Month: May 2021

Gears 5’s latest update is out, and it adds in a number of usability, accessibility, and multiplayer changes. In addition to now allowing players to disable camera shake and turn on more clear path signaling, the update also overhauls the way that competitive leaderboards work.

In Gears 5’s Operation 7 patch notes for this week, developer The Coalition revealed that it’s adding a number of welcome accessibility options. These include allowing players to turn off the shaky camera effect and turn on the Target Lock feature on difficulties up to Advanced. In addition, the studio’s added a brand-new feature that it calls Navigation Ping – Escape Mode. This essentially adds additional options for adding UI elements to reveal the main path through the game.

For example, you can turn on “Full Path Always” which will add a permanent ping to direct you to the right path; or you can enable “Doorways Always” which constantly pings main exits to each area of the map. If that’s too much, there are variations on those two options where they’re only enabled when Taccom is active.

Another significant change added in this update is a complete overhaul of multiplayer ranking. The previous Ranked mode has been replaced by Competitive mode, which no longer uses ranked tiers. Rather, the leaderboard system is now based on points, with everyone starting from scratch this week. Extra points are awarded for the following situations:

• Winning a match
• Winning a round
• If you complete a match and your team has had players quit
• If you play solo (not in a party)
• If you are the top player on your team

Many more changes are implemented in this update, including tweaks to Horde mode, weapons, and the economy. You can see the full Gears 5 Operation 7 patch notes below. In other Gears 5 news, Operation 7 also added new characters and forced cross-play to be enabled across console and PC players.

Gears 5 Operation 7 Patch Notes

General

• Players will now receive Gear Coins when earning unusable duplicate Skill Cards.
  • Unusable Skill Cards earned prior to this title update will be retroactively exchanged for coins up to a limit of 100,000 Gear Coins
    • Common–5 Coins
    • Rare–30 Coins
    • Epic–100 Coins
    • Legendary–400 Coins
  • For each level 6 skill card earned after this update, you’ll earn the following Gear Coins for each rarity
    • Common–5 Coins
    • Rare–30 Coins
    • Epic–100 Coins
    • Legendary–400 Coins
• Prescott now plays audio when retro charging and chainsawing enemies.
• An issue that resulted in the size of Civilian Anya’s hands being enlarged has now been addressed.
• Captain Hoffman should once again no longer have Marcus’ voice lines.
• Harbour: A particular piece of cover should no longer allow Grenades to clip through it.
• Tomb: A Level of Detail pop on some sandbags near the COG side has now been addressed.
• High Tea: The Gnasher/Boltok weapon tile will now match the weapon preview.
• The Simple Omen will no longer go away before a player is completely healed.
• Adjusted the gib range slightly to compensate for the changes made to gib calculation in Operation 6.
• A rare instance in which the Torque Bow arrow would attach outside the player.
• The option to disable cross-play has now been removed.
• Known Issue: The icon to distinguish if a player is playing Gears 5 on PC has now been removed. This will be re-added to lobbies as soon as possible!
• The classes section in Customization will now correctly tell you the number of classes you have maxed out.
• Field of View options have now been added to all Xbox One consoles.
• The stats menu has been updated and will now automatically show your stats for currently active playlists in Gears 5, this has additionally fixed issues where certain modes wouldn’t appear in the stats menu at all.
• Updated Quickplay to now be a 5v5 playlist.

PVP

Note: Get the full rundown on PvP updates for Operation 7–Drop 1.

