Month: May 2021

Shirley Curry has achieved a lot in her rise to fame as the Skyrim Grandma. Now she’s hit another milestone: Thanks to a new mod, Skyrim Grandma can now be a follower for your Skyrim character.

As reported by Eurogamer, user Thesparalius uploaded the mod to Nexus Mods for Skyrim Special edition and to Bethesda.net for Xbox and PC. The mod doesn’t just add Shirley’s face to an NPC, either: In addition to a character model, the in-game Shirley is also fully voice-acted, has a unique bow, will tell you about her past, and lives in a house with a stunning view. The mod also adds several other unique items.

The mod was created by users from a community calling itself “Shirley’s Grandkids” (which comes from what Shirley herself calls her fans). Many of the members of this community also pushed to get Shirley included in the follow-up to Skyrim; she’ll be an official NPC in The Elder Scrolls VI. For the mod, the creators got permission from Shirley and also worked with her to get voice-acted dialogue for the in-game character.

In real life, Shirley has become an increasingly popular YouTuber in the Skyrim fan community, with around 960,000 subscribers. She’s 85 right now and still consistently producing videos. And, in case you were wondering, she has published a video of herself playing Skyrim with the Skyrim Grandma mod installed.

As for Elder Scrolls VI, we’ve still got a long time to wait. It will launch sometime after Bethesda’s next IP, Starfield, which is itself far off.

If visitor numbers to digital spaces are anything to go by, the science fiction novel Ready Player Two has built quite the fanbase. As of this week, over 28 million players have visited the Ready Player Two hub in the blocky creation game Roblox.

The Roblox space has become popular since its launch in November 2020 by offering in-game goodies and events themed after the novel. For example, anyone who enters the hub will earn a digital book to wear on their head (yes, you read that right), as well as a shirt. In addition, the hub presents players with a set of puzzles to complete and relics to earn, and if all seven relics are collected, players can grab a digital pair of META Shades. There are also a handful of themed items available from the in-game shop. Finally, you can also watch a Q&A session with the novel’s author, Ernest Cline, in the hub.

The event was originally designed as a promotional campaign for the novel, going live ahead of the book’s release. It granted a handful of special items for the first set of players to finish the games. Despite the novel having been released in November 2020, the event has continued on and has proven to retain a strong user base.

Ready Player Two launched to commercial success in spite of a lukewarm critical reception. Cline confirmed in December that a film adaptation was already in the works. Meanwhile, Roblox continues to be one of the most popular games in the world, with around 200 million active users. Yet, in contrast to extremely strong revenue, Roblox still does not make a profit.

It Takes Two is the best game eccentric director Josef Fares has made to date, and if you haven’t played through the cooperative-only platformer yet, you can get it on sale for a great price right now. Normally $40, it has been discounted to $30 on both PS4 and Xbox One, and the game’s cross-buy feature means you can get an upgrade to the newer consoles for free.

The deal is live at Target, and it’s for both in-store pickup and delivery orders. Though the game can only be played cooperatively, it uses a Friend Pass feature that lets someone else join your game and play with you from beginning to end without them needing to also own the game. This feature was included on developer Hazelight’s previous game, A Way Out, which also required cooperative play.

On PS4, It Takes Two includes a free PS5 upgrade, which will let you run a digital PS5 copy as long as the PS5 disc remains in your system. On Xbox, it supports Smart Delivery, meaning it will automatically install the best version your system can run.

A far cry from the gritty prison drama of A Way Out, It Takes Two is a whimsical platformer in a dream-like story, but its subject matter is still serious. With a husband and wife preparing to divorce, they must work together after being transformed into homemade dolls… and possibly rekindle their love along the way.

It Takes Two receive nearly unanimous praise, and in GameSpot’s It Takes Two review, Andrew King praised the “wildly varied” levels as well as the lead performances and evolving gameplay mechanics.

A fantastic video from 1988 has resurfaced that shows legendary American film critic Roger Ebert showing off the greatest entertainment system of 1988 – the LaserVision.

Shared by Jeremy Herbert on Twitter, the late Roger Ebert appeared with Gene Siskel in a 1988 Holiday Gift Guide and he welcomed viewers to his basement entertainment center as part of one segment to show off his setup.

Roger Ebert showing off his basement entertainment center, dubbed “The Orson Welles Room,” in 1988: pic.twitter.com/4uppJA44Wr

— Jeremy Herbert (@DDayFilms) April 30, 2021

While showing off his entertainment center, which he called “The Orson Welles Room,” Ebert began by explaining that he had a 45″ screen because the 50″ screen would not fit down the stairs. He then proceeded to say how “anyone with any kind of large TV screen needs LaserVision in order to get a good picture on the screen because it gives you a lot more definition.”

