Month: December 2020

Nintendo has announced that a roughly 15-minue Super Nintendo World Direct will take place on December 18 at 3pm PT/6pm ET/11pm GMT that will show more of Universal Studios Japan’s newest theme park area.

Nintendo also was careful to mention that “no game content will be featured,” so it looks to only show more of the much-anticipated theme park area that is set to open to the public on February 4, 2021.

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IGN Japan and other members of the press were able to get a sneak peak at Super Nintendo World last month, and got a glimpse of Bowser’s Castle and where guests will line up for the Mario Kart: Koopa’s Challenge ride.

The Mario Kart-themed ride will put visitors in the driving seat and includes AR and projection mapping to bring the beloved action of the Mario Kart series to life, all through the help of a wearable Mario’s hat that has a built-in AR screen.

Super Nintendo World was set to open ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in Summer 2020, but it was postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, a Mario-themed cafe and store inside Universal Studios Japan did open and gave guests a glimpse of what they can expect from this new area.

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Super Nintendo World will also feature interactive attractions that will allow guests to use their Power Up Bands to collect digital coins and unlock achievements.

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Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077 released on consoles in a less than optimal state–and now, PlayStation has taken action. The company has removed the game from the PlayStation Store, and promised to issue refunds to customers.

Cyberpunk 2077 no longer appears when you search for it on the PlayStation Store, and Sony has shared a link for players to claim a refund for the digital version of the release. This applies to both the PS4 and PS5 stores.

As players began to discover Cyberpunk 2077’s shoddy release state on consoles, developer CD Projekt Red suggested that Sony and Microsoft would be able to issue refunds; however, it eventually transpired that consultation with these companies had not happened, and the company soon stopped suggesting contacting PlayStation for a refund.

This is an uncommon action on Sony’s part–games have been removed from the store before, and refunds issued, but it’s rare to see it happen with a game of this size. Equally, some games that are technically flawed continue to be available on the PlayStation Store, indicating that this is an extreme case.

As of writing, the game is still available on the Xbox family of consoles, including the Xbox One.

The Callisto Protocol was announced at The Game Awards earlier this month, giving us an intriguing first look at this new horror title that is, curiously, set within the same game universe as PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. The trailer we saw during the show was toned down, though–and now a far more violent Red Band version has been released.

The trailer starts similarly, and is still giving us major Dead Space vibes–which makes sense, since developer Striking Distance was founded by the game’s co-creator, Glen Schofield. However, while the initial trailer cut away from the monster attack, this one doesn’t.

This extended trailer shows the character we were introduced to during The Game Awards getting brutalized, and it’s not pretty. If you’re not good with eye stuff (as many people aren’t), you might want to skip this trailer.

The trailer also has a new ending, proving the character’s fate definitively.

The Callisto Protocol will release on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S in 2022. We haven’t seen gameplay footage yet, so it’s not entirely clear what kind of game it will be just yet.

Note: It might be obvious, but this post contains significant spoilers for the story and ending of Cyberpunk 2077–even though we’ve tried to limit them.

There are a bunch of different endings available in Cyberpunk 2077 depending on your choices, your relationships, and how you’ve interacted with Johnny Silverhand over the course of the game before you reach it. Triggering them all requires some work, but if you’ve met the prerequisites, you’ll see how to access each one in a pretty straightforward way when the time comes. That’s true of all but one separate, secret ending that you might not ever know you have access to–and which will put you through one of Cyberpunk’s toughest challenges.

To get the secret ending, you need to make sure to have a high level of friendship with Johnny, which means you have completed his many side quests and have chosen friendly dialogue options, as opposed to antagonistic ones, when dealing with him. Check out our rundown of everything you should do before reaching Cyberpunk 2077’s endgame for a complete picture of what Johnny Silverhand quests you can do and how to unlock them.

After that, you need to progress the story to the Point of No Return at the start of the story mission Nocturne Op55N1. Taking on that mission starts the endgame and locks you out of any additional side missions, while also putting you on track to the choices that unlock the various endings.

How To Unlock Cyberpunk 2077’s Secret Ending

• Before heading to the Point of No Return in Nocturne Op55N1, raise your relationship with Johnny to 70% or higher.

You can track this at the top of the menu screen–it’s the number beneath the Samurai logo, labeled You Only Live Once. We’re not entirely sure how you can raise this number effectively, but we do know that you’ll need to complete all of Johnny’s side quests starting with Chippin’ In. In general, you want to treat Johnny as a friend and confidant in dialogue choices, especially during the end portion of Chippin’ In and during his other side quests. In general, try not to be antagonistic to Johnny during quests to continue to increase the number.

• Continue through Nocturne Op55N1 until you reach the rooftop conversation with Johnny.
• Choose to let Johnny take on Arasaka Tower with Rogue. When Johnny asks if you’re sure, just wait–it’ll be about five minutes.
• After a while, Johnny should offer you another option to take on Arasaka alone, with no backup. Choose this option to access Don’t Fear The Reaper.

The thing about his ending is that it’s extremely difficult. You’ll face a mess of top-tier enemies without anyone to help you, making this one of the toughest missions in the game. What’s more, if you die, the credits will roll. You only get one shot at the Don’t Fear The Reaper quest (at least, unless you load a save to before Nocturne Op55N1), so make sure you’re very ready. We recommend you craft top-tier equipment and complete as many side quests as you can in order to increase V’s level and make yourself as resilient as possible.

