TinyBuild’s booth at PAX East 2022 was much, much more than a booth. It was a full-on carnival, complete with games that would fit in at any county fair (you could play whack-a-mole or fish for trinkets with a crane game) and plenty of actual video games. At the back of the publisher’s area was something that stood out from the rest of the bright-orange decorations though: a massive inflatable spider loomed over a set of four TVs, inviting attendees to try SpiderHeck, what could be my favorite multiplayer brawler since Duck Game.

SpiderHeck is just about as silly as its name sounds. It’s a physics-based platform brawler, which is a long-winded way of saying you beat up other players and things fly all over the place. In SpiderHeck’s case, players control spiders (duh) that can pick up weapons and zip around the game’s 2D maps by shooting webs.

Since it’s a four-player brawler, I was thrown right into a game with two other PAX attendees–as well as a PR person–and had an absolute blast. There are some games where it’s useful to know the people you’re playing with to really have a good time, and SpiderHeck isn’t one of them.

As a little spider dude, you have to be able to take out the other spider dudes in your game, and that’s all done with SpiderHeck’s outrageous arsenal of weapons. When the game’s players (up to four can be in a single match) spawn into a map, weapons spawn above them almost immediately. They can range from laser pistols to shotguns that fire waves of energy or flat-out lightsabers.

Whatever you choose to fight with, SpiderHeck’s weapons don’t just impact whatever you’re aiming at. Each weapon has its own kind of interaction with the game’s physics. Firing that laser pistol blasted my tiny spider backward, and the bigger the weapon I used, the further away I was flung after firing. I even died because I shot my weapon and ended up falling off the platform I was on and straight into lava or a bottomless pit.

The only way to save myself whenever that happened was to shoot out a web and fling myself to the nearest surface. While the rest of the game felt appropriately awkward to play–it’s not like a physics-based brawler where you’re a spider will have the same smooth controls of a racing sim–I couldn’t get a hang of placing my webs in the right spots. I’d often shoot them much lower than I expected, leading to a one-way trip into a pool of lava or some other insta-death area.

SpiderHeck’s combat is all about using a combination of physics and wacky weapons.

Some of SpiderHeck’s levels also play into its physics system, like one that’s just five suspended platforms that players can hop across. Naturally, each platform moves as a player jumps on or off, and if one’s shot, it gets shaken around. Matches on that map devolved into the four of us playing yelping every time we shot our weapons or were shot at.

Everything that SpiderHeck is doing here reminds me of a somewhat simpler version of Duck Game, another irreverent multiplayer brawler. While that game doesn’t have the same unique physics system as SpiderHeck, the two have the same energy. They’re not very complicated and are immediately fun. When I was playing the game, I didn’t think about what I was doing with my lightsaber, I just did it. When that meant spiking the thing down onto another player after being flung up and out of the camera’s view, it was impossible to not have a good time.

Thankfully I don’t have to wait to try out SpiderHeck with my friends. The game doesn’t have a release date just yet but the very same demo I played at PAX is available for download right now on Steam.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

MLB The Show 22‘s commitment to the grind continues with Diamond Dynasty, its unique take on a card-collecting mode that allows fans to build their own fantasy baseball teams featuring current athletes, new legends, and rising stars. The online multiplayer mode features cross-platform play and cross-progression and includes a few updated tools for players to customize uniforms, modify user-created stadiums, and earn XP towards exclusive reward paths by playing any mode in The Show 22.

The first featured program in this year’s Diamond Dynasty is “Faces Of The Franchise”–a new spin on Innings and Team Affinity that includes 30 new bosses, one from each MLB team, and 12 of which can be added to your roster via sellable and non-sellable boss packs. Players can obtain XP by living out their dreams in Road To The Show or by completing online challenges, moments, collections, conquest maps, limited-time events, and Mini Seasons, an eight-team recreational league played exclusively offline that has its own Season Championship and set of exclusive rewards.

With each “Faces Of The Franchise” boss being a 90 overall with modifiers, we’ve compiled a cheat sheet on the best cards that will make sure your team stays in the win column all summer long.

Bryan Reynolds (CF) – Pittsburgh Pirates

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Sony San Diego Studio.

A Pirates fan favorite, Reynolds’ stats on offense favor power against right-handed pitchers and turn him into a glitchy contact hitter against lefties due to his switch stance. His reaction (85) and speed (85) give him the versatility to cover every corner of the outfield while quirks such as Dead Red, Unfazed, and Rally Monkey make him a threat versus fastball throwers in two-strike counts.

