high-life. Beats eating bugs for a living.

Mine Wars

Unleash your inner Jedi / Sith with the Mine Wars Texture Pack. It's a mix and mash of other defunct versions of Star Wars packs, as well as having a fair bit of new stuff added by creator yokoolio. Get your hands on some blasters, sweet, sweet lightsabers, and everything else you'd expect from a Star Wars experience.

Samurai Texture Pack

Have you ever played Minecraft and thought "This is cool and all but what it really needs is some Feudal Japan going on?". No, well then, nothing to see here, you can move along. But for those that are intrigued by this proposition then download the Samurai Texture Pack here.

Eternal Hearts

Pretty self-explanatory this one. Download the Eternal Hearts Texture Pack and turn your Minecraft game into a Kingdom Hearts inspired playground. It's creator, Capt. Corn, says it's a semi-realistic experience but one that should please both cartoon fans and RPG heads alike.

Batman

I love comic books. In fact, its how I got started as a writer, doing best-of lists for another site on Capes and Cowls, so you've got to forgive me here as this isn't just one texture pack I'm offering you, but all the texture packs. Click here and you will find more DC goodness than you can shake a Batarang at.

Rick and Morty

I also love Rick and Morty as well, and if you do too, then you can get Adult Swim's madcap Grandpa and Grandson duo from here along with a few other things as well. It's a work in progress, so keep an eye out for updates.

Glimmar’s Steampunk Texture Pack

Turn your Minecraft experience into a dystopian future with Glimmar’s Steampunk Texture Pack. It doesn't do much except give the world a more realistic if somewhat depressing look, but if you're a fan of Steampunk, then you'll be used to viewing life that way anyhow.

Retro NES

And finally, for those among us who want their Minecraft experience to look like an old NES game, then download Retro NES. Turn your world into the Mushroom Kingdom at the drop of a file and have fun pretending your Mario. Or Bowser. Depending on what side of the morality scale you fall on, I suppose.

On my seemingly endless quest to bring you every possible updated guide we have on Minecraft, I find myself staring into the malaise that is Minecraft Aventure Maps. Let's face it here, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of the bloody things to choose from so it's quite the Herculian task that this writer finds himself about to take on.

Now I could list the 10 Best that I've come across, but I feel like you deserve a little more than that, so in a change of pace, I've decided to go the all-seeing Oracle on this subject,  Minecraft Maps. This unbelievably handy source has rated the top 100 Adventure Maps that you can download for Mojang's beloved game, and today I'll be bringing you the cream of the crop, the ones that you need.

The 10 Best Minecraft Adventure Maps

Terra Restore 2

Download Here

Terra Restore 2 is the most popular, and therefore the best, Minecraft Adventure Map ever created. It has between 11 - 14 hours of fresh new gameplay, can be completed solo or with up to four other people, and can be as easy or as difficult as you like. Its fantasy story includes boss fights and challenges and a whole host of other bits and pieces for you to get your teeth into. Inspired by the likes of Zelda and World of Warcraft, Terra Restore 2 is a thing of beauty.

Soulbound

Download Here

The Soulbound Adventure map is, regardless of the photo proceeding, this entry, a dark and foreboding place. It's a two-player co-op, so if you want to experience it, then you'll need to have a friend handy, but when you do, you'll get an episodic story with between 7 - 10 hours of runtime and four very epic boss battles.

Assassin Of Steve 3

Download Here

That pesky Assassin Of Steve has escaped once more with a relic that he plans to use to end the world, and it's up to you and your ragtag group of friends to stop him before he does so. Another map you can play with up to four other people, the Assassin Of Steve 3 will give you between 16 - 20 hours of gameplay, and that's worth the free price of admission alone.

Payday 2 Endgame

Download Here

Doing a far better job than OVERKILL Software ever did in giving us the Payday sequel we wanted, Payday 2 Endgame boasts seven playable heists, along with custom mobs and a load of achievement, as well as item hops, custom sounds that go pew-pew, and the usual one to four-player ability.

