Battlefield 6 leaks continue to drop, each one sounding better than the next. This week Richie Bracamonte and Aaron Sampson discuss the latest near-future BF6 rumors as well as the state of Warzone, which might be headed the way of COD Mobile. They’ve also rounded up some good news and some user comments submitted by you!
With Battlefield 6 fast approaching, Aaron discusses how it appears to be shaping up. Fans have come up with concept art based on leaks and rumors. These include osprey aircrafts, Boston Dynamics robots and more near-future tech that classic fans are sure to love. It’s also this kind of tech and gameplay that attracted millions to 2019’s Modern Warfare reboot.
Speaking of Call of Duty, Warzone continues its slow-paced Zombie event that’s leading to something bigger. Richie and Aaron discuss the lull of the current event and how it’s been handled much better in previous events such as the “Know Your History” and “Haunting of Verdansk” events and modes. The upside being the recent date announced to kick off season 3 and possibly end our time with the Verdansk map as we know it.
Halo Infinite is making some major changes to the series’ art direction, focusing on the simpler and iconic design of the original trilogy, but there is also a lot of work going into the game’s sound. The tricky balancing act of blending the old with the new was a challenge for 343 Industries, and the development team has offered some details on what you can expect.
In a new Ask343 development video, the audio design team spoke about the iconic elements it’s keeping from past games, including the classic charging sound of the Plasma Pistol. It will also feature the ramping-up music that makes every battle feel so climactic, building in an enormous crescendo as the action gets more intense. Tools, including ones 343 created in-house, are used to keep track of what both you and the enemies are doing at all times in order to have the music play differently.
This also includes examining player-intention. For example, if you are staying far away from some Elites as you snipe them, there won’t be the same music as if you went in with guns blazing.
“You might be walking through the world and get a piece of music while you’re just exploring that then carries over into combat engagement,” said music supervisor Joel Yarger. “Whereas if you just walking into the combat engagement without that piece of music playing, you get something else.”
And because music is a huge part of the Halo experience, the studio’s goal is for streamers and other video creators to be able to use all of it in their videos, rather than having to disable it to avoid takedowns.
Multiplayer got plenty of attention, as well, including how shots sound different from allies versus enemies. One fan also asked about the different multiplayer announcer voices available in Halo 5 and the Firefight mode from previous games.
The team wasn’t to talk specifics regarding customization on this front for Halo Infinite, but it sounds like there will be something for people who enjoyed that content. And most importantly, Jeff Steitzer will return as the multiplayer announcer, delivering his legendary “Double Kill!” lines. Steitzer has been with the franchise since the very beginning, acting as the announcer for every mainline game as well as Halo 3: ODST and Halo Wars 2.
Halo Infinite releases this fall for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC. It was previously planned to release alongside the new console last November. We know the character Spartan Griffin will appear after previously appearing in a novel.
Nintendo is a big fan of Bowser. In fact, Nintendo of America’s president is even Doug Bowser, as of a few years ago. However, not all Bowsers are in the company’s good graces, as Nintendo has filed a lawsuit alleging that a man named Gary Bowser is in charge of a piracy operation targeting the Switch.
In a lawsuit filed in Seattle (via Polygon), Nintendo alleges that Gary Bowser is one of the leaders of a piracy group called Team Xecuter, which makes and sells an operating system called SX OS that is used to circumvent Nintendo Switch security systems. Once installed, Nintendo says this OS allows for pirated games to be played on Nintendo Switch, which would be otherwise impossible.
“If a user already owns a lawful, properly purchased Nintendo Switch game, the user can use the SX OS and accompanying features to turn that game into an unlawful copy, which allows the user to share additional unauthorized copies with more users also using the SX OS on the Nintendo Switch,” the lawsuit says.
Additionally, Nintendo alleges that Bowser has been trafficking circumvention devices for many years, dating back to the original Nintendo DS. It seems Bowser has been a thorn in Nintendo’s side for a long time. He was indicted in 2020 in Washington on similar allegations, mostly related to Nintendo products.