Casey Mize (SP) – Detroit Tigers

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Sony San Diego Studio.

The first overall pick in the 2018 MLB Draft, Mize’s Future Stars card in MLB The Show 20 created a living on throwing sinkers at your wrists. His new 90 FOTF swaps his cutter and slurve pitches for a curve and a slider, but his stamina (96), H/9 (90), and BB/9 (89) make him a reliable control pitcher who can catch opponents off guard with alternating pitch speeds and a deceptive splitter.

Cedric Mullins (CF) – Baltimore Orioles

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Sony San Diego Studio.

Mullins became the first Orioles player to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in a season last year, hitting .291/.360/.518 while also leading all major outfielders with 389 putouts. His All-Star Game card in The Show 21 rarely missed the ball and his new Faces Of The Franchise version is a lower overall rework, but with notable upgrades at fielding (85), arm strength (72), and stealing (85).

Cody Bellinger (CF) – Los Angeles Dodgers

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Sony San Diego Studio.

The Cody Bellinger Redemption Tour is finally upon us. The Dodgers star has had his inconsistencies since his 2019 NL MVP season, but his FOTF card is a nod to his former self with optimal power stats and 99 arm strength. His contact screams “noodle arms”, but Bellinger’s left-handed bat plays and comes with first base versatility and fielding that can be paralleled to a diamond rating (90+).

Corey Seager (SS) – Texas Rangers

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Sony San Diego Studio.

Corey Seager’s swing is “buddah” (not “butter”). The Dodger-turned-Ranger has one of the prettiest hitting animations in MLB The Show and his Franchise card arms it with active quirks (Unfazed, Dead Red), 90+ vision, and power that’s on the better side of standard. His defense makes him a liability at shortstop rather than second base (or third), but it’s Seager, and left-handed pitching fears him.

Devin Williams (RP) – Milwaukee Brewers

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Sony San Diego Studio.

Every great bullpen needs a Devin Williams card. The Missouri native pitched his way to a 0.33 ERA and an NL Rookie Of The Year award in 2020, all thanks to the “Airbender”–a pitch The Show has split into a circle-change and a screwball that both use 99 break to make opposing hitters swing at everything. Williams lacks control, but the 112 H/9 and 114 K/9 were made for the setup role.

Emmanuel Clase (CP) – Cleveland Guardians

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Sony San Diego Studio.

Despite a dominant summer, the Cleveland Guardians reliever didn’t get the diamond treatment in MLB The Show 21 until November’s Finest series. His 90 FOTF is a tribute to that 99 overall as it has the quirks Outlier I and Homebody, a 101mph cutter and fastball, and a bizarro 92mph slider with a 93 break rating. The scariest part? His control stat maxes out at a 97 overall at parallel level five.

Jazz Chisholm (SS) – Miami Marlins

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Sony San Diego Studio.

The 24-year-old infielder from Nassau, Bahamas made his debut in The Show 20 as a 94 Future Stars and was beloved for his speed and a Ken Griffey Jr.-esque swing that destroyed fastballs up in the zone. His Franchise version plays the same – favoring elite fielding and the Situational Hitter quirk to be less power-heavy – but it plays well above its attributes because Jazz Chisholm Jr. is a movie.

Logan Webb (SP) – San Francisco Giants

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Sony San Diego Studio.

Logan Webb is the definition of pitching meta. The 25-year-old San Francisco Giants ace uses a five-pitch repertoire that’s more useful than other FOTF options (Alek Manoah, Marcus Stroman) thanks to a break-heavy mix of–you guessed it–sinkers, sliders, and changeups. His fastball and cutter are tied to the hip and the comparisons to Todd Alquist from Breaking Bad are always an added plus.

Mike Trout (CF) – Los Angeles Angels

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Sony San Diego Studio.

There is nothing complicated about Mike Trout. The three-time MVP recipient’s combo of power, contact, and speed produce results and his Faces Of The Franchise card adds a new spin to “Trout Fishing,” with a 90 overall that lives for extra-base hits, corner outfield plays, and sending righties back to the clubhouse for an early shower. He’s also fast. Like “94 potential speed” fast.

Rafael Devers (3B) – Boston Red Sox

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Sony San Diego Studio.

