Dota 2 Update – December 3rd, 2019

Snapfire
– Lil’ Shredder mana cost increased from 75 to 90
– Lil’ Shredder damage reduced from 45/60/75/90 to 40/55/70/85
– Lil’ Shredder attack speed slow per stack reduced from 20/25/30/35 to 15/20/25/30
– Firesnap Cookie cooldown reduced from 24/22/20/18 to 24/21/18/15
– Firesnap Cookie projectile speed increased from 800 to 1000
– Firesnap Cookie cast point reduced when used on self from 0.4 to 0.3

– fixed Rubick Arcana cape not changing color when stealing spells from Void Spirit or Snapfire

Pokémon Championship Rules Are Changing In 2020 As Sword And Shield Take Over

The Pokémon Company has shared lots of information on the future of the Pokémon Video Game Championships (or VGCs). From 4th January 2020, tournaments will officially shift to Pokémon Sword and Shield.

As you might expect, competitive players will need to adapt their current strategies as they begin to compete with the new games. A list of rules has been shared today:

Tournaments in the 2020 Video Game Championships will include the following rules:

– All battles will be Double Battles played in Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield.
– Each player will need their own Nintendo Switch or Nintendo Switch Lite and a physical or digital version of Pokémon Sword or Pokémon Shield to compete.
– Pokémon will need to have the Galar symbol, showing they were caught in the Galar region.
– All Pokémon from the Galar Regional Pokédex will be permitted except for Mythical Pokémon and certain Legendary Pokémon.
– All Pokémon will be set to Lv. 50, including Pokémon below Lv. 50.
– Duplicate Pokémon will not be allowed.
– Duplicate held items will not be allowed.
– Each battle will begin with a 90-second Team Preview phase.
– Players will have 7 minutes of Your Time, 45 seconds of Move Time, and (now returning to the VGC) 15 minutes of Game Time in each battle.

There are also extra rules in place for any Pokémon capable of Gigantamaxing. The list of species permitted to Gigantamax will expand every few months, based on events in which these Pokémon become more common within Sword and Shield. The rules are very clear in that Pokémon capable of Gigantamaxing are not legal until they are included in the Play! Pokémon VG Rules and Formats document (which will be regularly updated in relation to this new ruling).

As of 4th January 2020, the following are the only Pokémon with the Gigantamax Factor that are permitted to compete:

• Butterfree
• Corviknight
• Drednaw
• Centiskorch
• Meowth
• Pikachu
• Eevee
• Snorlax
• Sandaconda
• Charizard (only permitted with the Ability Blaze)

If you’re interested in playing competitively, there’s still plenty of time to earn your invitation to the 2020 Pokémon World Championships taking place in the UK next year. You’ll find more info on the official site.

Do you play competitive Pokémon? Have you ever tried to make your way to a World Championships? Tell us below.

Video: Alien Isolation Looks Better On Switch Than PS4, Says Digital Foundry

We’re all familiar with the sight of a game initially developed for other machines eventually making its way over to Switch. In some cases, such as the work Panic Button has done on titles like DOOM, we’ve been pretty blown away by how good it actually looks on Switch despite the hardware compromises, but even the very best third-party games still tend to take a slight hit in the visual department.

Apparently, though, this isn’t the case with the Switch port of Alien: Isolation, which incidentally releases tomorrow. Tech wizards Digital Foundry have been putting the new port through its paces, finding plenty of things to praise in comparison to the original versions on PS4 and Xbox One. For starters, they say that “the Switch version is substantially cleaner in motion”, and that even when the resolution dips under 1080p – which we’re more than used to on Switch – “the result is still more visually attractive and cleaner to the eye” than the older releases.

Now, it’s not 100% perfect – a couple of smaller visual treats have gone walkabouts for the Switch version – but it’s good enough for Digital Foundry to call it “a remarkable conversion of a brilliant game”. You can see just what makes it so special in the video below.

Our review of the game went live late last week, and we loved it, too. You can read our full thoughts here, but we’ll give you a snippet below:

Alien: Isolation is a survival horror masterpiece and straight-up one of the very best horror video games ever released. It’s a nerve-wracking affair – a slow, methodical game of cat and mouse against a brilliantly clever recreation of one of cinema’s most infamous killers – but if you’re up to the task you’ll find one of the most satisfying gameplay experiences in the genre; a brilliant and beautiful homage to one of the greatest Sci-Fi movies of all time. Feral Interactive has done a stellar job with this Switch port and the excellent motion controls and inclusion of all previously-released DLC only go to sweeten the deal. This is essential stuff for survival horror fans.

