Month: February 2020

James Mangold and Robert Rodriguez will reportedly direct parts of Season 2 of The Mandalorian alongside Bryce Dallas Howard, who is returning to the series after directing an episode in season 1.

Black Series Rebels (via StarWarsNewsNet) report that both Mangold and Rodriguez have contributed in the directorial effort of Season 2 of the hit Disney Plus show. Whether this means episodes or just sequences of scenes is currently unconfirmed, although Black Series Rebel seems to think the latter. We also don’t know if Mangold and Rodriguez’s names are attached together because they helmed an episode or sequence together or separately.

Season 1 of The Mandalorian had different directors direct different episodes, so having multiple director names attached to the season is not surprising. We’ll likely learn more info closer to the release of Season 2 this October when it drops on Disney Plus.

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Black Series Rebels also shared that Howard is returning to direct an episode. Howard previously directed Episode 4: Sanctuary on Season 1 of The Mandalorian last year. We thought that episode was good, giving it a 7.5 out of 10.

Rodriguez’s latest directorial credit came by way of Alita: Battle Angel, although he’s known for other movies like Sin City and its sequel, the Spy Kids movies and From Dusk Till Dawn. Mangold directed Logan in 2017 and his latest movie, Ford v Ferrari, just won some awards at the Oscars.

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We’re excited for The Mandalorian Season 2 because it means more Baby Yoda, and because we thought the first season was great. We also can’t wait to find out what happens next after that ending.

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Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN who is excited to see Baby Yoda on his tv screen once more. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.

 

The original Shovel Knight saga from Yacht Club Games wrapped up in 2019 with Shovel Knight: King of Cards, the game’s final expansion. Two spin-offs have been planned, with Shovel Knight Dig and Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon both in the works, but fans might be curious about whether a direct sequel will ever follow.

Shovel Knight 2 has not been announced or confirmed, but a member of the game’s development team believes it will happen. Speaking to Dualshockers, Yacht Club Games artist Sandy Gordon says that we have definitely not “seen the end of Shovel Knight.”

Asked whether this means there will be a sequel, he says that he is “sure that’ll happen at some point: it’s something we talk about a lot.”

Gordon also says that the studio is looking forward to the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, although they’re not ready to discuss any games they might be working on for these systems.

Shovel Knight sold exceptionally well on Switch, and considering the studio’s retro focus, it’s likely that the studio would want to continue working on games for Nintendo’s portable system.

Yacht Club Games is working on an entirely new game now, the retro-style action game Cyber Shadow. A release date has not been confirmed for the title.

Baldur’s Gate III has been unveiled, featuring a turn-based combat system and some powerful cinematics. Now, with the game being shown at PAX East, more information is coming to light about the game as outlets talk to the creative forces behind it. One that that has come up a few times is the fact that the game is skipping PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, but will be available for Google Stadia.

Talking to Eurogamer, design producer David Walgrave says that he isn’t convinced the game would run efficiently on the other consoles. “I don’t think that current-gen consoles would be able to run it,” Walgrave says. “There’s a lot of technical upgrades and updates that we did to our engine, and I don’t know if it would be capable of being able to actually run on those things.”

He concedes that it might work if they tweaked the textures, but “It wouldn’t look as cool anymore.” He also says that the game will come to PC and Stadia simultaneously in early access; although Stadia does not have an official term for Early Access as of yet, he says that it will largely be the same as it is on PC.

Meanwhile, speaking to USGamer, Walgrave has spoken further on working with the Stadia platform. “We know where they’re going, we know what to implement with their API, so we just implement that,” he told the site. He says that the team “follow(s) the news” and is aware that not everyone loves the system, but that’s okay–“”We also think that there are certain features that we’re building thanks to Stadia.”

For more on the game, check out GameSpot’s own interview with Larian creative director Swen Wincke about how the game will continue on the series’ legacy.

Australian developer Hipster Whale created the mobile juggernaut endless-Frogger game Crossy Road, and it was a smash hit with 250 million downloads since its release in 2014.