• Ranked has now been replaced by Competitive mode.
  • Competitive mode uses a points-based leaderboard system and will no longer use the rank tier system. Everyone will start from scratch.
    • In particular scenarios extra points are given when the following occurs in your match
      • Winning a match
      • Winning a round
      • If you complete a match and your team has had players quit
      • If you play solo (not in a party)
      • If you are the top player on your team
  • A seasonal leaderboard and all-time leaderboard can be viewed to view your progress through each mode.
  • Each player’s stats can be individually viewed for that respective mode.
  • Passing certain point thresholds on the seasonal leaderboard also grants rewards
    • 100,000 points = Mark, XP, and coins.
    • 500,000 points = Mark, XP, and coins.
    • 1,000,000 points = Banner (different for each mode, XP, and coins.
  • The top 1,000 players in each playlist at the end of a season receive a unique Heroic reward.
  • TDM: You can now queue up as a party of 4 in Competitive TDM
• Situations that allowed players to “wrap” their shots around cover have been addressed, the wrap shot technique is now much more difficult to perform as a result.
• In some instances, users were able to aim around cover without physically leaning around the cover piece, this has now been fixed.
• Removed an animation that exposed players in low cover when holding the left thumbstick.
  • Additionally, fixed numerous covers that allowed shots to pass over them.
• TDM: If a user joins near the end of a match the game will now consistently finish.
• Players are now able to earn progression in private Versus matches.
  • This includes Multiplayer XP, Stars for time played, Daily and Tour of Duty Objectives, and Ribbons.
• Players are now able to enable a selection of Mutators in Custom matches
  • Headshot explosion (both AOE damage and Confetti options)
  • Health Regeneration (on damage, only in cover, only in cover + damage)
  • Low Grav Death (gibs of dead players float)
  • Voiced gun sounds
  • Screen effects (20 options)
• The following weapons as available swaps in Custom Versus:
  • Pipe
  • Snowshot
  • Cluckshot
  • Cupid’s Torquebow
  • Golden Gun
• A unique esports variant of Control has been added to the custom match selector
  • DBNO damage mitigation has been enabled.
  • Weapon respawns now work based on pickup not on use.
  • Reduced ammo in power weapon pickups (based on the table below)
  • Weapon spawn times adjusted (based on the table below)
  • Players can now suicide while DBNO
  • The initial starting hill for each map will now always be the same.
  • Ring orders for each map are now static.

Weapon	Initial Ammo	Time to Respawn
Longshot/EMBAR	6	120
Torque Bow	4	120
Boomshot/Dropshot	2	120
Boltok	18	90
Retro Lancer	80	90
Frags/Incends	2	120
Shocks	1	90

Horde

• Added Lambent Drone, Lambent Grenadier and Lambent Theron to Horde and Horde Frenzy.
• Fixed an issue where Lambent death explosion did not deal damage to players or enemies.
• Fixed an issue where Lambent units would frequently spawn too close to Locust or Swarm units.
• Wardens that spawn in the context of being a mini boss will now display the boss locator and health bar.
• Reduced base health of Wardens spawning outside of boss wave to 10,000HP from 15,000HP.
• Rebalanced boss combinations in Horde Frenzy to avoid combining bosses that rapidly invalidate low cover positions (Kestrel, Sentinel, Swarmak, Flock, Predator)
• Matchmaking into Horde Frenzy will no longer frequently place players in Daily Challenge lobbies.
• Added the Flashbang Grenade to the Fabricator.
• Users can no longer stall the time between transitioning waves by pausing their game.
• Horde Classic can now be selected in custom matches as a mode. Horde Classic is similar to Gears of War 2 Horde, there will be no cards and fabricator.
  • You can select to play this mode with either 12 or 50 waves.

Escape

• Fixed an issue on Forever where occasionally certain enemies would fail to spawn.
• Fixed an issue on The Blight, The Clock, and The Trap where custom door functionality was not working correctly.
• An issue that resulted in significantly increased loading times in the safe room has now been addressed.

Brawler

• Scorcher Master will now work correctly.
• Soothing Warmth card will now correctly regenerate your health when near a burning enemy.

Pilot

• The Silverback Scorcher card will now work correctly.

Tactician

• The duration of the Tactician’s ultimate has been reduced by 50% in Horde.

Demolitions

• Fixed an issue where Demolition’s “Gambit” Skill Card was not allowing the correct number of planted grenades.

Mechanic

• Changed Ultimate ability from “Reinforce” to “Turret”.
• Changed the Skill Card “Bloody Shrapnel” to “Shredder Rounds”. This Skill Card now causes bleeding damage for any player using the Mechanic’s mounted turret.

Combat Medic

• Intervention will now revive multiple downed players simultaneously.

Protector

• Changed Passive from “Every 6th Headshot Drops Pilfer” to “Heal for 50% of bleeding damage dealt and resist 30% melee damage”
• Lowered regeneration delay of Protector’s “Regenerative Field” Skill Card to 4.25s for all levels of the card.
• Increased stim gained per second on Protector’s “Regenerative Field” Skill Card from 2 Stim per second to 12 Stim per second (Level 6).
• Increased additional damage of Protector’s “Gnasher M45 Mod” Skill Card from 30% to 60% (Level 6).
• Increased bleeding damage of Protector’s “Bloody Blade” Skill Card from 110% to 130% (Level 6).
• Increased the multiplier of Protector’s “Drop Shield Duration” Skill Card from +60% to +100% (Level 6).
• Increased the range of Protector’s “Close Range Recharge” Skill Card from 3m to 5m.
• Increased the base duration of Drop Shield from 10s to 15.
• Decreased the cooldown of Drop Shield from 300s to 200s.
• Changed “Critical Damage” Perk to “Damage” Perk.
• Changed “Increased Health” Perk to “Damage Resistance” Perk.
• Changed “Ammo Capacity” Perk to “Increased Movement Speed” Perk.

