Fallout 76 Is Now Live

It’s now November 14, and Fallout 76 is officially available, with servers live around the world. There were some server issues as players got online at midnight US time, but those appear to have been resolved.

Fallout 76, the newest installment in Bethesda’s post-apocalyptic RPG series, officially launches for PS4, Xbox One, and PC on Wednesday, November 14, but some players won’t have to wait until then to start exploring the irradiated ruins of West Virginia. Users on Reddit have pointed out that the Fallout 76 servers are now live ahead of its release date, so you can jump in a little early if you have the game.

Unlike previous entries in the series, Fallout 76 is always-online and requires a persistent internet connection, even if you plan on playing solo. GameSpot booted up Fallout 76 on Xbox One today and can verify that its servers are indeed live. If you managed to get your hands on an early copy of the game or have it pre-loaded on PC, that means you won’t have to wait until November 14 to start playing.

That said, given the fact that it still isn’t widely available, you may not run into many other players in Fallout 76 just yet. While the game can still work as a solo adventure, it places a heavy emphasis on multiplayer. For instance, Fallout 76 completely eschews NPCs; the only human characters you’ll encounter in the game are other players, making for a very different kind of RPG than previous Fallout games.

Taking such a radically different approach with Fallout 76 was “scary,” Bethesda admits, but the publisher is committed to supporting the title. Bethesda boss Pete Hines said Fallout 76 servers will be up “forever.” He told GameSpot, “We’re going to keep going as long as people keep playing it and it shows no sign of slowing down.”

In the meantime, PS4 players still have a little more time to claim some Fallout 76 freebies. From now until November 14, you can get three Fallout 76 avatars and a theme for your PS4, whether you’ve pre-ordered the game or not. There are other bonuses available; you can read more about them in our Fallout 76 pre-order guide.

Harry Potter Game, Wizards Unite, Gets First Trailer From Pokemon Go Dev

Last year, Pokemon Go developer Niantic announced it was developing a new mobile game based on the world of Harry Potter titled Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. Since then, the studio has shared very few details about the mysterious project, but we’ve now gotten our first taste of what it will be like thanks to a new teaser trailer.

The video, which you can watch above, doesn’t showcase any actual gameplay footage, but rather dramatizes the experience of playing the game; in it, you can see a girl warping into an alley to catch a snitch. Before disappearing, she casts a spell that leaves a poster on the wall, which warns that “the Wizarding World is at risk of exposure.”

Much like Pokemon Go, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite uses augmented reality and features similar gameplay mechanics. According to Niantic, players will have to explore the real-world to “unravel a global mystery, cast spells, and encounter fantastic beasts and iconic characters along the way.”

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Beyond that, however, we still don’t know too much about Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. When it first announced the title, Niantic said the game will “pioneer all new technology and gameplay mechanics” and take advantage of its full AR platform. “Players will learn spells, explore their real world neighborhoods and cities to discover and fight legendary beasts, and team up with others to take down powerful enemies,” the developer wrote in its announcement.

Niantic hasn’t announced a release date yet for Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. The game was originally slated to launch in 2018, but as we learned from the teaser trailer, it has now been pushed back to sometime in 2019.

Wizards Unite isn’t the only new game from Niantic. The studio recently launched Ingress Prime, a revamped version of the original Ingress. Niantic also continues to roll out regular updates for Pokemon Go; it recently introduced a new Adventure Sync feature, which allows the game to track the distance you’ve walked, even when it is idle.

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite Release Delayed, Trailer Released

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, the mobile title currently in development at Pokemon Go developer Niantic, has been delayed. Harry Potter publishing site Pottermore says the AR game will now launch in 2019, although it didn’t offer any specifics beyond that.

Wizards Unite was previously scheduled to launch in 2018, though we never got a more precise release window than that. No reason has been given for the delay, though the game has received a new Wizards Unite trailer–take a look at that above.