Across The Time

Download Here

Across The Time clocks in at nearly 30 hours, which means that it's an entirely brand new game for free, and who doesn't love free stuff? It's also a full-on fantasy RPG, so that should have a fair few of you drooling the prospect of playing this map, with thousands of monsters to fight and quests, both main and secondary, up the wazoo.

Manitu's Quest Ultimate Edition

Download Here

If the idea of playing a map that is loosely based on a German Wild West Comedy doesn't fill your heart with glee, then don't worry, there's a lot more to this than some obscure TV show that no-one outside of Germany's ever heard of. You start in an abandoned Apache camp, and you have to get your blocky butt back to civilization without dying, which isn't as easy as it sounds. Manitu's Quest is remarkably in-depth and should have you toiling away for a lot of hours.

Time Loop

Download Here

Everything you choose to do in Time Loop effects your game. There are over 100 unique choices that you have to make as you progress through this map, and each one will give you a different outcome. Maybe more of a visual novel feel to it than an actual Adventure Map; Time Loop is still a great way to while away the hours.

The Iron Rose

Download Here

The Iron Rose is a story-driven, puzzle focused map that doesn't have anywhere as many rounds of fisty cuffs in it as some of the others in this guide, but that what makes it o good. It's a nice change of pace, and as the epic, sprawling tale is slowly revealed to you, you'll find it nigh on impossible not to find yourself becoming drawn in deeper and deeper.

Curse Of The Creltens

Download Here

This solo experience will put you in the position to protect the Pelta Race from the insidious Creltens. It will also only take you about 45 minutes to an hour to do so, but even though it's only a short blast, it sure is a fun one.

The Barrow

Download Here

Skyrim comes to Minecraft with The Barrow Adventure map. Join The Imperial legion and act like a self-righteous douche-bag in all the familiar settings like Helgen, Pinewatch, and the Embershard Mine. It's The Elder Scrolls, but not as we know it.

Over its 13-year existence, there have been thousands upon thousands of Roblox games, and as all of these are community-created, it means that not everyone has been good. There has been far more trash then there has gold, but that doesn't mean that you can't find something worth your time, as long as you know where to look.

Understandably, nobody has the time or patience to hack their way through a back catalog that is filled to the brim with utter garbage but fear not, if you're looking for the 10 Best Roblox Games that you can play right now, then this guide will help you find the diamonds in the very, very thick rough.

The 10 Best Roblox Games

Those Who Remain

Play Here

Survive wave after wave of zombies / infected in this shooter from Peak. It's pretty standard fare for these sorts of games, kill off the attacking horde, hunt for loot, move onto the next map, rinse and repeat, but Those Who Remain has a certain charm about it that others of this genre can't seem to capture.

Water Park World (Beta)

Play Here

Next up is Water Park World, a tycoon game where you, guess what, run your own water park. Build crazy rides, stalls, cafes, hire staff to keep everything running smooth, Water Park World is just what you'd expect from this kind of experience. You can only use mouse and keyboard at the moment, though there are plans to add controller options once it's fully released, and when it finally does see the light of day, it's going to be free as well. And who doesn't like free stuff?

Project Lazarus: Zombies

Play Here

The creator of this game, logitech101, openly admits that Project Lazarus: Zombies is inspired by Call Of Duty: Zombies, so if you have any knowledge of that, then you should know just what to expect. Fight off wave after wave of brain munchers as you repair barricades and get your hands on brand new weaponry. It's still in the Alpha testing phase, so it might glitch out on you now and again, but if you can't get enough of undead shooters, Project Lazarus: Zombies should be right up your street.

Broken Bones IV

Play Here

If you've ever wondered just how many games you can get out of the concept of a character doing everything they can to break as many bones in their body as possible, then the answer, at the moment, stands at four. Throw yourself off of things and into things with reckless abandonment as you strive to completely cripple your avatar, all in the name of getting the highest score possible. 

Heroes Online

Play Here

Based on the hugely successful and utterly brilliant My Hero Academia, Heroes Online is one of the most popular Roblox games you can play. It's been such a revelation among gamers and anime fans alike that it's already into its fourth season, but even if you haven't been with it from the start, you can still jump into the fray, and you won't have missed a beat.

