Month: January 2020

Gaming Hall Of Fame Announces This Year’s Inductee, Connie Booth

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has announced this year’s inductee to its Hall of Fame. Connie Booth, who is the vice president of production development for Sony Interactive Entertainment, is being given the prestigious award for her numerous and significant achievements in games.

The Hall of Fame award is given to creators who demonstrate the highest level of creativity and innovation, resulting in significant product influence on a scale that expands the scope of the industry.” Booth joins an esteemed group of creators in the AIAS Hall of Fame including Bethesda veteran Todd Howard, Halo boss Bonnie Ross, Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima, Rockstar Games founders Dan and Sam Houser, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto.

In her 21 years in gaming, Booth has played a key role in producing some of PlayStation’s most iconic and beloved games, including Crash, Spyro, Jak & Daxter, Ratchet & Clank, Sly, Days Gone, Spider-Man, Resistance, Uncharted, Infamous, and The Last of Us.

“We are honored to have Connie as our Hall of Fame recipient,” AIAS president Meggan Scavio said in a statement. “For over two decades, she has been a leading voice and advocate for countless PlayStation franchises as well as nurturing new talent in the industry. Her tireless work and passion have had an indelible impact on game makers, allowing their creative visions to flourish.”

Booth started at Sony Corporation of America in 1989 before moving to the gaming team at Sony Computer Entertainment in 1995 as a producer, where she oversaw the release of Naughty Dog’s Crash Bandicoot series. In 1998, Booth was promoted to director of product development before being promoted again to vice president of product development.

Booth will receive her award during the 23rd D.I.C.E. Awards on February 13 in Las Vegas. The event, which has nothing to do with Battlefield developer DICE, will also honor 2019’s best games. Death Stranding and Control picked up the most nominations, including Game of the Year nods. You can see the full rundown of nominees here on the AIAS website.

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Crisis on Infinite Earths Officially Links DC TV and Movie Universes

Ezra Miller made a surprise cameo as The Flash in the penultimate episode of the CW’s Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event, officially linking the DC TV shows of the Arrowverse to the DC movie universe.

Check out photos of the cameo in the slideshow below, and keep reading for a breakdown of how the big surprise all went down:

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After being chased by the Anti-Monitor, Grant Gustin’s Flash winds up in a memory of STAR Labs inside the Speed Force where he comes face-to-face with Miller’s Flash. The meeting of TV and movie Flashes is played for laughs as Miller asks if Gustin is cosplaying, while Gustin calls Miller The Flash, a name the latter has yet to go by in the movies – before both Flashes reveal that they’re named Barry Allen. The scene ends when Miller fades away, saying, “I told Victor this was possible,” presumably referring to his buddy Vic Stone aka Cyborg.

This means that the Arrowverse is a parallel universe to the DC movie universe (referred to by fans as the DC Extended Universe or DCEU) where Miller’s Flash resides and the events of Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Shazam! took place.

This crossover has been a long time coming. Back in 2015, Miller told MTV about how he was psyched about there being two different versions of the Flash and how he wanted to interact with Gustin’s version of Barry Allen.

“I think it’s awesome,” Miller enthused. “And come on, we’re the Flash! It’s parallel universes! Grant Gustin is the Flash and I’m the Flash, don’t you see? It’s the event horizon, we crossed it baby! Grant and I are chillin’. We’re gonna have a race, it’s gonna be dope. Like Jay Garrick and Barry Allen back in the day, it’s gonna be dope.”

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Back in 2014, DC stalwart Geoff Johns told Buzzfeed that they view the DC TV universe and the movie universe as co-existing in the Multiverse. The Flash is practically synonymous with the Multiverse where an infinite number of parallel universes exist because the Speed Force allows him to travel between them, so it makes sense that the character would be used to bridge the gap between the TV and movie universes. In a sense, these universes have always co-existed, but now it’s finally been confirmed on screen.

It’s hard to say whether this TV/movie crossover was a one-time thing or if we’ll see more in the future. Recently Andy Muschetti, director of the upcoming Flash movie, said that the film will showcase a different take on the iconic Flash tale Flashpoint. The Flashpoint comic saw Barry Allen travel to the past to save his mother from being murdered, creating a butterfly effect that drastically changed the present for the worse. We’ve since seen that the world of Flashpoint became its own parallel universe within the Multiverse, so it’s entirely possible that Muschetti could use that Flashpoint to explore the Multiverse and reference the Arrowverse in return.