Pottermore says Wizards Unite will incorporate elements from both Harry Potter and the spin-off Fantastic Beasts franchise. “Players will learn spells, explore their real world neighborhoods and cities to discover and fight legendary beasts, and team up with others to take down powerful enemies,” Niantic said of Wizards Unite when it was first announced. A teaser accompanying today’s news states that players will also “unravel a global mystery, cast spells, and encounter fantastic beasts and iconic characters along the way.”

The second Fantastic Beasts film, The Crimes of Grindelwald, comes to theaters on November 16.

Wizards Unite will be the second game to launch under Warner Bros’ Portkey Games label. The first was Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, a free-to-play RPG set before the novels. In addition, an open-world RPG set in the Potter universe is reportedly in development at Disney Infinity studio Avalanche Software.

WWE Survivor Series 2018 Match Card: Daniel Bryan Wins WWE Championship

Becky Lynch has not been medically cleared to compete at the WWE PPV, Survivor Series, which is a huge bummer as it was the one match everyone was looking forward to. Because of this, Charlotte has taken her place in the women’s champion vs. champion match.

In addition, on the November 13 episode of Smackdown, Daniel Bryan beat AJ Styles for the WWE Championship, and now Bryan will face Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series. But please enjoy the prediction video above, made before Bryan was crowned the champion.

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and every WWE fan knows that Survivor Series is the next PPV the sports entertainment company will hold. The next event has the superstars from Raw and Smackdown competing against each other, which is one of the two times during the year you get to see this–with the other being Money in the Bank. All of the champions from both shows will fight each other, and both Raw and Smackdown will have three different traditional Survivor Series elimination matches as well.

The PPV comes to the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California on Sunday, November 18 with the main card starting at 7 PM ET / 4 PM PT and a Kickoff Show most likely starting two hours prior. The schedule for the day of the event is not up, but major WWE events like Summerslam, Royal Rumble, and Wrestlemania tend to have a longer pre-show. You can watch both the Kickoff and main card for yourself on traditional PPV through your TV provider or on the WWE Network.

It’s going to be a big evening to determine which show is the dominant brand. As of this writing, there are seven matches on the card with more than a week before the event airs. Of course, we’ll see Raw’s Universal Champion, Brock Lesnar, take on Smackdown’s WWE Champion, AJ Styles. Lesnar recently won the vacated title after a battle with Braun Strowman at Crown Jewel. This is the exact same match fans got at Survivor Series in 2017. Additionally, another former UFC fighter will also be defending her title. Raw Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey takes on Smackdown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch.

Below, you’ll find the match card for Survivor Series, but keep in mind that many of these matches are not finalized. The traditional 5-on-5 elimination matches are coming together, and below the main match card, we’ve listed out the competitors booked for each match, so far.

Survivor Series Match Card:

  • Universal Champion Brock Lesnar vs. WWE Champion Daniel Bryan
  • Raw Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte
  • Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins vs. United States Champion Shinsuke Nakamura
  • Women’s Survivor Series Match*
  • Men’s Survivor Series Match
  • Tag Team Survivor Series Match [Kickoff Match]
  • Raw Tag Team Champions AOP vs. SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Bar
  • Buddy Murphy (c) vs. Mustafa Ali (Cruiserweight Championship)

*=Not finalized

Women’s Survivor Series Teams

Raw:

  • Natalya
  • Mickie James
  • Nia Jax
  • Tamina
  • Ruby Riott

Smackdown:

  • Sonya Deville
  • Carmella
  • Asuka
  • Naomi

Tag Team Survivor Series Teams

Raw:

  • Lucha House Party (Kalisto, Lince Dorado, and Gran Matalik)
  • The Revival (Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder)
  • The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor)
  • The B-Team (Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel)
  • Chad Gable and Bobby Roode

Smackdown:

  • The Usos (Jimmy and Jey Uso)
  • The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods)
  • SAnitY (Eric Young, Killian Dain, and Alexander Wolfe)
  • The Colons (Primo and Epico)
  • The Good Brothers (Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson)

Men’s Survivor Series Teams

Raw:

  • Drew McIntyre
  • Dolph Ziggler
  • Braun Strowman
  • Bobby Lashley
  • Finn Balor

Smackdown:

  • Shane McMahon
  • Daniel Bryan
  • The Miz
  • Samoa Joe
  • Rey Mysterio

Make sure to come back to GameSpot on Sunday, November 18 for live coverage and a review of Survivor Series.

