While Super Smash Bros. and Kingdom Hearts may be the long-reigning kings of the crossover in gaming, Epic Games' Fortnite has quickly made its case to claim the throne over the last several years. Ever since Marvel's Thanos entered the fray hot on the heels of Avengers: Infinity War, Fortnite has exploded with new crossovers. While the skins and characters available have expanded far, far beyond that of the Marvel Universe (even though it devoted an entire season to various Marvel heroes and villains facing off against Galactus), Epic Games seems to be dipping back into that well one more time. 

A teaser image released on social media by the official Fortnite channels features the god of mischief's signature horned helmet with the caption, "It seems Mecha Cuddle Master wasn't the only one who found their way to the island. Looks like a trickster snuck his way through the portal and into the Fortnite Crew this July."

While Fortnite already features the likes of Black Panther, Deadpool, Wolverine, Storm, Iron Man, Thor, Doctor Doom, Groot, and more, Epic Games and Marvel are looking to strike while the iron's hot. Disney Plus' Loki series has become more popular as the season has continued (episode three released earlier this week). The crossovers expand well past the Marvel heroes and villains, however, with events featuring characters from The Walking Dead, Tomb Raider, Terminator, God of War, Halo, Street Fighter, Horizon Zero Dawn, Star Wars, and, yes, Marvel's main competitor DC Comics.

While we don't have much more information about Loki's appearance in Fortnite, we do know the trickster is arriving at some point in July. Until then, we'll just have to make do with one of the myriad other Marvel gaming options, as the comics and movies giant continues to expand its reach in the gaming world through titles like Spider-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy, Iron Man VR, and Avengers. For more on Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy from the team at Eidos-Montréal, be sure to hit up our coverage hub here.

343 Industries dropped a ton of new info about Halo Infinite multiplayer during E3 2021, including new features being added in and how the Battle Pass systems will work. Now we're diving a little deeper into how the Halo Infinite multiplayer seasons will evolve through an ongoing story, with season one bringing us back to Reach to kick things off. 

While the main campaign story gave us a new look earlier this month with Cortana Lite (she's not actually Cortana, that's a joke), 343's Joseph Staten opened up a little more about how the multiplayer story will progress. Yes, there is the story of Master Chief but there is a wider arc, as well. "There’s another hero standing beside Master Chief at the very heart of the Halo universe," said Staten to close out the latest Halo Waypoint blog post. "Some of you may have met this hero way back in 2001 with the launch of Halo: Combat Evolved. Some of you will meet this hero for the first time this holiday. Because this hero is you."

The first season of Halo Infinite's multiplayer is called Heroes of Reach. Players will be able to customize their own Spartan to look the way they want, which is "a huge part of the journey." But it's more than just a personalized avatar, there is a deeper connection to the overall Halo-verse that is vital to the experience. "At the center of our plans is a goal to deeply root your Multiplayer character in the larger Halo universe and give them a vital, active role in the Halo story moving forward. How exactly we’re going to do this in the Seasons and years ahead… Well, we’re not ready to share details yet. But I can share that we picked Heroes of Reach as a Seasonal theme for very specific reasons: Reach has a rich history; it’s a key location for Spartans of old and a focal point for a new generation of Spartans preparing to wrestle with the perils and mysteries of a galaxy that has fundamentally changed after the events of Halo 5."

Staten calls the changes made to Halo Infinite's multiplayer a "transformational moment" in Halo history, one that will play a key role in future Halo adventures to come. 

The evolving dual storylines is a part of the five key pillars that the live team has when approaching their game development. These pillars include the prioritization of healthy engagement, maintaining a "player-first" focus, providing "unambiguous value," and to always listen and learn from the community and each other. Halo Infinite has the potential to pave a new feature for the franchise. It very much feels like we could potentially be facing the end of Master Chief's storyline, which poses the question: What's next? Do we go multiplayer-only in the future, adapting the live-service model to continue on a form of storytelling? Do we go a new hero route, someone that dares to step into the boots of Master Chief? Do they keep Master Chief's story going, despite evidence that it could be on its way to conclusion?

Those are all billion-dollar questions where only time will tell. Still, the latest blog post is alight with insider knowledge about what's going on behind the scenes. If you're interested in learning more about Halo Infinite, we encourage you to read the full blog post here. 

