There is often a fine line between classy and garish when it comes to expensive video game merchandise. Thankfully, the latest range of pricey Bloodborne items from Japanese collection SuperGroupies lands squarely on the side of the former, with a stunning Astral Clocktower-inspired watch as the biggest draw.
The mechanical wristwatch features a genuine leather strap and the Bloodborne name on its back, but outside of that it’s difficult to recognize it as video game-inspired if you’re not familiar with the construction of the Astral Clocktower. Featured in Bloodborne’s The Old Hunters DLC and home to one of the game’s best bosses, the tower is replicated with gorgeous layers of metal, along with an animated window that slowly transitions from a sun to a moon as the day goes by.
Diehard fans of Bloodborne might scoff at the fact that the Astral Clocktower was never designed to tell time, but that doesn’t prevent this from being an alluring piece, even if it does cost 30,000 Japanese Yen (around $285).
The rest of the collection isn’t as expensive and offers additional items with the same classy details. The Bloodborne bag has a nice grey, textured exterior with a red interior lining inscribed with keywords tied to lore and the game’s iconic Caryll Runes. It also comes with metal keyrings inspired by some of the game’s weapons. The three-fold wallet comes in an all-black leather finish with etching of some of the game’s runes, with the same red lining inside from the bag. The bag will set you back 13,800 Yen (~$130), while the wallet is slightly cheaper at 11,800 Yen (~$110).
All three items are up for preorder now, with orders closing either on October 19 or when stock has all been allocated. Deliveries will begin as early as February 2021.
The cloak-and-dagger party game, fashioned in the tradition of classic social deduction activities like Mafia and Werewolf, was initially released in the summer of 2018 exclusively for Androids and iPhones to a winsome, but mostly neglected response. The gameplay was always solid but, for whatever reason – be it the exclusively to mobile platforms, the local-only multiplayer, or the limited marketing abilities of developer Innersloth’s small team – Among Us didn’t catch on with the general gaming public. By the time it hit Steam a year later, with online multiplayer patched in, nobody expected it to become a runaway success.
Fast forward to 2020, however, and Among Us has quickly established itself as one of the preeminent party games on Twitch and YouTube. After an entirely inauspicious launch, Among Us has now racked up over 75,000 reviews on Steam, and is averaging hundreds of thousands concurrent players around the clock. This isn’t a new story; indie games go viral all the time – just look at Surgeon Simulator, Escape From Tarkov, or Getting Over It. But it is rare for a title to sit dormant for multiple years before inexplicably catching fire. Before Innersloth knew it, they had the hottest game on the planet.
“The first thing we really noticed was a Twitch stream from Sodapoppin,” says Forest Willard, programmer and co-founder of Innersloth. “We had various moments where we were like, ‘We’re doing well,’ but it was that point where we saw that a lot of people and other streamers started to climb onboard.”
There are three people credited for the development of Among Us. Willard was the primary coder, Marcus Bromander served as the animator and designer, and Amy Liu handled the lion’s share of the art. For the last two years since release, Willard says he was pretty much the only person working on day-to-day operations. That wasn’t an especially difficult job; after all, it’s not like Among Us had a huge player base demanding his oversight. So it was a shock to boot up the game’s backend after Sodapoppin’s endorsement to find that Among Us had 10,000-plus players attempting to barge into a server at the same time. Willard was the only intermediary to make sure the game’s infrastructure survived.
“[Among Us] couldn’t handle that server load. You have to re-do code and re-do systems so you can get more servers onboard. It was really overwhelming,” he remembers. “It was just, 12-hour days, nose-to-the-grindstone until you get it done.”
Innersloth doesn’t really have a professional office. The team is local to the Pacific Northwest, and while they saw each other occasionally during the Among Us development process, for the most part, they work from home remotely. As of right now, the trio remains united as a completely independent studio, but as is customary when an indie game takes the world by storm, triple-A sharks are starting to sniff around their estate, looking to strike a deal. “We’ve had a number of big companies come into contact with us,” says Willard. “Before [Among Us blew up] we only ever had one big company take an interest in our work.”