If anything, Miller’s Flash now has an origin for his superhero  name.

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Joshua is Senior Features Editor at IGN. If Pokemon, Green Lantern, or Game of Thrones are frequently used words in your vocabulary, you’ll want to follow him on Twitter @JoshuaYehl and IGN.

Arrow-Verse Crossover Introduces Ezra Miller’s Flash In Crisis On Infinite Earths

Tuesday night’s episode of Arrow marked Part-4 of the CW/DC crossover event Crisis on Infinite Earths. During the episode, something crazy happened. Ezra Miller from the Justice League movie just popped up during the event.

Warning: Spoilers for Part-4 of the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover below.

Seen in the picture below, Barry Allen–played by Grant Gustin–enters the speed force with the help of Oliver Queen/The Spectre. Barry heads to STAR Labs to find his other friends, and he bumps into… himself. Check out the image from the episode below.

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Yes, that’s Ezra Miller, who plays Barry Allen–The Flash–in the DC Universe movies. And yes, Miller’s Flash was in the weird, armor-looking Flash suit we’ve seen in the movies. Miller’s cameo seems to be nothing more than just that: a brief appearance in the episode. However, it seems Ezra’s Allen gets the idea to call himself “The Flash” thanks to this little meeting between speedsters, so there’s something for the overall canon.

Crisis on Infinite Earths–a crossover event between all of CW’s DC shows–will end on Tuesday evening with the finale taking place on Legends of Tomorrow. Can the superheroes save the multiverse from the Anti-Monitor? We’ll learn soon enough. Keep checking in with GameSpot throughout the evening for more revelations from the last two parts of this monumental event.

Xbox Series X’s Shared Exclusives Are a Good Thing

We’re only on our second episode of the year and it’s already time to talk about E3! This week the Unlocked crew discusses Sony’s absence from E3 2020, Microsoft’s exclusives launch plan, game delays, and more.

Subscribe on any of your favorite podcast feeds, or grab an MP3 download of this week’s episode. For more awesome content, check out the latest episode of IGN Unfiltered from our new barcade set, featuring an interview with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order director Stig Asmussen. It’s an open bar; come and join in the video below!

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It’s looking like we’re going to have a busy and fun year. Stay tuned for next week’s episode on IGN or on Unlocked’s YouTube.

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Miranda Sanchez is an executive editor at IGN. You can chat with her about video games and anime on Twitter.

Netflix Renews You For A Third Season

Netflix has renewed You, its pulpy, tongue-in-cheek thriller about a stalker named Joe Goldberg (played by Penn Badgley), for a third season. Season 2 debuted on December 26, 2019, and interest has been high enough to justify a third season.

Victoria Pedretti will also return for a third season, reprising her role as Love Quinn. Things will remain unchanged behind the scenes too, with creators Sara Gamble and Greg Berlanti returning to produce the show.

The first two seasons of the show were adapted from the books of Caroline Kepnes; the first was titled You, the second Hidden Bodies. Kepnes is working on third and fourth novels too.

The show has been received well, with the second season earning an average score of 74 on Metacritic. Badgley has said that the show is about “how far we’re willing to go to forgive an evil white man.”

Netflix has also announced 29 original movies for 2020 to date, including new films by David Fincher, Ben Wheatley, Spike Lee, and Charlie Kaufman.

Now Playing: New On Netflix In January 2020 – Best Movies And TV Shows To Watch!

Starz Boss Offers Update On The John Wick TV Show

It’s been a while since we’ve heard any updates about the John Wick spin-off TV series being developed by Starz. However, The Continental is still happening. At the TCA winter press tour, Starz president and CEO Jeffrey A. Hirsch provided an update on the project.

Hirsch said: “I came from the meeting season-pitch on that yesterday and it’s moving along. We like that with the group of writers and we’re just trying to get it to the right place so that it doesn’t interfere with the motion picture side of the house. But we’re excited about the progress that the team is making.”

He continued, explaining that The Continental likely won’t air until after the upcoming John Wick Chapter 4, which isn’t set for release until May 21, 2021.

First reported all the way back in 2017, The Continental will focus on the infamous hotel for assassins featured in the first three chapters of the John Wick franchise. It will “maintain the urgency of the action along with the dry humor of the movies” and include the franchise’s star, Keanu Reeves, as a producer. We know it will be a prequel to the film series, and that a cameo from Reeves himself isn’t necessarily off the table–but given how long the wait is shaping up to be, it’s probably best not to start counting any gun-toting, martial artist chickens before they hatch.