Xbox Insider Release Notes – Alpha Skip Ahead Ring (2004.191122-0424)

Hey Alpha Skip Ahead ring users! Today’s Xbox Insider Release Notes highlight the latest fixes, known issues, and features coming to your console. Starting at 2:00 p.m. PT today, users will receive the latest 2004 Xbox One system update (build: RS_XBOX_RELEASE_2004\19031.1201.191122-0424). Keep reading for more details.

System Update Details:

• OS version released: RS_XBOX_RELEASE_2004\19031.1201.191122-0424 
• Available: 2:00 p.m. PT – November 23, 2019
• Mandatory: 3:00 a.m. PT – November 24, 2019

Fixes for Alpha Skip Ahead

We’ve heard your feedback, and we’re happy to announce the following fixes have been implemented for this 2004 build:

Games

• Users will no longer encounter a black/blank screen with audio playback when launching games.

Home

• Fixed an issue where users could not select items in content blocks on the dashboard.

System

• Various updates to properly reflect local languages across the console.

Known Issues for Alpha Skip Ahead

We understand some issues have been listed in previous Xbox Insider Release Notes. These issues aren’t being ignored, but it will take Xbox engineers more time to find a solution. We appreciate your patience at this time!

Audio

• Users who have Dolby Atmos enabled and console display settings set to 120hz with 36 bits per pixel (12-bit) are experiencing loss of Dolby Atmos audio in some situations.
  
  • Workaround: Disable 120hz or set Video Fidelity to 30 bits per pixel (10-bit) or lower.

Disney+ App

• Users have reported playback is buffering while streaming content.

Home

• Users have reported that the dashboard is unresponsive to controller input on boot.
  
  • Workaround: Perform a hard restart of the console (hold the power button for 5-10 seconds) to resolve the issue.

Home (Experiment)

• Users may see the images for ads on the dashboard looking cropped or cutoff.

 Settings

• Some users have reported that 3D display mode is not working with supported content.

 Profile Color

• Sometimes users may encounter the incorrect Profile color when powering on the console.

Are you not seeing your issue listed above? Make sure to use Report a problem to keep us informed of your issue. We may not be able to respond to everyone, but the data we’ll gather is crucial to finding a resolution.

Learn more about feedback and how each ring is differentiated in the following links:

For more information regarding the Xbox Insider Program follow us on Twitter and join the community subreddit for support and updates. Keep an eye on future Xbox Insider Release Notes for more information regarding your Xbox One Update Preview ring!

These are the best iOS games of 2019 (According to Apple)

By Joe Robinson 03 Dec 2019

Apple has released their 2019 retrospective, crowning not only their favourite games of this year, but also the most download games across Free and Paid. Sky: Children of the Light has been crowned the best iPhone Game of 2019, whereas Hyper Light Drifter is the best game on iPad. Sayonara Wild Hearts has also been declared as the best game of Apple Arcade so far.

As far as the most downloaded ‘free’ and ‘paid’ lists go, it’s a mixture of usual suspects and some interesting surprises. Here are the full lists:

Most Downloaded Free iOS Games 2019

• Mario Kart Tour
• Color Bump 3D
• aquapark.io
• Call of Duty®: Mobile
• BitLife – #1 Life Simulator
• Polysphere – art of puzzle
• Wordscapes
• Fortnite
• Roller Splat!
• AMAZE!!!
• Paper.io 2
• Fun Race 3D
• Helix Jump
• Crowd City
• Roblox
• Draw it
• Words Story
• Traffic Run!
• Run Race 3D
• Mr Bullet – Spy Puzzles

Most Downloaded Paid iOS Games 2019

• Minecraft
• Heads Up!
• Plague Inc.
• Bloons TD 6
• Geometry Dash
• Rebel Inc.
• The Game of Life
• Stardew Valley
• Bloons TD 5
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
• Papa’s Freezeria To Go!
• True Skate
• Pocket City
• Terraria
• Kingdom Rush Vengeance
• Pocket Build
• Trivia Crack (No Ads)
• Five Nights at Freddy’s
• Donut County
• Exploding Kittens®

It’s definitely interesting to see what’s been popular, especially in the paid list. A lot of cool games in there that we’ve reviewed, and it’s good to see them getting the recognition they deserve especially when premium games seem to be in a bit of a weird spot right now.