That success has also led to a deluge of hopeful future Innersloth co-workers. Every day, Willard finds a stack of fresh portfolios in his inbox. There are dozens of different offers to translate Among Us into practically every language that the game is not currently available in. After years spent on the fringes of the games industry, Innersloth is suddenly flushed with resources. The future is wide open.
Willard believes the proliferation of Among Us’ popularity can be chalked up to the simplicity of the design. It might be a little more robust than your average bluffing game; there are corridors to explore, and wires to reroute. But fundamentally, anyone can learn the core mechanics in about 10 minutes; stay frosty if you’re one of the good guys, and eliminate the team as quietly as possible if you’re an imposter. Willard tells me that Innersloth has an official Discord channel that’s full of suggested gameplay wrinkles that would add an extra dose of complexity to the metagame, but thus far the team has opted to stand pat. The tension in Among Us is perfectly balanced, according to Willard – he doesn’t want to rock the boat. “We’re planning on supporting the game pretty much as it is,” he says. “As long as it has players.”
When I first reported this story, Innersloth said their long-term goal is to build a standalone Among Us sequel that could host the original version of the game within it. That was a little bit surprising. These days, when a studio has a hit, they tend to iterate on the original product with a constant stream of patch notes filled with new maps, characters, and often-experimental game modes. In that sense, Willard and the team were pushing against the grain. Among Us is built on old tech, he says; it began as a mobile party game with no online multiplayer and mutated into a Steam monster. At this point, iterating on the game’s core infrastructure is an onerous task. “Making any changes is really scary. It’s hard to test all the pieces that were accidentally connected together,” says Willard. “We feel like we have enough things we want to add to Among Us 2 that it deserves to be its own thing.”
However, in the weeks since I spoke to Willard, Innersloth announced they would be canning the plans for a sequel entirely. Instead, all of the plans they’ve sketched out for Among Us 2 would be integrated into the primitive code, no matter how much of a challenge that might be. Willard reminds me that all of that work is very early in its development process, and some of its new flourishes have barely begun to germinate in Innersloth’s braintrust. But one truth is undeniable; Among Us has a bright future ahead of it. All that’s left to see is how the team takes advantage of the moment.
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Luke Winkie is a writer and former pizza maker in Brooklyn. He’s written for Vox, Vice, The New York Times, Gizmodo, PC Gamer, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, and wherever else good content can be found.
Season 6 of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has arrived, bringing with it a new fast-travel system for Warzone as well as new operators, cosmetics, multiplayer maps and modes and so much more.
You can check out the full Season 6 patch notes over on the Call of Duty blog, but we’ve also pinned down all of the key changes below. The update is 19.3 GB on PS4, 22.66 GB on Xbox One and 57 GB / 25.5 GB on PC depending on whether you own Modern Warfare or just Warzone.
Subway Fast Travel: A metro has been added to Verdansk, described as a “dynamic fast travel system” that allows players to jump between existing points of interest. A number of Metro stations have been placed in the map which squads can investigate to find items and catch trains to move around the map. Safety standards dictate that the cars will not transport players to stations outside of the safe zone, and they also won’t move if there is conflict on board. Activision notes that these new underground areas are “prime spots for ambushes.”
Warzone Season 6 – New Mode, Weapons and War Tracks
Armored Royale Mode: This new Warzone game mode outfits every team with a turret-toting armoured cargo truck. If the truck is destroyed, the team cannot respawn, and the last team standing wins, truck or no truck.
New Weapon Pickups: The supply crate weapon rotation has once again been changed. This time around players will see “a combination of familiar armaments and new blueprints,” including six Common, 10 Uncommon, 13 Rare, 18 Epic and 24 Legendary variants to discover.
Licensed War Tracks: New licensed War Tracks can be picked up as free tiers in the new battle pass, including Jack Harlow’s “WHATS POPPIN” and “Grindin” by Clipse.
Station (Gunfight Map): Abandoned military cargo trains litter this “rural Kastovia train station” which players can clamber on top of and hide between, bringing new verticality to Gunfight.