For more coverage from the TCA winter press tour, take a look about news on Syfy’s Peter Pan and Child’s Play shows, as well as more info about Amazon’s Wheel of Time series. Additionally, the executive producer Picard cleared up confusion about the timeline for Star Trek, and we learned a little more about Patrick Stewart’s costar in the upcoming series.

Get an Exclusive (Depressing) Look at Tonight’s Crisis on Infinite Earths

The CW’s Crisis on Infinite Earths is back for its final two installments, and we have an exclusive clip from Part 4.

Check out the video, but beware of spoilers if you haven’t watched Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part 3!

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This clip appears to be the opening scene (or at least a very early scene) from tonight’s Arrow episode. When the crossover went on hiatus in December, things weren’t exactly looking great for our heroes. The Anti-Monitor managed to destroy the entire multiverse, leaving only the seven Paragons (or rather, six Paragons and Lex Luthor) trapped at the edge of time in the Vanishing Point.

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This clip puts the emphasis squarely on newcomer Ryan Choi (Osric Chau). Ryan observes how each of his fellow Paragons has seemingly given up in the wake of this crushing defeat, with even the mighty Supergirl losing hope in a better tomorrow. But with two episodes left to play out tonight, somehow we doubt we’ve seen the last of our Arrowverse favorites.

Stay tuned to IGN for our full, combined review of the final two chapters of Crisis later tonight, followed by plenty more Arrowverse content this week. Until then, refresh your memory with our Road to Crisis on Infinite Earths feature, and learn about the newest addition to the Arrowverse, Superman & Lois.

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Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

Pokemon Go January 2020 Community Day: Start Time, Featured Pokemon, And More

Pokemon Go‘s first Community Day of the new year is just around the corner. The monthly event returns on Sunday, January 19, and will give players a chance to catch another rare Pokemon, learn a special event-exclusive move, and take advantage of other in-game bonuses.

Most Pokemon Go Community Days only run for three hours, but the specifics of each event–such as what the featured Pokemon is and what other bonuses are available–vary month by month. To help you prepare for this month’s event, we’ve rounded up everything you need to know about January’s Community Day below.

What Is January’s Featured Pokemon?

Each Community Day stars one “featured” Pokemon, which will appear much more frequently in the wild throughout the event. This month, the featured Pokemon is Piplup, the Water-type starter from Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum. Throughout January’s Community Day, you’ll be more likely to encounter Piplup in the wild and in Raids, and you may even hatch it from eggs that you receive at PokeStops during the event.

On top of that, this month’s Community Day will give you your first chance to encounter a Shiny Piplup in Pokemon Go. Shiny Pokemon rarely appear in the game, but the increased Piplup spawns available during the event should make it more likely that you run into a few Shiny ones.

What Is January’s Community Day Move?

Another benefit of each Community Day is that it gives you a chance to get a Pokemon with a move that it can’t otherwise learn in Pokemon Go, and that holds true this month as well. If you can evolve Piplup’s evolved form, Prinplup, into Empoleon up to two hours after the event ends, the Pokemon will know a special event-exclusive move.

Niantic hasn’t announced what this month’s Community Day move is yet. However, other Water-type starters that have been featured in previous Community Days were all able to learn the Charged Water attack Hydro Cannon, so that will presumably be this month’s move as well. That remains unconfirmed for now, but we’ll know for sure closer to the Community Day.

What Time Does January’s Community Day Start?

Like previous Community Days, January’s event will run for three hours, but it will take place at different times depending on which hemisphere you live in. For players in the Northern Hemisphere, the event will run from 11 AM-2 PM local time; in the Southern Hemisphere, the Community Day takes place from 3-6 PM local time.

What Other Bonuses Are Available?

On top of increased Piplup spawns, Niantic is offering a few other in-game bonuses during January’s Community Day. As usual, any Lure Modules you use during the event will remain active for three hours, rather than the usual 30 minutes. Additionally, any eggs you place into incubators will hatch at a quarter of the distance they normally require during the Community Day.

Now Playing: Let’s Talk About That January 2020 Pokemon Direct

Apex Legends Season 4: When Does It Start?