Architect

• Decreased the cooldown of Hologram from 300s to 150s.
• Increased the base duration of Hologram from 5s to 7s.
• Lowered regeneration delay of Architect’s “Regenerative Field” Skill Card to 4.25s for all levels of the card.
• Increased stim gained per second on Architect’s “Regenerative Field” Skill Card from 2 Stim per second to 12 Stim per second (Level 6).
• Changed the behavior of Architect’s “Hologram Extend” Skill Card from “Snub damage from behind extends ultimate” to “Ballistic damage extends ultimate”.
• Changed the behavior of Architect’s “Custom Snub” Skill Card from “Deal 60% extra damage with the Snub” to “Deal 200% extra ballistic damage from the side or behind” (Level 6).
• Renamed “Custom Snub” to “Deception”.

Slugger

• Changed the behavior of Slugger’s “Heavy Preparations” Skill Card from “115% additional heavy ammo capacity” to “Plant 6 additional grenade traps simultaneously” (Level 6).
• Renamed “Heavy Preparations” to “Lethal Preparations”.
• Increased the amount of grenade damage on Slugger’s “Modified Frag” Skill Card from 130% to 200% (Level 6).
• Update the description of Slugger’s “Modified Frag” Skill Card to accurately state the increased explosive radius per level.
• Renamed “Modified Frag” to “Grenade Proficiency”.
• Changed the behavior of Slugger’s “Stopping Power” Skill Card from “230% increased stopping power” to “Ballistic rounds penetrate unlimited targets and deal 60% additional damage” (Level 6).
• Renamed “Stopping Power” to “Power Shot”
• Changed the behavior of Slugger’s “Tough Skin” Skill Card from “Resist 32% melee damage” to “Resist 32% damage within 15 meters”.
• Changed the behavior of Sluggers “Follow Up” Skill Card from “Successive shotgun hits recharge ultimate for 8.5s” to “Active shotgun hits within 10m stun drones for 3s” (Level 6).
• Renamed “Follow Up” to “Impact Receiver”.
• Changed Passive from “Damage taken recharges ultimate” to “Resist 50% explosive damage”.
• Changed “Shotgun Damage” Perk to “Damage” Perk.
• Changed “Max Health” Perk to “Damage Resistance” Perk.
• Changed “Increased Movement Speed” Perk to “Grenade Resupply” Perk.
• Decreased cooldown of Heavy Hitter from 300s to 200s.
• Swapped loadout slots so that the Gnasher is on the right.

Striker

• Decreased cooldown of Enhanced Melee from 300s to 200s.
• Increased the bleeding damage of Striker’s “Bloody Breaker” Skill Card from 55% to 130% (Level 6).
• Increased the damage of Striker’s “First Strike” Skill Card from 35% to 100% (Level 6).
• Increased the amount of stim gained from Striker’s “Stim Siphon” Skill Card from 23HP to 120HP (Level 6).
• Changed the behavior of Striker’s “Team Up” Skill Card from “Resist 32% damage near Slugger class” to “Resist 50% melee damage” (Level 6).
• Renamed “Team Up” to “Melee Armor”.
• Changed Passive from “Damage taken recharges ultimate” to “When hit, move 50% faster for 4s”
• Changed the behavior of Striker’s “Melee Rush” Skill Card from “Close range damage increases passive by 210%” to “Melee or bleed kills reduce ultimate cooldown by 35s” (Level 6).
• Changed “Max Health” perk to “Damage Resistance” perk.
• Changed “Movement Speed” perk to “Damage” perk.
• Swapped loadout slots so that the Overkill is on the right.

Tour of Duty–Daily Challenges

• Arcade daily challenges have been removed
• The challenge for “Assists in a single versus match” has been removed.
• The challenge for “Assists in versus” has been removed.
• Damage dealt challenge changes:
  • 1 star: Increased from 15,000 to 25,000
  • 2 star: Increased from 35,000 to 50,000
  • 3 star: Increased from 70,000 to 75,000
• Damage in Horde or Escape challenge changes:
  • 1 star: Increased from 25,000 to 100,000
  • 2 star: Increased from 50,000 to 200,000
  • 3 star: Increased from 70,000 to 300,000
• Damage in Versus challenge changes:
  • 1 star: Decreased from 15,000 to 10,000
  • 2 star: Decreased from 37,500 to 20,000
  • 3 star: Decreased from 70,000 to 30,000
• Drone Elites challenge changes:
  • 1 star: Decreased from 7 to 5
  • 2 star: Decreased from 15 to 10
• Power in Horde challenge changes:
  • 1 star: Increased from 10,000 to 15,000
  • 2 star: Increased from 22,500 to 30,000
  • 3 star: Increased from 35,000 to 40,000