The LaserVision, or LaserDisc, first arrived in the US in 1978 and was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. LaserDisc was a big upgrade from VHS, offering 425 lines of resolution as opposed to VHS’s 240 lines. LaserDisc also offered Digital Audio over Analog Audio.

LaserVision also had, by today’s standard, giant optical discs that resembled the size and shape of vinyl records. Ebert even commented that they looked like “what they would eat off of in the spaceship in Close Encounters [of the Third Kind].”

While it never quite reached the popularity of DVD in the US, it was popular in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia. It also laid the foundation for CD, DVD, and Blu-Ray.

Roger Ebert was the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism and worked for the Chicago Sun-Times from 1987 until his death in 2013 at the age of 70.

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

After losing a close battle in its opening weekend at the domestic box office, Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train has officially taken the top spot from Mortal Kombat.

As detailed by Box Office Mojo, Demon Slayer earned $6.4 million this past weekend, which narrowly defeated Mortal Kombat’s $6.2 million. Godzilla vs. Kong held on to the #3 spot with a total of $2.7 million. Rounding out the top five are Separation’s $1.8 million and Raya and the Last Dragon’s $1.3 million.

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In their box office debuts, Mortal Kombat earned $22.5 million and klaimed the top spot over Demon Slayer’s $19.5 million.

Not only did Demon Slayer pass Mortal Kombat at the domestic box office, but it also has passed its total gross of $34.1 million by collecting $34.11 million as of May 2, 2021.

Both films saw an earnings drop of about 70% at the box office, while Godzilla vs. Kong dropped about 36% week-over-week.

In our Mortal Kombat review, we said, “it may not be a flawless victory but the new Mortal Kombat movie is a fun time for fans of the game franchise.”

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In our Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train review, we said, “Ufotable’s jaw-dropping visuals alone make Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train well worth a watch, even if the film stumbles a bit at the climax. Those who enjoyed the TV series will no doubt enjoy the film as it is a solid continuation of the show’s main story and will no doubt be a major moment that shapes the next step in our heroes’ lives.”

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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.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition is set to be released in just a couple weeks, and a possible day one patch has just appeared on PlayStation servers that is bigger than the individual file sizes of Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3.

As reported by Twisted Voxel, this patch appeared on OrbisPatches.com and includes improvements to performance, stability, Ambient Occlusion (AO), and lighting (both visual and performance-related). It also fixes crashes and “miscellaneous content.”

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At 11.8 GB, this patch is bigger than the base game of the original Mass Effect’s 6.83 GB, Mass Effect 2’s 9.25 GB and Mass Effect 3’s 10.60 GB. It is not, however, bigger than Cyberpunk 2077’s Day Zero and Day One patches that came in at 43 GB and 28 GB, respectively.

Things have obviously changed since 2007 when the original Mass Effect was released, and the advancements in technology and resolution also come with a higher required file size. Besides the fact that this patch most likely improves all three games, it’s for a package that includes the entire trilogy and more than 40 pieces of downloadable content that are playable in 4K Ultra HD and HDR.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition, when it is released on May 14 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One, will tell the complete tale of Commander Shepard except for Mass Effect’s Pinnacle Station DLC that was cut due to corrupted source code.

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We’ve called Mass Effect Legendary Edition less than a remake, but it’s much more than a basic remaster. BioWare also detailed a ton of the gameplay tweaks fans can expect, including for combat, the Mako, and more.

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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.

According to confidential documents, Microsoft was planning to reduce its 30% revenue share for Xbox Store games by 18%, moving the split between the developers and itself from 70/30 to 88/12.

As reported by The Verge, these documents were filed for the upcoming Epic Games vs. Apple case in January 2021 and state that “all games will move to 88/12 in CY21.”

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Also stated on the same page is the already announced news that Microsoft will be increasing the revenue share of PC games on the Microsoft Store by the same 18% on August 1, 2021.

This would be a significant move for the console games industry as Xbox, Nintendo, and Sony currently all have a revenue share split of 70/30. Microsoft’s move on the PC side has put it in line with Epic Games’ 88/12 split and moved it away from the 70/30 split that Steam still uses.

However, a Microsoft spokesperson did tell The Verge that “We have no plans to change the revenue share for console games at this time.” As The Verge notes, this could mean that the plans have fallen through, have changed, or Microsoft isn’t ready to announce or commit to them.

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Microsoft also refused to comment on another important part of the documents that revealed Microsoft would offer this 88/12 split for PC games revenue share “for all games in exchange for streaming rights to Microsoft.” This would clearly be a move to bolster Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming and Xbox Game Pass service.

Also detailed were some of the exclusivity deals in place for Microsoft games, including S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2’s three-month deal, Tetris Effect: Connected’s six-month deal, and a deal that would make The Gunk “exclusive in perpetuity.”

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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.