Nintendo did not lay out a specific dollar amount overall that it’s looking to receive from the lawsuit but did specify wanting $2,500 and $150,000 per violation of two different laws, as well as alternatively receiving actual damages and Bowser’s alleged profits if they can be proved during the trial. They might be in gold coins.
Nintendo is notoriously litigious and protective of its IP, and given their massive popularity–even among those who don’t play video games–that’s unsurprising. The company’s stance, which appears to have been removed from the American website’s legal section, is that downloading ROMs is always illegal, regardless of whether you own the physical game already. It says a law permitting copying only applies to copying a game yourself in order to prevent loss in the case of the original being damaged.
We’ll have to wait and see how the case unfolds, but Bowser’s Fury might not do much good against Nintendo’s army of lawyers.
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Capcom has released a new gameplay video for the previously teased Rose, who is making her return to the series in Street Fighter V very soon. The tarot-wielding fighter is an unusual character who will keep her enemies off-balance with a mix of melee and magical abilities.
Rose’s signature abilities make use of tarot magic and can grab and slam down enemies from range, and she can also use anti-air attacks to keep them from closing in. She’s also capable of mixing it up with punches and kicks when need be, as well as powerful magical counters that will punish anyone who plays too aggressively in a corner. Almost all her attacks see flowing ribbons moving through the air, which is both gorgeous and a little distracting to whoever she’s beating up.
Rose is available through both the Season 5 Premium Pass and the Season 5 Character Pass. Both give you access to five characters, and the final character is expected to arrive this fall. You don’t get quite as much with the Character Pass, but it does still include all five characters and some special costumes and color variants. These passes are available on both PS4 and PC.
Street Fighter V has now been the franchise’s go-to fighting game for more than five years and has since been updated with the Arcade Edition and Champion Edition content. It has also continued showcasing its characters in other games, with Ryu and Chun-Li both making guest appearances in Fortnite. Yoshinori Ono, who had worked as an executive producer on the series for more than a decade, departed Capcom in 2020.
We could have had a Daredevil TV series in the early ’90s, but an ill-fated adaptation of a competing DC show saw plans cancelled for a series starring the Man Without Fear.
In the latest IGN Inside Stories documentary, The Incredible MCU That Time Forgot, actor Rex Smith reveals that NBC had TV plans for Marvel’s Daredevil, before a CBS adaptation of The Flash show saw them abruptly abandoned. Smith played Matt Murdock in 1989’s The Trial of the Incredible Hulk, which left a set-up for a Daredevil show when arch-enemy Wilson Fisk (played by Indiana Jones’ John Rhys-Davies) escapes before the conclusion.
Smith told IGN that the set-up was intentional, but ultimately never paid off. “It was not just a guest star thing for film. This whole effort was a springboard for a series for the Daredevil,” he explains.
Rex Smith as Daredevil in The Trial of the Incredible Hulk (1989).
Trial of the Incredible Hulk screenwriter Gerald Di Pego confirmed that for us: “The whole reason to do [the 1980s Hulk] movies was not just to show the Hulk again, but to bring in the other universe characters. So if you’re going to bring in Daredevil and Kingpin, you’re certainly not going to put them in jail or kill them off.”
While the project never moved far enough along to see a truly set storyline, Smith told us that John Rhys-Davies was also signed up for the TV project, to reprise his role as Wilson Fisk. “We were so excited, John and I both,” he explained. “He was signed on for the series too, to be my Moriarty for Sherlock Holmes. There’d be other baddies, but the real baddie that always had his hand in it was going to be John.”
Unfortunately, the show never made it out of the gate due to the CBS network’s interest in a competing DC project, a 1990 series about The Flash. “I hear from my agent,” says Smith, “He goes, ‘We have a problem.’ I go, ‘What kind of problem?’ He goes, ‘Well, [CBS] bought your contract for Daredevil, because they’re coming out with The Flash and they don’t want the competition. So NBC sold your contract.'”