Red Dead 2: What We Want To See In Red Dead Online

All The Things We Want

Red Dead Online is coming soon, bringing players into a new version of Rockstar’s Old West, populated by other gun-toting, lasso-flipping, online outlaws. However, two major questions still weigh heavily on those cowpokes, raiders, and gunslingers who eagerly await the multiplayer portion of Red Dead Redemption 2: when will it arrive, and what will it entail?

A vague answer to the question of when came in early November from a Take-Two earnings call, which suggested Red Dead Online would be available sometime near the end of the month. Any answers to the second question, though, are purely speculative. We have a vague sense from Red Dead Online’s Trophies and Achievements that we’ll be performing familiar tasks like gathering plants and hunting, but we’ve also caught whiffs of a mysterious posse system.

There’s much we don’t know about what we’ll be doing while moseying around Red Dead Online. If Grand Theft Auto Online is any indication, we can guess that robberies, heists, and other outlaw-type activities will be a big part of the experience, and we might also do things like create homesteads and gather stables full of horses.

With so much unknown, though, we’ve taken a few minutes to think about all the Old West activities we’d love to see show up in Red Dead Online. There are plenty of ways the multiplayer portion of Red Dead 2 could expand on the game, and not just in the thievin’ and killin’ you might do with a bandanna wrapped around your face. We’ve put down a few of our favorite ideas, ranging from little tweaks and additions to pie-in-the-sky dreams.

And while you’re waiting for Red Dead Online, there’s plenty to do in the story mode of Red Dead 2–but finding everything can be pretty daunting. Luckily, we’ve got guides to help: whether you’re new to the game, hunting Legendary Animals, trying to track down the best and rarest guns in the game, tallying Easter eggs, or getting into the business of breaking horses. And if you just want a series of handy shortcuts, check out these cheats.

Becoming The New Sheriff In Town

The West was full of outlaws, but it was also full of grizzled lawmen–and some of whom were closer to anti-heroes than actual heroes, like their outlaw counterparts. Red Dead Online might have something in this vein already baked in, but the ability to stroll into a town and pick the tin star off a fresh corpse as the desperate townsfolk beg you for help routing local bandits seems essential. There’s some indication that Red Dead Online will let you form a posse, so making those posses composed of temporarily deputized players with plans to take down another gang’s hideout seems like a no-brainer. Just as long as there are plenty of opportunities to look stern, maybe chew a piece of hay or spit, and tap that star on your chest with righteous judicial menace. — Phil Hornshaw, Editor

GTA Online-Style Heists

For as frustrating as GTA Online can be–there’s nothing like getting wrecked by an overpowered troll in a flying car with an orbital cannon at their disposal–it has also provided me with some of my all-time favorite online multiplayer experiences. Specifically, its heists, where you and three friends perform various set-up missions and then execute on some larger plan, have provided me with some unforgettable thrills.

Red Dead Online seems like a natural fit for heists of its own. It’s not hard to imagine establishing a gang with some friends, carrying out set-up missions where you steal horses, carriages, or plans, and then each of you simultaneously performs your independent tasks as part of a complex, large-scale mission. One player providing cover from a hilltop, two breaking into an enemy encampment to steal something, and a fourth coming in at the last minute with the getaway horses sounds like great fun. And it’s just the sort of focused missions that will nicely complement the more relaxing, low-key activities that are sure to make up much of Red Dead Online. — Chris Pereira, Engagement Editor

The Ability To Act Out a Character

The assumption is that Red Dead Online will be a lot like Red Dead 2’s story mode, but with other people. Already there are predictions of heists and train robberies, riding against other players’ gangs, and other outlaw-type things. There’s a lot more to the Old West than shootin’ and robbin’, though. A Red Dead Online that allows you to make your way in the world as a smooth-talkin’ gambler, who never robs anybody (except of their chips), could be an awesome opportunity not often seen in video games.