Broadcast (6v6 Map): Based on the TV station in the ‘Charlie Don’t Surf’ mission from 2007’s Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, this new map caters to CQB play with its many tight corridors.
Tank Factory (6v6 and 10v10 Map): This new map will change depending on the size of the lobby, with two large buildings, a tank factory and a warehouse, available for players to battle through.
Verdansk Riverside (Ground War Map): This suburb near the frozen Gora River has been brought to Modern Warfare multiplayer for the first time.
Multiplayer Season 6 – New Modes and Challenges
Killstreak Confirmed Mode: This spin on the popular Kill Confirmed mode makes it so that you can earn killstreaks by collecting dog tags.
Gun Game TDM Mode: This new mode is a Team Deathmatch spin on Gun Game, where your weapon cycles after every kill, as two teams battle to reach the target score.
Headquarters Firefight Mode: This spin on Headquarters makes it so enemy respawns are disabled when Headquarters are captured, doling out points for holding the objective.
Hardpoint Hills and Kills Mode: Similarly, this spin on Hardpoint provides team score to players who hold objectives, as well as wiping out enemies.
Trials and Officer Challenge Ribbons: Nine trials have been added with Season Six, including a Juggernaut Trial, Quad/ Helicopter Races and Free Roam side missions. New Officer Challenge ribbons have also been brought to the game to help players rank up.
Season 6 Battle Pass
Instant Unlocks: Upon purchase of the new Battle Pass you’ll get access to the Farah Operator, a character from Modern Warfare’s campaign. You’ll also get an XP Boost, the “Poloski” skin for Minotaur and the “Gilded Arm” assault rifle blueprint.
New Weapons: Players will unlock the bolt-action SP-R208 marksman rifle at Tier 15, and the 9×39 suppressed AS-VAL assault rifle at Tier 31.
New Unlocks: Other unlocks in the Battle Pass include skins for Gaz, Domino and Bale, a screwdrivers Combat Knife blueprint and numerous vehicle skins. There’s also Edward, a pet bat finishing move that explodes the enemy’s head.
Tier 100 Unlocks: At Tier 100 you’ll unlock the Nikolai Operator, a VSS rifle blueprint, a Halloween-themed vehicle skin and a Season 6 emblem.
Season 6 Zombie Bundle
Undead Forces: A new store bundle has also been brought to the game, including a Hellhound finishing move, a Syd skin and a mini zombie charm.
You can see a roadmap for further Season 6 updates below:
Xbox Series X has 802GB of usable storage space in its in-built 1TB SSD, reserving almost 200GB for the operating system and essential system files.
In IGN’s hands-on preview of Xbox Series X, we showed off the storage space of a base Xbox Series X unit with no apps or games installed, showing the 802GB limit. This is actually an improvement on Xbox One X, which allowed for 780.9GB from its 1TB hard drive. You can check out the storage management screen in the video below:
Game sizes are likely to be a major talking point in the coming generation, with storage costs creeping upwards throughout the lifespan of Xbox One and PS4, particularly with the advent of 4K resolutions. AAA games now require tens, and occasionally hundreds, of gigabytes of storage space – and with the increased quality of Series X games, it’s a trend likely to continue.
Perhaps the most notable large game right now is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. After today’s Season 6 update, the full game install takes up around 192 GB on Xbox One. Assuming a similar size on Series X, you’re looking at almost a quarter of the available SSD space taken up by a single game.
Using the (expensive) Seagate 1TB expansion drive adds 920GB of usable space to the Series X, and USB 3.1 external hard drives can also be used to store games – but the latter option means stored games won’t receive the benefits of the Xbox Velocity Architecture, which should improve load times and performance.
Xbox Series X retails at $499 USD / £449 / $749 AUD, while Xbox Series S comes in at $299 USD / £249.99 / $499 AUD. Both Xbox Series consoles will be released on November 10.
Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].
Disney has announced that the next D23 Expo will move from its planned 2021 calendar slot to September 2022.