A sequel of sorts, Crossy Road Castle, is launching this week through the Apple Arcade subscription service. Like the original, Castle is an endless running game, but this time you’re making your way through and up towers full of “chaotic arcade fun.” The levels are procedurally generated, which means they’ll be different each time you play.

The game supports solo and multiplayer, and it also features both touch and console controller inputs. Check out the trailer below to see Crossy Road Castle in action.

Crossy Road Castle is rolling out now on iOS through the Apple Arcade subscription service. The service costs $5 USD per month, and provides you with access to a growing library of games. Some of the other titles in the catalog include Sonic Racing, Rayman Mini, Lego Brawls, What the Golf, Sayonara Wild Hearts, and Grindstone, among others.

For more on Apple Arcade, check out GameSpot’s rundown of the best games on Apple Arcade.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is going strong, recently beginning its sixth season of content and adding a new team deathmatch mode, but there are also ongoing issues with the game that have sparked concerns for some players. The developers have taken to the game’s website to discuss some of these issues, and explain what they’re doing to improve matters for players.

The post opens with a brief statement on cheaters, and how dealing with them is a high priority. “We’re utilizing multiple internal teams and external resources to find new solutions for this problem. We’ll be sharing more information regarding these efforts in our upcoming Community Letter and 2020 Roadmap post in early March.”

One major issue for players has been the game’s performance, with FPS stuttering, freezing, and crashing issues making the game harder to compete in. These problems have increased since January, and the team is “conducting ongoing multi-faceted tests and analysis in an attempt to identify and resolve the issues causing this performance loss and causing game crashes.”

Because some of these crashes have been hard to reproduce, or may be specific to hardware, it’s been difficult. Thankfully, many players have sent in replay data to help the team identify issues. The developers encourage players to share issues they face through the game’s support page.

PUBG has also been the victim of multiple distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, and the team is working on defense solutions for this. “The good news is, our recently developed internal solution has reduced the impact of DDoS attacks by nearly 85%,” the post reads. “This is and will remain an ongoing issue, but our dev team will also continue to work on and implement additional measures to mitigate the impact of DDoS attacks when they occur.”

The post also acknowledges that some players have had matchmaking issues with Team Deathmatch, but that these have largely been resolved through a hotfix, so players should no longer face long wait times and uneven teams. Custom match presets have also been restored after recent updates broke them for some players.

“We understand there are many other high-priority issues impacting gameplay,” the post concludes. “One of our primary goals this year is to be more transparent with what we’re working on, so we wanted to get this letter out to you to address some of the more notable issues we’ve faced recently.”

PUBG remains very popular, especially its mobile version. Unfortunately, PUBG Corporation recently dropped out of GDC 2020 due to concerns sparked by the coronavirus.

Cyberpunk 2077 might have gotten delayed, but its official action figure line from McFarlane Toys is arriving right on schedule. The folks over there were nice enough to send over some samples for us to unbox, and here they are:

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The first wave includes 7-inch figures of player character “V” (male version) and Johnny Silverhand, each with a whopping 22 points of articulation and a bunch of accessories. V comes with a pistol, submachine gun, and katana, while Johnny includes his guitar, strap, an alternate hand for rockin’ out, and a bottle of what’s presumably some sort of delicious futuristic party liquor.

Meanwhile, the 12-inch Johnny Silverhand is much lighter on gadgets and articulation, but is definitely a nice display piece for fans of Cyberpunk 2077, Keanu Reeves, or a gritty reimagining of one half of Wyld Stallyns.

The 7-inch figures have a suggested price of $24.99, while the big fella will set you back $39.99. They’re up for pre-order on Amazon, Walmart, and GameStop. Expect them to start shipping soon, and popping up on retail store shelves shortly thereafter.

[poilib element=”accentDivider”]Max Scoville is a host, producer, and toy nerd for IGN. You can see some of his action figures in weird positions on Instagram @MaxScoville