In fact, the possibility of a bunch of Western roles being available in Red Dead Online gets exciting in a hurry. What about buying a ranch and working it, occasionally fending off wolves and (probably more often) cattle-rustlers, as you try to lay claim to a small chunk of America? Or turning away from the trail and the law to become not a gunslinger, but a gunslinging entertainer like Wild Bill Hickok? Or making a fortune panning for gold (or freezing to death one winter in the attempt)? Or becoming a robber baron railroad tycoon other players would work to take down? It’s easy to expand the scope of Red Dead Online to the point of being impossible to support, but even some inkling of the possibilities of the West that go beyond duels at high noon could be really fun and different. — Phil Hornshaw, Editor

Lots Of Free Roam Events

One area where Rockstar has made some terrific advancements with GTA Online are in the events that periodically take place in the open world, without any matchmaking or loading. It’s all well and good to decide you want to queue up for a particular mode or activity, but having things seamlessly unfold while you roam the world provides some dynamism and unexpected fun the world would otherwise lack.

My favorite things in Red Dead Redemption 2’s single-player campaign are the stranger encounters and other events you happen upon without formally starting up a mission. I hope to see these same types of things littered throughout Red Dead Online’s world, but I also want to encounter low-commitment, silly competitions that include the dozens of players in your session. While Red Dead might not lend itself to many of the events that GTA Online offers (many of which rely on flying vehicles or fast cars), there’s still room to spice up your time in free roam. — Chris Pereira, Engagement Editor

Owning And Taking Care of a Homestead/Farm

One of the major features of Grand Theft Auto Online was property ownership. It was mostly a cosmetic element of the game and existed more for your own satisfaction than for gameplay. While I’d like the same for Red Dead Online, it would be awesome if there was more of a management system attached to it. This would be well-suited if you were able to purchase land to operate a ranch, farm, or even a homestead you can manage alongside multiple players.

What I’d love even more is if the game made it completely viable for you to spend all of your time managing your property and doing the daily tasks required to maintain it. You could raise crops, tend to livestock, purchase supplies and materials in town, and just take care of the folks who live on the property.

But what I really mean to say out of all this is that I’d love to be spending all my time managing a pig farm only for one day to have another player ride through on horseback asking me to help him fulfill a bounty. I’ll then respond, “I ain’t like that no more.” He’ll then tell me where I can meet him should I change my mind before riding off. After giving it some thought, I’ll decide that I do in fact want to take that bounty and end up getting caught in a deeper drama that ultimately has my once peaceful farmer avatar falling back into a world of violence. And before you ask: yes, I just described the plot of Unforgiven. — Matt Espineli, Editor

Gang Hangs

Since I made such a big deal about how much I liked hanging out with the Van der Linde gang members in the story mode of Red Dead 2, I’d be remiss not asking for something similar to make its way into Red Dead Online. It looks as though players can band together in posses, but can they form gangs? Hopefully so, complete with their own well-defended hideouts where they can hang out, get drunk, sing campfire songs, and generally cut loose in the same relaxed capacity that Red Dead 2 leans into on the story side. A social space where groups can lounge around together in-game would be pretty nice, especially if it contains some of the cool things the Van der Linde camp does, like spots to play Poker and Five-Finger Fillet together. — Phil Hornshaw, Editor

Play as Other Members of The Van der Linde Gang

Arthur Morgan is cool ‘n all, but there were times when I was playing Red Dead 2 where I really wished I could play as other members of the Van der Linde gang. While I fully support the artistic decision to have you play as only Arthur the whole way through, it didn’t stop me from desperately wanting to inhabit characters like Lenny, Charles, and Sadie. I’m hoping Rockstar can figure out a fun way to implement playing as them–maybe as unlockable skins or during the competitive multiplayer activities. — Matt Espineli, Editor