That contract sale saw the Daredevil show put on ice, and Smith was essentially paid not to play Daredevil, so that The Flash could succeed – although that series would only see a single season before being cancelled itself.
“They wanted to have the only superhero show,” Smith continues. “So Flash got it and Daredevil got buried. But what a strange twist of events, isn’t it? […] I’m glad to be able to let people know. And also let them know that, this thing, every intent of it was to bring to television the Daredevil. And we’ll never know how that could have gone.”
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].
Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train opens in theaters nationwide in the U.S. and Canada on Friday, April 23, 2021. This was reviewed out of Japan. Read more on IGN’s policy on movie reviews in light of COVID-19 here. IGN strongly encourages anyone considering going to a movie theater during the COVID-19 pandemic to check their local public health and safety guidelines before buying a ticket.
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A visually stunning theatrical continuation of one of anime’s biggest recent hits, Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train only slightly misses the mark. The point of this film is to show us how the characters have grown from training after their last life-and-death battle—and to have them learn the hard way just how far they still have to go.
Picking up moments after the end of the TV series, the film — a blockbuster success in international release — follows our team of heroes as they board a train where both normal people and demon hunters have gone missing en masse—likely due to demons. Of course, this means that whatever’s going on is a bit too much for mid-level hunters like Tanjiro and his friends, so they are assigned to work with Rengoku, one of the nine strongest hunters in their organization. Yet as they begin to explore the mystery of the train, it quickly becomes clear that raw power alone will not be enough to save all those on board.
Each side character gets their time in the spotlight to do something meaningful — especially Inosuke — with the film providing a convincing rationale as to why the far more powerful Rengoku doesn’t just solve everything himself. Much of the plot here deals with dreams. This, in turn, allows for an insightful view of what our heroes’ deepest desires are. While some dreams, like Inosuke and Zenitsu’s, are used mainly for comedic purposes, others, namely Tanjiro and Rengoku’s, show us what exactly they lost due to the demons — the everyday life and familial connections that were so precious to them.
We also get a more metaphorical look at several characters’ subconscious. For Rengoku, it is an ever-burning hardpan desert symbolizing his undying personal drive. For Tanjiro, it is an endless serene lake under a stunning summer sky symbolizing the peace and warmth at his very core. All this helps us better understand our heroes and empathize with what they are going through.
While the film does have some good character development, Enmu, the main villain of the film, gets almost none at all. Up to this point, the villains we have encountered have often had layers to them—something deep inside that both Tanjiro and the viewer can empathize with even as he cuts them down. For the mansion-twisting Kyogai, it was his need to be recognized, either as a demon or as a writer. For the spider-demon Rui, it was his need for a family to replace his human one even though he could no longer understand the concept.
Enmu, on the other hand, is spectacularly one-note. He is a sadist, plain and simple. He lets his victims experience their greatest dreams only so he can watch the horror on their faces as they awaken to him killing them. He shows no remorse for his actions and only regrets not killing more people. If it weren’t for his excellent character design, he’d probably be the most forgettable villain of the franchise.
And yet Enmu isn’t the weakest aspect of the film; the climax is. While the majority of the film is spent following Tanjiro, he is not the emotional core of the film but rather Rengoku. In fact, this film lives or dies on how well you connect with Rengoku, which is the problem.
It’s hard to connect with Rengoku because we don’t know Rengoku. Moreover, none of our heroes know him either. While he did appear briefly in the series proper, he was equal parts antagonist and comic relief during Nezuko’s trial. In fact, before the film, Rengoku and Tanjiro never even had a single conversation. In this film, beyond talking in battle, they have only two brief conversations, one at the start of the film and one at the end and neither are particularly deep. While Rengoku’s dreams and an almost-too-late flashback do let us know a bit about him it’s no way near enough to successfully pull off the emotional gut-punch the film is aiming for. No matter how much the score swells and voice actors give their all, the climax just falls flat.