We’ll be reflecting ourselves soon on 2019 in mobile gaming, but in the meantime, what do you think? What have been your favourite iOS (or Android, if you want) games of the year?

XR Games raises £1.5 million for new projects and staff

The Witcher Saga Is An Unwieldy Story. Here's How Netflix Made It Work

The saga of The Witcher is not an easy one to adapt. The Witcher games (with which you're no doubt familiar) had it simpler--as sequels to the original novels, they simply built on the foundation that author Andrzej Sapkowski laid down years ago. To adapt the book series--a hodgepodgey web of short stories and novels--into hour-long TV episodes with a trio of protagonists and a cohesive narrative throughline is a significantly different story.

Netflix's The Witcher showrunner, Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, is the person who had to solve that problem.

"To me, there are challenges, and there are opportunities. And this, to me, was such a great opportunity," the showrunner told GameSpot during a recent interview. "You have all of these short stories presented in the first couple of books, in The Last Wish and in Sword of Destiny. There is no narrative thread between them, so Geralt doesn't grow and change that much between the stories, because that's not how they were originally written."

"Well to me," she continued, "if you're adapting those for television and you're going from episode 101 to episode 108, you need to see the character grow and change from his or her experiences."

The resulting show takes those short stories--tales like The Lesser Evil, A Question of Price, and The Edge of the World--and remixes them into a cohesive story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. The stories are perfectly recognizable to fans of the books, but they take place in a different order and sometimes involve different characters. And Schmidt Hissrich ensured there are throughlines that span the eight-episode first season.

"It was very important for me to start with The Lesser Evil as the first story," Schmidt Hissrich said. "You're starting with a character who's been living, let's say, close to a hundred years. He's a Witcher. This is all he's ever done. It's what he was trained to do. Does he love it? Who knows? We don't even care. It's just what he's best at. So he continues going back to it. And then we need to have something happen in that first episode that totally corrupts his worldview."

The events of that first episode follow Geralt throughout the rest of the season--not in a way that's necessarily faithful to the source material, but in a way that enhances this version of the story.

"We very much had a sense of the stories that we wanted to tell. Some of them were just our favorites, or some of them were very iconic," the showrunner said. "It was really about taking the stories that were iconic and we wanted to tell them, and sort of tracking Geralt's journey. And it was very interesting to work with Henry through that too, because he read the same books that I did. So a lot of it was talking out our reasoning of why this is happening now, and not back then. What I think what we've done is craft a season for all of the characters."

That's another massive change: While the original short stories, on which most of this season is based, put Geralt front and center, Netflix's The Witcher is a three-pronged story with a trio of main characters: Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri. Schmidt Hissrich's other big challenge--err, opportunity--was figuring out how to weave all three characters' plots together. She came up with a variety of solutions; for example, the Yennefer we meet in the show is much younger than the person Geralt first encountered in the story The Last Wish. The show spends several episodes exploring Yennefer's backstory over many years--a backstory that was invented for the Netflix version of events.

That story came with its own unique hurdles. After the physical transformation that Yennefer undergoes when she becomes a sorceress, the character stops visibly aging--but she continues to mature emotionally, something actress Anya Chalotra had to convey.

Read more: Netflix's Witcher Showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich Says They Won't Adapt The Games

"She stays in her 20-year-old body, and so I had to figure out a way to make this believable," Chalotra told us. "She does get older, and she does get more mature, and her thoughts do change, and her attitudes change toward certain things. She responds differently to things because of the life experience she's had. And I think I did that through breath...there's a rhythm and an energy that people have who are older and have been through something, certain experiences."

For Ciri's part, actress Freya Allan contended with something similar. Ciri begins life as a princess who believes she's wise to the ways of the world, but finds out she has plenty to learn when her life gets thrown into chaos. Ciri's arc in Season 1 is a transformation all its own.

"She's got a very kind of bold, strong character right from the beginning. But then when she is thrown into this world, you do see her become vulnerable, but obviously she still has those built-in characteristics that we see right at the beginning in her, and that's what allows her to keep going," Allan said. "It was interesting to look at that, and also how the brutality of the world changes her and she becomes colder...definitely toward the end, you get to see that she decides, she's like, 'I'm sick of this now. I'm going to just--I'm just sick of it.' And she starts becoming a bit icier."