The current season of Apex Legends, Season 3: Meltdown, is coming to an end on February 4. So when does Season 4 start? Short answer: We don’t know for sure, as Respawn hasn’t officially announced a date. Our guess, which requires us to explain our reasoning, is February 4.

Respawn’s original Apex Legend post-launch plan had Season 4 starting in December 2019. We know that’s no longer true, as the developer, instead, extended Meltdown into the longest season that Apex Legends has ever had. Season 1: Battle Frontier (March 19 through June 18) and Season 2: Battle Charge (July 2 through October 1) were both 13 weeks. Meltdown will be 18 weeks long when all is said and done, pushing Season 4’s start out of late December/early January and into February.

Though there was a huge gap between the launch of Apex Legends and the start of Battle Frontier, as well as a minor gap between Battle Frontier and Battle Charge, Meltdown started the day that Battle Charge ended. It stands to reason that the gaps have been getting shorter, closing in on the near-instant turnaround seen between Season 2 and 3. Following that logic, Season 4 would begin February 4, the same day that Season 3 ends.

Why would Respawn pick February 4 for a Season 4 start date? February 4 marks the one-year anniversary of both the surprise reveal and launch of Apex Legends. What better time is there to start a new season than the day that the battle royale goes into Year 2? Regardless of when Season 4 starts, Season 3 is quickly coming to an end. If you still have battle pass levels to earn, it’s time to start grinding weekly challenges.

For now, we know next to nothing about Season 4. Respawn hasn’t announced its start date, name, new weapon, new playable legend, or battle pass awards. There hasn’t been any indication of what map(s) we’ll be playing on either, or whether a permanent game mode will be added alongside Casual, Ranked, Firing Range, and Training. Pretty much the only thing we know about Season 4 is that it’s on its way.

Apex Legends is currently in the midst of its latest limited-time event, Grand Soirée Arcade. Adding seven new game modes and several new legendary character skins, Grand Soirée Arcade will continue until January 28. Grand Soirée Arcade launched alongside an update that implemented several bug fixes, legend nerfs/buffs, and gameplay changes–one of which may hint that another Titanfall 2 gun is on its way into Apex Legends during Season 4.

Now Playing: Apex Legends Grand Soiree Arcade Event Is Live!

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Epic Games Store Will Pursue More Exclusives After Successful First Year

The PC gaming landscape welcomed a new entrant in 2019 with the launch of Fortnite developer Epic Games’ digital store, the Epic Games Store. Epic shared new insight today that speaks to the enormous success of the store, which was driven in part by exclusives.

Starting with the numbers, Epic said the Epic Games Store has grossed a total of $680 million so far, $251 million of which coming from third-party games (which is 60 percent ahead of Epic’s projections). More than 300 million Epic accounts have been registered on all platforms, while 108 million accounts have downloaded at least one title from the store (either free or paid).

The $680 million in revenue is ahead of expectations, Epic Games Store GM Steve Allison told GameDaily.

One element that makes the Epic Games Store attractive is free games. Epic has so far given away 73 titles, and users have claimed 200 million of these games. In total Epic estimated the value of the 73 games to be around $1,455. Looking ahead to 2020, Epic will continue to release free games on a weekly basis.

The most popular games on the Epic Games Store so far are The Division 2, World War Z, Satisfactory, Dauntless, Untitled Goose Game, The Outer Worlds, Borderlands 3, Metro Exodus, and Control. All of these titles were timed-exclusives for the Epic Game Store.

The strategy to pursue exclusives has been controversial, but highly successful for Epic. Allison noted that these exclusives have “driven the majority of revenue” thus far on the Epic Games Store, though he noted that non-exclusives have also performed well.

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said the company plans to continue to pursue exclusives, saying they are “critical” to growing the store. “Securing exclusives for Epic means we can significantly assist developers with product funding and invest in marketing and awareness knowing that these efforts bring in new customers to our store, rather than just sending more business to the incumbent,” he said.

Some of the upcoming timed-exclusives for the Epic Games Store include Magic: The Gathering Arena, Predator: Hunting Grounds, Auto Chess, Rogue Company, and Godfall, with even more exclusives to be announced later.

The Epic Games Store is theoretically attractive to developers because Epic only takes 12 percent of game sales, giving 88 percent back to the studios. This percentage is much more favorable than than traditional 70/30 revenue split that exists on Steam and other PC and console platforms, as well as iOS.