The company shared the update via a tweet on the official D23 Twitter account. The statement confirms that the rescheduled event will now take place on Sept. 9-11, 2022, at the Anaheim Convention Center. Disney also promises that the “D23 Expo 2022 will be a celebration unlike any other” as fans will be given a first look at its “incredible plans for the 100th anniversary of The Walt Disney Company.”
Image credit: Twitter/DisneyD23
Since 2009, the bi-annual D23 Expo has invited fans to celebrate all of the magic, wonder, and adventure of Disney at a three-day convention packed full of “inside-the-magic” experiences, including exclusive sneak peeks at upcoming films, celebrity appearances, unforgettable presentations, as well as the latest looks at what’s coming from Disney Parks and Resorts and Walt Disney Imagineering.
The 2022 edition of the D23 Expo will now take place shortly after Star Wars Celebration, which is another major convention in the Disney calendar. Lucasfilm cancelled this year’s event due to the ongoing novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Star Wars Celebration is now set to return to the Anaheim Convention Center on August 18-21, 2022.
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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.
Edmund McMillen has revealed The Binding of Isaac: Repentance, a “mega expansion” for The Binding of Isaac, described by McMillen as “basically a sequel”
In a blog post on Steam, McMillen provided an overview of the new DLC, noting that the expansion is “bigger than rebirth was to the OG flash game.”
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth was a 2014 remake of 2011’s The Binding of Isaac, which brought a huge amount of new content to the game, and saw it ported to current-gen systems. This comparison speaks to how much of a sizable update Repentance will bring to the game.
And of course for those wondering we still don’t have a release date yet but we think end of year is still doable 😉 https://t.co/uc3TpvWpv1
McMillen added that the game is “currently over 90% done” and tweeted that a release date for Repentance hasn’t been pinned down, but that the team think that “end of year is still doable,” which suggests Repentance may arrive before the end of 2020 if everything goes well.
More updates about Repentance will arrive in late October, with news about how Repentance will work with the console versions of the game coming soon. You can check out the Steam store page for Repentance here, which adds that there will be “130+ new items, 25+ new bosses, 2 new playable characters” and a “full alternate path with brand new chapters and a new final boss and ending.”
We got another look at Pokemon Sword and Shield‘s second DLC expansion, The Crown Tundra, during today’s Pokemon livestream. Along with revealing the DLC’s release date, the stream gave us our first look at another new regional variant: Galarian Slowking.
Much like Galarian Slowbro, which was introduced in the previous Isle of Armor DLC, Galarian Slowking is a dual Poison/Psychic type. Standard Slowpoke can evolve into either Slowbro or Slowking, and it appears that remains the case for these Galarian variants. Although The Pokemon Company didn’t yet detail how to evolve the Pokemon, it notes on the games’ official website that the evolution is triggered when “a Shellder bite set off a reaction between the chemicals secreted by Galarian Slowpoke’s brain and the spices inside its body.”
Galarian Slowking
Galarian Slowking is classified as the Hexpert Pokemon, and it’s said they communicate with each other by chanting mysterious incantations. This ties into its new signature move, Eerie Spell, a Psychic-type attack that dishes out damage and reduces three PP from the last move the opposing Pokemon used.
Galarian Slowking also has a unique Ability called Curious Medicine. When this Pokemon enters the field, it automatically resets its ally’s stat changes.
Although it’s not yet clear how to get Galarian Slowking in Sword and Shield, you’ll first need to get a Galarian Slowpoke; these can be encountered in the wild around the Isle of Armor. As previously mentioned, you can also evolve Galarian Slowpoke into Galarian Slowbro, which has its own unique Ability–Quick Draw–and a unique signature move called Shell Side Arm. You can learn more in our guide on how to evolve Galarian Slowpoke into Galarian Slowbro.
Netflix has released new images from the upcoming fourth season of The Crown, which will be premiering on November 15. It features some familiar faces from history, including Diana, Princess of Wales, played by Emma Corrin (Pennyworth). You can check them out below.