The ways all these disparate storylines and characters come together will have to remain a mystery until The Witcher hits Netflix on December 20. But Schmidt Hissrich said the show's first season feels like "hitting the first domino and seeing them fall over"--and she promised "some surprises for existing fans" as well. We can't wait.

Fedora Desktops – Memory Footprints

Random: Pokémon Sword and Shield’s Final Boss Can Be Beaten With A Magikarp

While it can evolve into a pretty powerful beast, the humble Magikarp has a bad reputation in the world of Pokémon. This flappy fish is seen as a waste of space, so YouTuber PokeTips decided to give it a moment in the spotlight by taking on Leon in Pokémon Sword and Shield, the game’s undefeated regional champion.

This approach took some time, it’s worth noting. PokeTips knew that the ability to use the powerful Hydro Pump move could work in Magikarp’s favour, but it can’t take down Leon on its own. After trying a few different tactics – including levelling up the fish to 100 with high hit points and using Eviolite – the winning strategy revealed itself.

With Magikarp holding Choice Specs (which boosts the monster’s special attack but limits it to a single move) and using Special X (which augments the power of its Special Attack) it’s possible to take Leon down. Sure, this isn’t foolproof as Hydro Pump doesn’t hit 100% of the time, but it does work.

2019: The Year Of Subscriptions

Paying a subscription for a service is nothing new, especially not in the media space. Yet, the past few years have seen more companies adopt the service model to appeal to more niche audiences--a pattern that has come to a head in 2019.

Games are one of the newer participants to the subscription model when it comes to distributing content, with Microsoft dominating the console space with Xbox Game Pass. That said, other companies started offering their own game-based subscriptions in 2019 as well, like Apple. The games industry hasn't been the only one, as the past few years have seen subscription services for comics, manga, TV series, and movies gaining increased popularity too.

In the following article, we highlight the major subscription services that continued to operate or began in 2019 and also discuss how they grew or adjusted their offerings throughout the year.

Subscriptions That Continued In 2019

2019 saw plenty of subscription services continue--some more successfully than others. In terms of gaming, Microsoft continued to offer Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass, Sony has PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now, EA has EA Access / Origin Access, and Nintendo has Switch Online. For TV and movies, there are a bunch: Crunchyroll, Funimation, Hidive, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, HBO Now, DC Universe, and Hulu.

Xbox Live Gold / Xbox Game Pass

When it comes to gaming, Microsoft is pursuing a subscription model the hardest. 2019 saw the natural evolution of Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass, as Microsoft bundled the two together on June 9 into a subscription called Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. The service includes the PC version of Xbox Game Pass as well. With Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, you get access to online multiplayer and over 100 games for a fraction of their total retail cost.

2019 also saw the release of the first console to solely support games that are purchased digitally: Xbox One S All-Digital Edition. It provides a cheaper option than both the Xbox One S and Xbox One X and falls in-line with Microsoft releasing all games digitally--both via its store and Xbox Game Pass. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is likely only going to improve with Project xCloud, Microsoft's cloud streaming service, being added to the subscription in 2020--as announced at X019.

PlayStation Plus / PlayStation Now

First launched in June 2010, PlayStation Plus offers subscribers access to only a few titles per month, but those that are featured on the service typically see huge spikes in their overall popularity--like Rocket League back in July 2015. PlayStation Now is Sony's version of cloud gaming, offering subscribers a way to stream select PS2, PS3, and PS4 games to a PS4 or PC.

In 2019, PlayStation Now saw a massive growth in subscriber count--with a 40% increase between April and October that upped the total to one million users. This is likely in response to Sony changing PlayStation Now so subscribers could finally download the games on the service (instead of just streaming them) and the expanding library of major first-party titles on the service. Like Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass, Sony's PlayStation Now is becoming a service where users can download big-name indies and first-party console exclusives for a fraction of their total retail cost.

Sony isn't planning on adopting Microsoft's policy of adding first-party titles to its subscription service day one, however. In November 2019, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan said this is to ensure the company's first-party games remain "clean and pure."