During the Nihon Falcom 40th Anniversary event, numerous announcements for a ton of new Trails games coming to the West were accompanied by a concert. No less than four different games are heading this way, so if you’re into JRPGs, this is basically like a holiday.

A quartet of legendary titles from Nihon Falcom are coming to the west! Experience the Crossbell duology, unravel the fates of Erebonia's greatest heroes, and discover adventures beyond the horizon! pic.twitter.com/n9dMjcCb2T

— NISAmerica (@NISAmerica) June 25, 2021

We’ll break down the games, release dates/windows, and platforms here in a moment. The games? Trails from Zero, Trails to Azure, Trails into Reverie, and The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails are all on the way! Check out the trailers below for a look at what to expect:

In Trails from Zero, Lloyd Bannings sets out on an epic quest to join the Crossbell Police Department. Of course, this is a JRPG, so nothing is ever that simple. What starts off as completing simple tasks to help people similar to saving lost cats from trees or taking care of broken fire hydrants turns into a massive mystery that reveals a dark secret. Trails from Zero is coming in Fall 2022 to PS4, Switch, and PC.

Trails to Azure brings more mystery and intrigue to the Lloyd Bannings saga as things become enveloped in political power struggles. Of course, new characters and new friends help as things get mired in conflict. Trails to Azure is coming to PS4, Switch, and PC in 2023. That’s a ways off but hey, it gives you time to play the other Trails games, right?

Trails into Reverie lets players switch characters with the Crossroads system across our hero Lloyd Bannings, Rean Schwarzer, and an enigmatic figure known only as “C”. Yeah, that’s right. The letter C. I’m already intrigued! Trails into Reverie arrives on PS4, Switch, and PC in 2023.

Last but not least, The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Tales has players trekking through multiple worlds to… well, save the world. What a twist, eh? Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails is coming to PS4, Switch, and PC in 2023.

So while a lot of these titles are a ways off, that’s a ton of JRPG localization that should excite Trails fans. Are you looking forward to this deluge of titles? Let us know how you feel about the Trails series in the comments!

At the beginning of June, we covered a really epic fan recreation of the N64 classic GoldenEye 007 using Far Cry 5's Map Editor. With the news that the Map Editor would not be present in Far Cry 6 and the games that will come after it, this recreation felt even more impressive in how it showed off the unlimited creativity this feature lends to players. It was an extensive feat that faithfully paid homage to the game that ruined our friendships back then, but Ubisoft stepped in and struck it down due to copyright infringement. 

The dedicated recreation of GoldenEye 007 came courtesy of YouTuber 'Krollywood,' and its removal was made public when the email they received from Ubisoft went live on Twitter. User @Graslu00 first noted that the GoldenEye maps were removed from Far Cry 5 (as spotted by Eurogamer), maps that were usable by the general public. After doing some digging, they were able to get to the root of the problem: copyright strike.

Confirmed, MGM took down the GoldenEye maps from Far Cry 5.

I'll update with how to play them on PC soon. pic.twitter.com/p8z5zTMuoA

— Graslu00 (@Graslu00) June 24, 2021

The above statement cites articles written by publications like us, IGN, and Kotaku that made their creation even more popular, putting more eyes on this recreation, including eyes a creator might not necessarily want. In the email they received from Ubisoft, it looks like MGM reached out to Ubisoft about the unofficial crossover. MGM, also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, holds the rights for GoldenEye currently, so if that company seeks legal action, Ubisoft's step would be to seek removal before it reaches that point. 

The good news is that their work isn't entirely gone; they have all of the levels saved on the PS+ Cloud and a separate USB stick. They concluded their update to fans of their levels, saying, "I don't know if there is a legal way to upload [those levels] again, but I'm on their radar now, I think."

This YouTuber took their love of the 1997 shooter and made it tangible using Far Cry 5's map editor, completely rebuilding the N64 classic from the ground up. The YouTuber previously told Kotaku that this was no easy endeavor before its removal. This recreation took almost three years to make, and over 1,400 hours to see this project come to fruition. That's dedication, even more so for me because I give up after not even an hour of trying to make a dinky little house in Minecraft. So. There's that. I'm neither ashamed nor proud. 

The removal is sad but not entirely unexpected. MGM has a pretty long history of taking down fan projects that have to do with GoldenEye 007, and with Far Cry 6 around the corner, more eyes are on the Ubisoft franchise than usual.