On a visual level, there are few anime out there that look better than Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train. It expertly combines 3D and traditional animation in a way that makes both look amazing. Vivid colors, dynamic camera movements — this film has all the things we’ve come to expect from Ufotable’s animation in recent years.
But where it truly stands apart from other Ufotable works is in its effects. While the Demon Slayer TV series focused mainly on the water effects — making them look as if they came straight out of a Hokusai painting — this film aims to do something comparable with fire. It feels powerful, otherworldly, and perfect for something that’s supposed to be able to destroy even the most powerful of demons. It’s hands down the visual highlight of the film.
With Mass Effect: Legendary Edition well on its way, we know that this will be the first time that many folks play through BioWare’s acclaimed sci-fi trilogy. There’s a lot of lore and backstory to these games, so if you’re not huge on reading comic books and novels, paging through text logs, and exhausting every dialogue choice just to enjoy an RPG, we’re here to help ensure you’re fully up to speed.
In the video above, Jordan Ramée talks through the First Contact War, a three-month conflict that takes place prior to the events of Mass Effect. The First Contact War is just what humans call it though–you may hear all of the alien characters in the game refer to it, instead, as the Relay 314 Incident.
Even though it takes place before the trilogy, the First Contact War is an important event. It defined humanity’s place in the Milky Way galaxy, and explains why there’s a palpable tension between certain humans and aliens. Understanding the First Contact War will help you better understand several of the main characters you’ll meet in the first Mass Effect, especially squadmate Ashley Williams and main antagonist Saren.
We’ll be breaking down the lore of Mass Effect leading all the way up to the release of Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, so stay tuned. Mass Effect: Legendary Edition will launch for Xbox One, PS4, and PC on May 14–the remaster will also be playable on Xbox Series X|S and PS5 via backwards compatibility.
It doesn’t appear we’ll be getting a sequel to Sony Bend’s Days Gone, and some of the game’s creative leadership is no longer at the studio. This includes director and writer John Garvin, who appeared to put the blame for games not getting sequels–at least in part–on players not willing to pay full price at launch.
Speaking to fellow former Sony developer David Jaffe, Garvin said (via VGC) that “If you love a game, buy it at full ****ing price,” and said he has heard players talk about getting games on sale or through PlayStation Plus, instead.
Jaffe asked the obvious rebuttal to this, which is how can you know you love a game you haven’t played? Garvin doubled down but didn’t have much of an answer. He pointed to the PS4-exclusive God of War getting more support out of the gate.
NPD Analyst Mat Piscatella, who previously worked for both Activision and Warner Bros. in the business and sales planning departments, disagreed with putting the blame on players.
If a game didn’t sell well at launch it’s most likely because the game, its marketing or its price failed to incentivize consumers to purchase.
Blaming the consumer for a game not selling well at launch is a bit off the rails. https://t.co/1DguPbzj1x
I’ve been a part of the launch of hundreds of titles, and a good chunk of them failed in the market. Post mortems were all about what we didn’t get right, and what we could do better next time. If someone didn’t buy the game it was our fault, not theirs.
“If a game didn’t sell well at launch it’s most likely because the game, its marketing, or its price failed to incentivize consumers to purchase. Blaming the consumer for a game not selling well at launch is a bit off the rails,” Piscatella said.
Days Gone was polarizing at launch, with reviews all over the place. According to GameSpot’s sister site Metacritic, they ranged from as low as 3/10 to as high as 10/10, with plenty of very low and very high scores among the 109 cataloged. By contrast, God of War’s very lowest score on Metacritic was a 7.5/10 and it had more than 40 perfect scores. Seeing such praise for a game before it’s out can certainly influence a buying decision.
Days Gone is free on PlayStation Plus right now and is also included in the PS5’s PlayStation Plus Collection. The game releases for PC on May 18.
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