Switch Online

Nintendo's subscription, Switch Online, launched in late 2018, so the service's first attempt to really hit its stride began in 2019. In comparison to both Microsoft and Sony, though, it has a long way to go. Aside from offering online multiplayer in games like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Splatoon 2, Switch Online provides subscribers with a library of NES and SNES titles. There are some excellent games in that library, but as 2019 has come to a close, Nintendo has not added any new games.

Unlike Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Now, Switch Online doesn't offer any way to get a discount on first-party titles either. In late 2018, Nintendo started a voucher program that was tied to Switch Online, but that inexplicably ended in 2019. This is made more disappointing in the wake of the launch of the entirely handheld version of the Nintendo Switch, Switch Lite, in September 2019--a console that seems to encourage owning a bunch of games digitally in order to play on the go.

EA Access / Origin Access

EA has done well with its Access subscription services. EA Access launched on Xbox One in August 2014, offering subscribers a selection of older EA games to play and both discounts and early access for certain new releases. Origin Access, which launched two years later, offers the same service for Origin members on PC.

In July 2019, EA Access was expanded to PS4 as well, pushing the service to all major platforms except for Nintendo Switch. Additionally, in October 2019, EA announced a Steam version of EA Access, which will allow PC players to use the service without Origin.

2019 has been a turbulent year for EA--with lows like Anthem and highs like Apex Legends--but getting EA Access on PS4 and announcing plans to expand its reach on PC could help turn things around for the publisher. A subscription service can act as marketing for lesser-known triple-A titles and indie games, allowing users to try these games "for free." It offers a less costly way for players to retry games that launched with problems too--which may help save EA titles the publisher is trying to fix. Players may be hesitant to pay to jump back into Anthem when it relaunches, for instance, but via EA Access / Origin Access, they can get the game for "free." It's probably an appealing prospect for publishers that have a large library of multiplayer-focused or games-as-a-service titles, which may be part of what inspired Ubisoft to offer a similar subscription service in 2019. But more on that later.

New Weekly Shonen Jump

In December 2018, Shonen Jump--a Japanese magazine responsible for publishing the largest shonen manga in the world, like Dragon Ball and Naruto--transformed into a completely digital, free-to-read model that offered every new chapter to its included ongoing series in their English translation the day they released in Japan, allowing international readers to stay up to date on all the latest shonen manga without paying a cent. For those looking to catch up, a new $2 subscription fee would unlock nearly the entire Shonen Jump back catalog to read at any time.

It's been an incredibly smart move on the cusp of the shonen genre's transformation--as it's bringing in new readers right when new types of shonen stories are taking off. Though the high-action battle stories of My Hero Academia and Boruto: Naruto Next Generations still dominate, shonen has begun to take a more thoughtful turn in recent years. Stories like The Promised Neverland and Dr. Stone are likely to be shonen's future, one where women aren't always regulated to a support role and the main male protagonists don't always overcome the villains by physically out-fighting them.

Live-Action TV Series And Movie Subscriptions

Whenever the topic of game-based subscription services comes up, there's typically at least one or two people asking if it's the "Netflix of games." This isn't to say that Netflix is the originator of the subscription model when it comes to digital media distribution, but the streaming service (and those like it) popularized the model long before gaming did. Netflix isn't going away any time soon, and neither are its direct competitors: Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube Premium, and HBO Now.

It's becoming increasingly difficult to remain subscribed to only one service as 2019 saw all six streaming apps increase their portfolios of exclusive series and movies. If you want to stay on top of all the best television, you have to remain subscribed to most of them. That said, each service further fell into their niche roles, making it a bit easier to focus on the subscription you prefer.

Animated TV Series And Movies Subscriptions

In 2019, dozens of anime made their debut on Crunchyroll, Funimation, and Hidive--the major players in digital anime distribution in the US. Hulu and Netflix (especially the latter with its exclusives) also rose in prominence within the growing anime industry with more shows. Yet it was Amazon--the same company that made the very poorly received Anime Strike subscription model in 2017--that managed to secure exclusives for some of the most thought-provoking and well-animated anime of the year.

2019 saw major ripples in the anime scene--ones that are likely to be felt in the next few years. When it comes to watching anime, Crunchyroll and Funimation are still at the top, but both are still recovering from the end of their partnership in November 2018. Upon separation, each company lost the rights of certain anime to the other, and as 2019 is coming to an end, both sites still feel incomplete. Plus, their escalating rivalry is unintentionally leading to a boring uniformity of shonen and fantasy isekai across both brands when it comes to marketing.