Restaurant Tycoon 2

Play Here

Just like the earlier entry, Water Park World, Restaurant Tycoon 2 is another game where you work your way up from nothing to run the most successful business you can. And that's pretty much it. If you've played this genre of games before you know what you're getting into and if you haven't, then it will be a pleasant surprise. 

Bee Swarm Simulator

Play Here

Be the best bear that you can be in Bee Swarm Simulator. Take control of our furry little friends as they use the power of bees to make all the delicious honey that they can make. With loads of different bees to us and bears to play as Bee Swarm Simulator should have more than enough content to keep you happy for quite a while.

Welcome To Bloxberg (Beta)

Play Here

Welcome To Bloxberg is one of those games where you get to live out your virtual life in a way that would make your regular life jealous. Build your own cool home, get the sweets rides, and generally be the person that your bank account won't let you be in reality. It's still in Beta, so it might have a few bugs and problems, but it's all worth it when you can design the kind of mansion that would make a Kardashian green with envy.

Texting Simulator

Play Here

It's a game about texting, but as it's the second most popular on the site, then I had to include it. So if you like texting, this is the game for you, I guess. It's amazing what some people will play.

Vesteria (Beta)

Play Here

The most popular game, and therefore the best, on the Roblox site, is Vesteria. Though it may only still be in Beta, it is already an epic, sprawling fantasy adventure with a massive open world for you to explore and a loyal fanbase that you can interact with. Fight all kinds of monsters and clear multiple quest lines in this fantastic game, brought to you by the Vesteria Team.

Sourced from the actual Roblox site.

Have you ever loaded up Minecraft, taken one look at Steve, and thought, "Damn, that is one boring dude." He's the default character that you're greeted with when you buy the game, and he's just so dull that it's annoying. With his blue t-shirt and denim jeans, he looks like a guy in the middle of a mid-life crisis and doesn't fill you with a sense of adventure, and considering that the whole game is about just that, he's not the best avatar to have to play with.

But rejoice fellow Minecraft fanatics, there is a way to make Steve less boring and less Steve like and that's by changing his skin. Now don't worry, there's no need for any Buffalo Bill type of flesh suit for you to achieve this, but instead, on PC and Conole, you can click a few buttons and become anyone you want.

Not sure how to? Then use this guide to show you how.

Changing Skins On PC

To change skins on your PC, first off, you need to decide what kind of look you want. This can be done either in-game or by visiting a site where you can download custom work. If you decide to go via the in-game option, you should be able to pick up quite a few good ones for free, but buyer beware, there will also be options that you have to pay for. As these can usually be found on some mod site somewhere, at no added cost, then I would recommend that you go down this route if you're a tad strapped for cash.

With your chosen skin either purchased or downloaded, you'll want to know how to make Steve no longer Steve, and it's quite simple, really.

• Download Skin / Purchase Skin
• Log into your Minecraft account
• On your profile page, upload the skin that you want
• Wait for the confirmation message
• If you were already logged into Minecraft, log out
• Run the game
• Hey presto, you're someone else

Changing Skins On Console

This one is a lot easier than the previous entry, but it also comes at a cost. The difference between the skins for PC and the skins for Consoles is that with the console versions, you can't download any community creations. This means that you're going to have to choose from the selections that are in-store and though a fair few are few, you know that the ones you want are going to be the ones that cost you cash. 

So whether they're free or whether you've had to pay for them, here's how you apply them in-game.

• Start Minecraft
• When the main menu shows up, click on Help/Options, Change Skin
• Decide which skin pack suits your needs
• If it's not free, then you'll be sent to the relevant store to cough up some bucks
• Hey presto, you're someone else

Changing Skins On Pocket Edition

Minecraft: Pocket Edition might be Minecraft lite, but that doesn't mean that you can't have fun changing skins like you can with it's bigger brothers. This version might be the best of the bunch when it comes to upgrading Boring Steve to Boba Fett as it actively encourages you to visit download sites to grab what you need. This means that every skin that you get hold of won't cost you a penny. This comes with the obvious requirement that you want to use a trusted site, such as Minecraft Skins, to not completely brick your phone with malware or viruses but free is free, and here's how you make all those lovely cheap skins work in-game.

