Geek News

Blizzard has solidified Hearthstone' s annual flow of retiring old cards and welcoming new ones: For the third year in a row, a new expansion will come in April that signals a sea change in the digital card game. While we don't know the title or flavor of Hearthstone' s next set, we do have a list of changes and new features that will arrive when 2017's Year of the Mammoth gives way to 2018's Year of the Raven. The most obvious change will be the card shift. The sets from 2016 -- Whispers of the Old Gods , One Night in Karazhan and Mean Streets of Gadgetzan -- will all pass out of Standard format to make way for the new expansion. This is has traditionally been the best time of year for new players to jump in the game, since it has the least amount of cards in play, but the switchover also refreshes the meta of competitive decks and strategies. While this year's three sets are still shrouded in mystery, they will all have free single-player adventure conten...

Monster Hunter: World is the latest entry in a decade-plus game franchise dedicated to killing huge monsters. But the series has another reputation : barely explained mechanics, labyrinthine menus and difficult co-op play. Capcom smoothed out a lot of those rough edges for Monster Hunter: World and released it simultaneously worldwide, which has made it the most accessible of the franchise. Now, finally, it can take the crown as the best co-op boss fight experience out there. Fighting giant enemies is a thrilling niche in gaming, from blowing up Kraid in Super Metroid to taking on one titanic monolith after another in Shadow of the Colossus . But those are insular single-player journeys, not communal experiences. When games have tried team boss fights before, most notably in MMOs, they're often at the end of a long raid after slogging through a multilevel dungeon. Monster Hunter: World is the large boss fight distilled, a stripped-down contest between small humans and colos...

Last week, the Overwatch team released a new map: Blizzard World. The multiplayer arena is a colorful amusement park filled with attractions and rides themed after Blizzard's stable of games. It's a delightful backdrop for the team-based shooter, filled with in-jokes and puns that make it look like a rapturous place for a gamer to visit. But what would it take to bring Blizzard World to life? Theme parks are a wildly expensive business, but that hasn't stopped the biggest ones from building brand-new areas based on blockbuster entertainment franchises. The highly anticipated Star Wars zones set to open at Disneyland California and Disneyworld Orlando in 2019 are examples, and there are the Harry Potter Worlds in Japan, Hollywood and Florida. The Blizzard World stage is the studio's own interpretation of an entertainment theme park, bustling with rides, shops and restaurants inspired by Blizzard games. In fact, players can only run around a portion of it, as a ...