There’s Trout, Ohtani, Tatis Jr., and then there’s Devers. The Red Sox third baseman is known as “Big Scoops” to the The Show community because of his ability to effortlessly drive the ball into orbit. Devers is a power hitter, through and through, and while he can be replaced with a better arm or fielder, he’s a pinch hitting nightmare with his Breaking Ball and Situational Hitter quirks.

Wander Franco (SS) – Tampa Bay Rays

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Sony San Diego Studio.

The former number-one prospect in Major League Baseball made his debut in June 2021, breaking Mickey Mantle’s 36-game on base streak before agreeing to an 11-year, $182 million extension with the Rays. His splits against righties won’t cut it at higher difficulties, but Franco’s 93 vision, 81 speed, and 80+ fielding at three positions are tied to a switch swing that adores doubles and home runs.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has ruled that quality assurance workers at Raven Software can participate in a union election, which will start on April 29.

Raven’s full-time and part-time quality assurance workers are seeking to form a union named the Game Workers Alliance, and filed a petition with the NLRB after parent company Activision Blizzard failed to voluntarily recognize the union. Activision Blizzard then contested the filing, stating that a union at Raven Software would have to include all of the studio’s 230 employees and not just the 21 current members of the quality assurance team.

The NLRB has rejected Activision Blizzard’s argument, noting that Raven’s quality assurance team is an appropriate bargaining unit and observing that QA testers “generally earn less than all other classifications at Raven Studio.” Ballots will be mailed to eligible employees on April 29, after which they will have until May 20 to return it. A ballot count will happen via video conference on May 23. If the union vote succeeds, the Game Workers Alliance will become the first union at a AAA North American game development studio.

A union vote at the Call of Duty-focused studio is the latest chapter in a months-long saga that saw Activision Blizzard employees walk off the job in protest and Raven QA members engage in a weeks-long strike in response to the company’s firing of 12 contractors. Those contractors were laid off at the same time that Raven promoted other QA contractors to full-time employees. Once it became clear members of the QA team intended to unionize, Raven announced structural changes to embed members of the QA team within other Raven teams. While Raven leadership said this was done in the interest of more efficient game development, critics saw it as a way to potentially jeopardize the QA team’s unionization efforts.

In a statement to the Washington Post, an Activision Blizzard spokesperson said that the company is “disappointed that a decision that could significantly impact the future of our entire studio will be made by fewer than 10% of our employees.” The spokesperson said the company will be looking at potential legal options in response to the NLRB’s ruling.

The Raven Software QA team’s union drive began shortly after it was announced that Microsoft intended to acquire Activision Blizzard for $69 billion, which itself came as Activision Blizzard found itself mired in controversy following multiple sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuits and investigations. Microsoft has said it will not stand in the way should Activision Blizzard choose to recognize a union, stating “Microsoft respects Activision Blizzard employees’ right to choose whether to be represented by a labor organization and we will honor those decisions.”

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

At long last, details on Blizzard’s upcoming mobile entry in the Warcraft universe are on the way, with details said to be arriving “in the coming weeks.”

The news comes via Activision Blizzard’s first quarter 2022 financial results, where the company has outlined many of its upcoming projects, including World of Warcraft: Dragonflight, Diablo IV, Overwatch 2, and the yet-unnamed “mobile Warcraft experience.”

Nothing is currently known about Blizzard’s first Warcraft mobile game. While set in the same universe of World of Warcraft, it’s unclear if the game will be some kind of RPG or an entirely different kind of experience. Warcraft started as an RTS series, so it’s possible the mobile game could also return to the franchise’s roots by being a strategy-focused title.

While Blizzard has made no announcements on whether or not the Warcraft mobile game will also come to PC, the company did just establish a precedent for doing so with another franchise. It was announced as part of the financial results that Diablo Immortal–the first mobile, free-to-play entry in the Diablo series–will also be coming to PC and will support cross-play and cross-progression between platforms. Diablo Immortal launches on mobile and PC June 2, with the PC version technically launching in an open-beta state.

In World of Warcraft news, Blizzard recently announced the new Dragonflight expansion, which will feature playable dragons and a focus on “evergreen systems,” which seems to have gone over well with the game’s playerbase. Blizzard also announced a re-release of Wrath of the Lich King expansion for WoW Classic players. Dragonflight does not have a release date, with Wrath of the Lich King Classic set to release later in 2022.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News