Accessibility

• Users can now disable camera shake in PvE going up to Advanced difficulty.
• Users can now use the Target Lock feature in PvE going up to Advanced difficulty.
• A new feature Navigation Ping–Escape Mode, has been added, when enabled the following changes are enabled:
  • This feature provides four options
    • Full Path Always (breadcrumb-style ping that constantly pings you to the right path),
    • Doorways Always (pinging on the main exit to each area of the map constantly)
    • Full Path on Taccom (breadcrumb-style pings that only ping when Taccom is active).
    • Doorways on Taccom (pinging on the main exit to each area of the map when Taccom is active).
  • There are unique pings when you need to interact with something or move over cover
  • Each ping is accompanied by a high contrast visual cue

The Batgirl movie will now be directed by the team of Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, the duo that helmed 2020’s Bad Boys for Life.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, El Arbi and Fallah will direct the Batgirl film starring Barbara Gordon. The movie is planned as an HBO Max project, though it’s unclear if this means the film will forgo a theatrical run.

Bumblebee writer Christina Hodson, who also has screenwriting credits on Birds of Prey and The Flash, will write the script.

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In 2017 Joss Whedon was tapped to write and direct the Batgirl movie for Warner Bros, but he left in 2018 saying he couldn’t come up with the right story for the character.

El Arbi and Fallah are best known as the duo behind last year’s Bad Boys For Life which grossed over $425 million worldwide. The team also directed episodes for the FX series Snowfall and are directors and executive producers on the upcoming Ms. Marvel show for Disney Plus. The two are also attached to direct Beverly Hills Cop 4

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Check out IGN’s Bad Boys for Life review here for our thoughts on the directing team’s action revival, or check out our list of the DC movies and shows coming in 2021 and beyond.

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Matt T.M. Kim is IGN’s News Editor.

Writer Cullen Bunn is one of the most prolific comic book creators around, especially when it comes to horror comics like Harrow County, Manor Black and Parasomnia. But Bunn’s latest horror project, Lucky Devil, veers pretty far off the beaten path. This new four-issue series is as much a comedy as it is a story of demonic possession, and it all starts with an exorcism gone wrong.

Lucky Devil teams Bunn with artist Fran Galán (Goya, The Sublime Terrible) and letterer El Torres. You can get an early taste of what the series holds in store by checking out an exclusive preview below:

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Lucky Devil revolves around a downtrodden everyman named Stanley. Becoming possessed by a powerful demon is just the latest in a long series of misfortunes. But when the demon is banished from his body, Stanley finds he’s retailed all that unholy strength and power. Stanley immediately sets out to punish everyone who’s wronged him over the years, which leads to him becoming a messianic figure with an entire cult of worshipers. Unfortunately, the demons of Hell are none too thrilled about Stanley stealing the spotlight.

“Lucky Devil is a horror-comedy. There’s some real darkness in these pages, but there’s humor, too,” says Bunn in Dark Horse’s press release. “Stanley isn’t the type of guy you’d expect to see leading a mass movement to a new infernal religion, but he’s gathering followers who shout, ‘Hail, Stanley!'”

Bunn continues, “But he’s plagued by the demon lord who lost his gifts to Stanley, and he’s haunted by secrets he can never let slip free. He’s struggling to keep his relationship with his new girlfriend from falling apart, which can be tough when an exorcist shows up telling you he botched the ritual that set you free. And he’s got troubles ahead, because the devils that rule Hell don’t like the idea of a mortal wielding all that power. And they have demonic assassins on the case.”

Lucky Devil #1 will hit stores on August 4, 2021.

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For more on what’s brewing in the comic book realm this summer, learn about the big changes looming for the X-Men line, meet Marvel’s newest LGBTQ+ hero, Somnus and find out what’s next for Black Panther.

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Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

Arnold Schwarzenegger will headline his first-ever TV series in a new, untitled spy project for Netflix.

Schwarzenegger will star opposite Monica Barbaro (Top Gun: Maverick) in a new eight-episode drama series about a father and daughter who learn they both secretly work for the CIA without the other knowing. Now that they know their relationship has been built on a lie, the two will team up as partners in this globe-trotting spy drama.