The Crown is a historical, biographical period drama which chronicles the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth II. In the upcoming season, Olivia Colman (Fleabag) will be returning as Elizabeth, and she will be flanked by Gillian Anderson (The X-Files) as Margaret Thatcher and Emma Corrin (Pennyworth) as Lady Diana Spencer. Given that the series began in 2016 with the events of 1947 through to 1955, the appearance of Princess Diana signals for viewers that the show is starting to cover contemporary events they likely have lived history with and memories of.
Netflix also recently released a new trailer, which you can see below.
All that’s known about Season 4 so far is it will depict and include events such as Michael Fagan’s break-in to Buckingham Palace and the Princess of Wales’ 1989 flight on the British-French turbo-jet airliner, the Concorde.
The Crown was created by British screenwriter and playwright Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon, The Queen). As the series covers a wide expanse of history, from season to season it often features different actors in the same roles. Earlier seasons included Matt Smith (Doctor Who) as Prince Philip, John Lithgow (Dexter) as Winston Churchill, and Helena Bonham Carter (Fight Club) as Princess Margaret.
In July, it was announced that The Crown is expected to close out the series with Season 6.
Yesterday, Amazon revealed its 2020 Amazon Prime Day is happening on October 13-14 after having initially been delayed from its usual mid-summer timeframe due to the unfortunate circumstances of 2020. Some of the early Prime Day deals on Amazon devices like Kindle and Echo have already started, but the rest of the goods won’t see their savings until the official Prime Day kickoff.
Among the many items discounted during Prime Day you’d probably be interested in, video games feature prominently. But will we see any sort of savings on Nintendo Switch consoles and games? I’m certain we’ll see Nintendo Switch game deals, almost certain we won’t see any deals on Nintendo Switch consoles.
Will Nintendo Switch be on Sale During Prime Day?
My sense is we won’t see any meaningful discounts on Nintendo Switch consoles over Prime Day. In spite of the fact the late start to Amazon’s sale event is encroaching on the holiday shopping season, the Nintendo Switch has been hard enough to get at its MSRP. While the system is incredibly popular, its rarity is due more to pandemic-related supply chain issues compounded with a whole new group of people looking to spend their free time at home.
However, with the recent return of the Animal Crossing special edition Nintendo Switch bundle at retailers, I think we’ll see some bundled Nintendo Switch deals for Prime Day. If not the Animal Crossing bundle itself, some sort of microSD/eShop card and console bundle. That is, of course, if Amazon has enough Nintendo Switch consoles in stock to even consider bundled deals.
Amazon Prime Day Nintendo Switch Game Deals
Now here’s where we’ll see some chances to save. Nintendo Switch game deals are already live, and have been for weeks. It’s practically unheard of for first-party Nintendo games to go on sale, but that’s been the case most of the summer. Games like Super Mario Maker 2, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and even Animal Crossing: New Horizons have seen discounts up to 33% off their MSRP.
It’s pretty rare to not have to pay the “Nintendo tax,” but for whatever the reason, these games have dropped in price and it looks like those savings are going to last through Prime Day. If not, they’ll almost certainly return. It’s great news for those lucky enough to have picked up a new Switch, as well as those looking to fill some gaps in their library or stock up before the holiday season is upon us.
Joy-con are still really hard to find. They’re nowhere near as difficult to get your hands on as they were during the peak of summer, but they’re still not as readily available as they once were. That’s a bummer, because, like the consoles, a supply constraint means the likelihood of a sale is much lower than if they were abundant.
However, the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller doesn’t seem to be affected, and is routinely on sale for $59.99. I fully expect this deal to return for Prime Day.
Amazon Prime Day Switch Memory Deals
The microSD functionality of the Nintendo Switch is one of its greatest strengths, in my opinion. You can expand your Nintendo Switch storage up to 2TB, which isn’t even a card size that exists yet. But better still, because it uses common storage media, you can expand your Switch memory without paying full price if you keep an eye on deals. SanDisk microSD cards, both the officially licensed and the non-licensed variants, go on sale all the time. Expect to see some sort of deal on microSD during the Prime Day event.