Quick Draw Duels

It wouldn’t feel right if Red Dead Online didn’t allow you the ability to engage in quick-draw duels with other players. While it was lightly featured in Red Dead 1’s multiplayer in gang shootouts, it never quite reached the same cinematic highs as the ones in single-player. With the improved quick-draw mechanics in Red Dead 2, it would be awesome if you could challenge any player to a duel–should they wish to accept it, of course. While it won’t stop folks from indiscriminately shooting each other, it would be a much-appreciated gesture to at least have the option to fight one another in the only civil way that cowboys and outlaws know how. — Matt Espineli, Editor

A Horde Mode Like In RDR’s Undead Nightmare DLC

While I’m all for having in-depth heists and other activities to do with friends online, I also want something that lends itself to turning my brain off. Red Dead Redemption’s zombie-themed Undead Nightmare DLC had just the ticket with its Undead Overrun mode, a co-op affair where you fight off waves of enemies. It’s mindless, but that’s what I’m hoping for here.

Introducing some complexity would be fine, but I’m not looking for an experience along the lines of Call of Duty’s Zombies modes. All I want is a relatively basic co-op mode where my friends and I can dispatch waves of enemies (whether they’re zombies, rival gang members, or something else) with little regard for much beyond weapon choice and ammo count. This isn’t what I want from all of Red Dead Online, but as one option among a variety of activities, it would be a welcome way to kill some time. — Chris Pereira, Engagement Editor

More Campfire Songs To Learn, Along With Musical Instruments

When it comes to campfire songs in Red Dead 2, we need more. There will never be enough. For that matter, I want to be able to buy a guitar, get my character to learn a few chords, and become the Javier or Uncle of my outlaw band–always at the ready with a song on the trail and by the fire. The campfire moments in Red Dead 2 are pretty great in general, and those long horseback rides will always be a little better if you can strike up a song session with your buds to pass the time. Playing your own music was one of the best features of another cooperative outlaw multiplayer game, Sea of Thieves, and Red Dead Online could take it even further.

What’s more, it’d be great if part of the experience of exploring Red Dead Online’s multiplayer Old West included the ability to learn new songs, and maybe even teach them to friends and other players. Coupling that with the capability to find and equip some musical instruments, including and beyond just the guitar mentioned above, and Red Dead Online could become a perfect trailblazing multiplayer experience. — Phil Hornshaw, Editor

More Gun Twirling Animations

I mostly highlighted my love for gun twirling in our feature on what we love about Red Dead 2, but let me reiterate it here. When it comes to what constitutes some of the best moments of Western films, the quickdraw duels are often the first to be mentioned, but the coolest is what follows them when the lone gunfighter on-screen twirls their revolver back into the holster of their gun belt. It’s stylish flourish that’s almost cocky, but gosh, don’t I just adore it.

One of my biggest wishes for Red Dead Online would be for more gun twirling animations. I could definitely see them implemented as possible emotes to use after duels or just when you’re hanging around with friends. Though, if it were up to me, I’d just be linking together twirling animations to look like Revolver Ocelot from Metal Gear Solid. I can see it now: just lil’ ol’ me juggling revolvers on the side of the road. — Matt Espineli, Editor

A Ton Of Easter Eggs From Every Western Ever

The number of classic Western films is really enormous, giving Rockstar the opportunity to slip all sorts of fun references and callbacks into the Red Dead Online world. I want an emote that makes me cough like Doc Holliday, a chance to stumble across a blacksmith shop (or tombstone) belonging to one Doctor Emmett Brown. While a bunch of callbacks to westerns might have been a little distracting in the story mode of Red Dead Redemption 2 (not to mention potentially taking away from the sombre tale the game tells over its runtime), Red Dead Online is a perfect playground to go nuts with mentions of all sorts of things, from Rooster Cogburn to a particular poncho-sporting desperado who shall remain nameless. Finding the Easter eggs would be fun, but getting an excuse to check out each of the westerns to which they pertain would be even better. –Phil Hornshaw, Editor