• Head over to Minecraft Skins
• Choose the skin you like and download it
• Run Minecraft PE
• Click the coat hanger icon in the corner
• Click the blank skin icon, should be in the top left
• Click Choose New Skin, select your download
• Choose your skin model and click confirm
• Hey presto, you're someone else

It may come as a surprise to you, or it may not depending on how closely you've been following my musings on the site over the past few months, but I'm not a PC gamer. Normally, I can be found shooting, stabbing, and generally killing my way through games on my trusty old PS4 and only venture into the world of PC when I want to play Football Manager or whatnot.

Even I, as a rank amateur, can see that Steam's original skin is boring as hell and could do with a little bit of sprucing up. So today, we take a closer look at what I consider to be, in my humble opinion, The 10 Best Steam Skins Of All Time.

But first, you'll need to know how to install them once you've made your choice.

• Download the skin/skins you want, obviously, and copy the downloaded folder
• Go into your Steam Installation folder on your PC/Laptop and then into the Skins Folder
• Paste the downloaded folder here
• Open Steam
• Head into Steam Settings then click Interface
• Where it says "Select Skin You Want To Use" click the select box and choose your skin
• Restart Steam

The 10 Best Steam Skins Of All Time

Nier Automata

Download Here

If you pop on over to squallala1337's Deviant Art page via the link above, you'll be able to find this rather cool looking Nier Automata skin. Scroll down a little on this page, and you'll see the link to download it so you can have 2B great you every time you open up Steam. Which is nice.

Linkin Park

Download Here

If you're a music fan and have a soft spot for loud music, and because there doesn't seem to be a Slayer skin available, then you can get Linkin park to brighten up your client. It looks pretty bad-ass with the group silhouetted in red against a black background, and no matter where you go, Chester and the boys will follow.

Naruto Ultimate Bijuu

Download Here

Another creation by the good folks at GameBanana, Naruto Ultimate Bijuu, should be a must-have for fans of the show and those who like anime in general. With the main man himself glaring out at you, it could become a little disconcerting after a while but take solace in the knowledge that Naruto is watching over your Steam account and will lay a world of pain on anyone who tries to hurt it. Probably.

Metro

Download Here

It may not be as pretty as the other three we've already looked at in this guide, but the Metro skin as all about functionality. The simplistic black and white motif make for a clear and crisp layout, and as it's one of the most popular skins of all time within the Steam community, you know that if you're looking for substance over style, then Metro is the way to go.

Fluttershy

Download Here

I'm in ay a fan of My Little Pony, and neither am I a Bronie, *shudder*, but I can appreciate hard work and effort, and that's just what cynicalTechlord has put into this. If you click on the link and pop on over to their Deviant Art page, they even explain to you how to install it, which could've saved me a lot of time at the beginning of this guide if I'd known that. 

Fallout

Download Here

If you're a fan of Bethesda's epic, if somewhat flawed series, then I can highly recommend this skin for your account. A heads up, though, it seems that if you click on the link within the link, then you'll find an updated version of it instead of the one in the proceeding photo, but as that one looks even better, I doubt that too many of you will complain.

Old Flat Green

Download Here

For those of you pining for the days of the original Steam client, dial-up, and Limp Bizkit, then jonnyboy0719 has you covered. Also, what the hell's wrong with you? The original Steam client was a mess, dial-up took forever, and Limp Bizkit was shit. For shame.

Rias Gremory

Download Here

I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be if my better half walked in when I had Steam up and running and saw a scantily clad anime girl in the corner of the screen but each to their own. I'd have some explaining to do. But as High School DxD is quite popular, it would be a bad form of me not to include its heroine in this guide, so here she is.

DayZ

Download Here

If you're a fan of the zombie survival game DayZ, then you might as well nail your colors to the mast with this Steam skin. It looks cool with its repeated logo across the top, and it isn't too violent on the eyes, unlike a zombie apocalypse would be.

Invert v3

Download here

And let's finish this who guide off with Invert v3. Whereas most skins go for black as their main choice of color, Invert v3 flips that on its head and hits you with the brightest of whites. The black text stands out bold, and the whole thing pops like a cork in a shaken bottle.