Finishing the Secret Ending unlocks content you can’t get any other way, so it’s worth doing if you’re especially hardcore about the game.

We’ve got a whole lot more Cyberpunk 2077 coverage to help you through the game as well–be sure to read our Cyberpunk 2077 review, and check out our essential tips, character attributes and build guide, romance guide, life path guide, endings guide, and where to find Iconic weapons and the best cyberware.

The next character being added to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is Cloud’s archenemy, Sephiroth, who unlocks on December 22 (or earlier, if you can beat him in a special challenge). Fans have been wary about how much extra Final Fantasy music and content would be introduced, since Cloud, infamously, only had two character-specific music track when the game launched. Sephiroth, it turns out, is getting more support.

During today’s presentation, it was revealed that nine new Final Fantasy songs are being introduced in this update, bringing the total to 11. These are focused on music from Final Fantasy VII and its spin-off movie, Advent Children, and include some new arrangements of classic songs.

Here’s the full list of tracks:

• Opening – Bombing Mission (new arrangement)
• Those Who Fight (Advent Children version)
• Those Who Fight Further (Advent Children version)
• Aerith’s Theme (new arrangement)
• Main Theme of Final Fantasy VII (new arrangement)
• Jenova
• Cosmo Canyon (new arrangement)
• One-Winged Angel
• Advent: One-Winged Angel

These tracks have been added to the Midgar stage, too. Sakurai said that getting the rights to use the music from Final Fantasy has been challenging because of the need to get the rights from copyright holders in numerous different regions. However, it seems that an agreement was reached for these extra tracks.

You can unlock Sephiroth as a playable character right now through the Sephiroth Challenge, and doing so is not very difficult.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate director Masahiro Sakurai gave us a closer look at the game’s next DLC fighter, Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII, during today’s video presentation. In addition to detailing the fighter’s moveset, Sakurai revealed when Sephiroth will join the roster, and it’s very soon.

Sephiroth will officially join the roster next week, on December 22. However, Nintendo is giving fans a chance to unlock the new fighter early through a special limited-time event. If you’ve purchased the Fighters Pass Vol. 2 or Sephiroth’s character pack, you can challenge the One-Winged Angel as a boss fight. If you manage to defeat Sephiroth, you’ll unlock him ahead of his official release date. The event runs from December 17-22.

Like other DLC fighters, Sephiroth arrives alongside a brand-new stage, Northern Cave, as well as a handful of unlockable Spirits and nine new songs. The full song list includes:

• Opening – Bombing Mission
• Those Who Fight (Advent Children version)
• Those Who Fight Further (Advent Children version)
• Aerith’s Theme
• Main Theme of Final Fantasy VII
• Jenova
• Cosmo Canyon
• One-Winged Angel
• Advent: One-Winged Angel

As previously mentioned, you can get the One-Winged Angel either as part of the game’s $30 Fighters Pass Vol. 2 or by purchasing his fighter pack individually for $6.

Sephiroth is the third character to arrive as part of Smash Bros. Ultimate’s second wave of DLC, following Min Min from Arms and Steve from Minecraft. There are still three more DLC fighters in development for the game, although Nintendo hasn’t hinted at who those will be or when fans can expect them to arrive.

In other Smash Bros. news, Nintendo is offering another free item pack for the game. Switch Online subscribers can now claim the Spirit Board Challenge Pack 7, which includes a handful of items that will make it easier to battle some of the tougher opponents in the game’s Spirit Board mode. You’ll need to have an active paid subscription in order to claim the freebie.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate director Masahiro Sakurai shared more details on the game’s next DLC character, Final Fantasy VII’s Sephiroth, during today’s video presentation, but that wasn’t all he discussed. Sakurai also revealed a new assortment of Mii Fighter costumes that are coming soon to the game.

Five more costumes are being added to Smash Bros. Ultimate next week, all of which are based on Square Enix characters, including three from Final Fantasy VII: Barret (Gunner), Tifa (Brawler), and Aerith (Swordfighter). On top of that, there’s going to be a Chocobo Hat and a Gunner costume based on Geno from Super Mario RPG. Each costume will cost 75 cents.

As for Sephiroth, the new fighter joins the roster next week, on December 22, but you’ll be able to unlock him a few days early if you can beat him during a limited-time event. He’ll arrive alongside a new stage, music tracks, and Spirits. You can get the One-Winged Angel as part of the game’s $30 Fighters Pass Vol. 2 or pick his character pack up individually for $6.

Sephiroth is the third new fighter from Smash Bros. Ultimate’s second wave of DLC, following Min Min from Arms and Steve from Minecraft. Three more DLC fighters are still on the way, although Nintendo hasn’t yet shared any details about who those will be or when they’ll release.

In other Smash Bros. news, Nintendo is giving away another free item pack for the game. For a limited time, Switch Online subscribers can grab the Spirit Board Challenge Pack 7. This pack comes with an assortment of items aimed at making it easier to challenge tough Spirits in the game’s Spirit Board mode. Like other Smash Ultimate freebies, however, you can only claim the item pack if you have a paid Switch Online subscription.