That leaves sites like Hidive, Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video to host a lot of the more experimental or niche stories. If anything, 2019 is the year that companies like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon really began taking stock of how popular anime is becoming and decided they wanted in on the subscriptions they can attract. And unlike Crunchyroll and Funimation, these companies can invest in and promote more niche genres and stories because their primary business of live-action TV shows and movies can account for an anime series falling short of monetary expectations.

Netflix and DC Universe have been hitting hard on the animated front this year as well. The most notable series are Netflix's She-Ra and the Princesses of Power and DC Universe's Young Justice: Outsiders. It's been a good year of super-powered teens in animated series.

Subscriptions That Began In 2019

As much as the aforementioned subscriptions continued to excel in their related fields, 2019 saw the arrival of several new services as well. In terms of gaming, 2019 gave us three new subscriptions to consider adding to our growing list of monthly fees. For TV shows and movies, we only got one, but it's likely going to be a major player in the subscription-based streaming space for years to come.

Uplay+

On September 3, Ubisoft launched the beta of Uplay+, a subscription service that provides users with a library of over 100 Ubisoft games. It's a lot like Origin Access Premier.

Uplay+ won't officially launch until 2020, and when it does, it will be offered through both Uplay and Google Stadia. As Ubisoft continues to invest in games-as-a-service titles, Uplay+ presents a cheaper alternative for buying into every game. That said, Uplay has always had its detractors and Google Stadia did not launch to exactly stellar reviews--so some people may not want to go through the potential hassle of either PC portal to access Uplay+.

It may benefit Ubisoft to take inspiration from EA and release its subscription service on consoles as well, or at the very least allow subscribers to access Uplay+ through a more popular PC game distributor like Steam or the Epic Games Store.

Apple Arcade

Right on the heels of the launch of the Uplay+ beta, Apple released its own game subscription service, Apple Arcade, on September 19. Unlike the aforementioned game-based services, Apple Arcade is exclusively for Apple-supported hardware--not Xbox, PlayStation, and PC. Though some of the games, like Sayonara Wild Hearts and Stela, are available on consoles, most of Apple Arcade's titles are exclusive to the service. Other than those distinctions, though, the service works pretty much identically to Xbox Game Pass: pay a monthly fee and you get access to a library of games.

Mobile gaming has been dominated by the free-to-play model for years, which has caused microtransactions within the space to grow over time. In this regard, Apple Arcade is a wonderful service, as none of its games have microtransactions. In this case, the "microtransactions" you're paying for amounts to the subscription fee. Apple Arcade promotes some of the best games ever seen on mobile devices too--so that's a bunch of great games that you don't have to keep paying for in-game in order to play. Apple has been fairly consistent with adding new games to Apple Arcade since launching the service as well, and many of the new titles have been just as good as the collection of games included at launch.

Google Play Pass

On September 23, Google followed Apple's lead with its own game subscription service, Google Play Pass. However, instead of opting for a limited number of games, Google stuffed 350 games and apps into its subscription. None of the Google Play Pass games are new or exclusive to the service though, and Google is also not assisting in the development of the included games.

Disney+

Here's the big one. On November 12, Disney launched Disney+, a subscription service that offered a way to watch dozens of Disney movies and TV series, both long-beloved classics and eagerly awaited newcomers. A lot of the stuff on Disney+ has been unwatchable for years--hidden away in Disney's "Vault"--so the subscription provides one of the most sought-after services ever requested by Disney fans. Disney+ also packages 4K/HDR streaming in its basic fee--something not seen on most of the other TV/movie subscription services.

It hasn't been completely problem-free. At launch, Disney+ included edited pieces of media, specifically The Simpsons, which ruined the content of the show by cutting out certain jokes. The service also launched without certain features that others had already popularized, such as a way to continue seamlessly keep watching a series when you're binging through a show. Thankfully, Disney plans on fixing these issues (the continue watching feature has already been added). And in spite of these shortcomings, Disney+ has managed to be a fairly large success (to the surprise of basically no one), and one of its first new shows, The Mandalorian, is already becoming a fast GameSpot favorite. In 2019, Disney confirmed more original content is scheduled to come to the service, including additional TV shows in the company's Star Wars and Marvel expanded universes.