The untitled Netflix show is created by Nick Santora, who has credits on shows like Jack Reacher and The Fugitive series, and he will also serve as showrunner and executive producer alongside Schwarzenegger. Skydance Television is working with Netflix on the production.

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Schwarzenegger has had a long, storied career starring in films like Terminator, Predator, and way more than can be listed. But he has not headlined any TV shows before. Other than a couple of cameos and celebrity guest appearances (along with a stint hosting The New Celebrity Apprentice), Schwarzenegger has mostly kept to starring in movies.

But with the era of prestige TV well underway, stars typically known to only stick with movies are now starring in their own shows and it looks like Schwarzenegger is getting in on the trend.

In a statement, Schwarzenegger says, “Fans from all over the world have been asking me for a wild ride like this for years, and now they’re finally going to get it because of our great partners at Skydance and Netflix. I am beyond pumped to start work on the show with Nick and Monica and the whole team.”

Netflix is still showing that it’s ready to compete in the crowded streaming field. Netflix recently locked down the exclusive rights to two Knives Out sequels, and the cast for that film is shaping up nicely with Dave Bautista and Edward Norton set to join Daniel Craig.

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Matt T.M. Kim is IGN’s News Editor.

“It never crossed my mind to be in a Marvel movie,” actress Salma Hayek told Variety in a new interview. “I guess that I thought that boat had sailed, and it was an absolute shock.”

Hayek reflected on her Marvel’s Eternals role in an article that also covered her decision to take a break from politics, her starring role in Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, and her life-threatening bout with COVID-19. She talked about how hard it is to be an action hero as a 54-year-old Mexican woman, and how she had to keep the information that she had been cast in the role to herself “for so many months.”

“[T]o be an action hero, being Mexican, a woman, and my age, it felt like they were punking me,” Hayek said.

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Hayek will take on the role of Ajak, a spiritual leader for the community of Eterans on Earth who has superior strength, stamnia, and speed. Ajak does not age and is capable of communicating with the Celestials, an ancient race of entities present long before even the Asgardians. The character was originally created by Jack Kirby in 1976. Hayek says that she “knew the name” of her character, but didn’t initially look at the comics.

“When I did look at the comics, I was a man,” she said.

Marvel’s Eternals is part of Phase 4 of the MCU, and will be directed by Chloé Zhao, who recently won an Oscar for her work on Nomadland. It was “shot very differently” from most MCU films, with a big emphasis on practical locations. Hayek praised Marvel vice president of film production Victoria Alonso, says she “could not love this woman more” for her support of the cast.

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“When people see me, and not just girls, minorities or even short people — anybody — I want them to think even if things don’t look like they can happen, anything can happen. But I don’t want it to be based on you have to suffer a lot and then eventually it’s going to happen. I want it to be based on why not?” Hayek said.

Marvel’s Eternals is currently slated to release on November 5. While you wait, check out our guide to every upcoming movie and TV show in the MCU, as well as how the cast was carefully chosen by Zhao.

DC has revealed its next direct-to-video animated movie, and it’s a big one. The wildly popular fighting game Injustice: Gods Among Us is getting a movie adaptation.

Oddly, neither DC nor Warner Bros. Animation made a formal announcement of the new project. Instead, its existence was revealed via a press release for Batman: The Long Halloween, Part Two. Among the bonus features included on that Blu-ray set will be a trailer for an Injustice movie.

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At this time, no other details are known about the Injustice movie, though with The Long Halloween, Part Two scheduled for a July 2021 release, it seems likely we’ll see the Injustice drop before the end of the year. It remains to be seen just how closely the movie will follow the plot of the original game and whether the game’s voice cast will reprise their roles for the film.

2013’s Injustice: Gods Among Us and its 2017 sequel are set in an alternate DC Universe where Superman is driven mad after being tricked by Joker into killing his wife Lois and their unborn child. Five years after that tragedy, Superman rules the world with an iron fist, forcing the Justice League of the regular DCU to cross dimensions and battle this tyrannical Man of Steel.

The Injustice saga has also been greatly expanded through various spinoff comics, which flesh out the five years leading up to the events of the first game and then bridge the gap between the first game and the sequel. It’s possible the animated movie could be an adaptation of the comics rather than the games, or even an entirely new story set within this dystopian DC Universe.

Presumably a formal announcement of the Injustice movie will follow, hopefully with plot details and a confirmation of the cast and crew involved. For now, check out the trailer for Batman: The Long Halloween, Part Two:

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For more on DC’s recent animated movies, check out IGN’s recent reviews of Superman: Man of Tomorrow, Batman: Soul of the Dragon and Justice Society: World War II.

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Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.