Month: June 2021

AMC, Regal, Cinemark Theaters No Longer Requiring Masks

Major movie theater chains including AMC, Regal, and Cinemark will no longer require patrons who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to wear face masks, according to Variety. Instead, masks will now be considered optional for immunized moviegoers. Employees at each major chain will still be required to wear a mask, along with unvaccinated patrons.

“Consistent with the latest CDC guidance and following consultation with public health experts, AMC Theatres guests who are fully vaccinated are no longer required to wear face coverings at AMC locations, unless it is mandated by state or local ordinances,” AMC said in a statement. “Guests who are not fully vaccinated are asked to continue wearing masks. All other aspects of the AMC Safe & Clean policies and procedures, including seat blocking, remain in place at this time.”

Regal has updated its website to now read that “vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks or socially distance… masks will not be required unless mandated by state and local guidelines.” At Regal theaters, masks can only be removed “while eating and drinking while seated in an auditorium.

These announcements find the movies following other major chains where many people gather. For example, Walgreens, Whole Foods, and Kroger-owned stores have recently joined the growing list of businesses that say fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks in their stores, honoring the CDC’s recommendations. Walgreens, Whole Foods, and Kroger-owned stores themselves follow in the footsteps of Walmart, Trader Joe’s, and Costco.

With so many movies delayed due to the pandemic, 2021 is shaping up to be a year filled with must-see movies. Check out our running list of what worthwhile and exciting movies have recently and will soon be coming to a theater near you this year–stay safe out there.

Gaming Chair Deal: SecretLab Mid-Year Sale Is Now Live

If you’re in the market for a new gaming chair, and you’ve had your eye on one of SecretLabs’ many models, now’s a great time to finally pull the trigger and secure one for yourself. It might be hard to believe, but we’re already halfway through 2021 and SecretLabs is celebrating with a Mid-Year sale on gaming chairs right now.

SecretLabs Gaming Chair Deal

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Here are the details: Right now, SecretLab is offering “$30 off select Secretlab 2020 Series PRIME 2.0 PU Leather and SoftWeave Fabric models,” along with $110 off its 2020 Series NAPA models. Excluded from the sale is the Game of Thrones Iron Anniversary edition, which is a bummer, but if you absolutely MUST sit in a Game of Thrones branded gaming chair there are plenty of other options to choose from during the sale.

The sale is pretty substantial, with gaming chair deals on Team Liquid, WoW Horde, Dota 2 and tons more branded chairs falling under the savings umbrella.

SecretLab also offers free shipping on all models sold direct from its storefront, which is a big bonus. Be warned, though: the state of logistics in the world economy still hasn’t fully recovered from the pandemic and so SecretLab says you might experience some delays.

But if you’ve been sitting on a plastic patio chair for your PC gaming, what’s a few extra days?

SecretLab chairs feature prominently in our round-up of the overall best gaming chairs, and as someone who reviewed the Titan a few years back, I give them my personal recommendation.

The sale runs for the next 2 weeks, so if you don’t have the cash right now, you can always wait until the next payday. But just barely.

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Seth Macy is IGN’s Executive Editor, IGN Commerce, and just wants to be your friend. You can follow him on Twitter.

PlayStation Announces Evo Online Community Series With Over 120 Worldwide Competitions

After co-acquiring the major fighting game tournament this past March, PlayStation has announced plans for the 2021 Evolution Championship Series, beginning with the Evo Community Series on June 10.

The Evo Community Series will include over 120 regional tournaments across the world, offering a total of $74,000 in prize money throughout the competition. The Community Series will consist of three core events–FGC Arcade: Evo Edition, the Evo 2021 Online Warm-up, and the Evo 2021 Online Side Tournaments. All tournaments will be run on either the PlayStation 4 or PC version of each game.

FGC Arcade: Evo Edition will offer a $20,000 prize pool and run from June 10 to June 22 in North America and Europe. The games involved in this event are Granblue Fantasy: Versus, Guilty Gear Strive, Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate, and Tekken 7.

The Evo 2021 Online Warm-Up is scheduled for June 26 to July 13 with a $19,000 prize pool up for grabs. The Evo 2021 featured games–Guilty Gear Strive, Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate, Street Fighter V: Champion Edition, and Tekken 7–will also be featured during this online series.

Finally, the Evo 2021 Online Side Tournaments will play out July 8 to August 3, with a $35,000 prize pool available to players. Games that are not included among the featured Evo 2021 titles will be highlighted here instead, with the lineup including BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Granblue Fantasy: Versus, Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme Vs. Maxi Boost ON, Skullgirls 2nd Encore, Soulcalibur VI, and Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[cl-r].

Players interested in signing up for any of these official Evo events–or the main Evo event taking place August 6-August 8 and August 13-August 15–can do so at the official Evolution Championship Series website.

The Evolution Championship Series is the longest running fighting game competition in North America, beginning in 1996 under the name “Battle by the Bay.” The last Evo event, Evo 2019, featured Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, Tekken 7, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Mortal Kombat 11, Soulcalibur VI, Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st], Dragon Ball FighterZ, BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle, and Samurai Shodown in its lineup.

A Quiet Place: Part 2 Includes Easter Eggs for a Third Movie

John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place franchise has been spawned two movies so far, but the writer-director at the helm has already made it loud and clear that a third movie could be up for discussion.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Krasinski, who directed and co-wrote 2018’s A Quiet Place, and is the sole credited screenwriter of its sequel, revealed that he had a few ideas about where the story would lead whilst he was developing the second movie, so he laid the groundwork for a potential third installment just in case he ever had the chance to make a trilogy.

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“So a lot of the things I had thought were interesting to think about on Part I ended up being in Part II,” Krasinski explained. “And then on Part II, I learned my lesson very quickly. Any time I had ideas like that, I wrote them down in case there ever is a Part III or a third one. So I would be able to reference some of these things if there is a Part III. And we even went so far as to put in a couple easter eggs, so that if I did do a third one, they would connect back to the second one.”

Krasinski is already attached to produce a third movie in the Quiet Place franchise, but it is described as a spinoff rather than a direct sequel to Part 2. The spinoff is being helmed by Jeff Nichols, the director of Midnight Special, who is also in charge of penning the script from an idea by Krasinski. The movie is currently said to be targeting a 2022 release date.

Serving as both a prequel and a sequel, A Quiet Place: Part II follows the remnants of the Abbott family as they face the terrors of the outside world and continue their fight for survival in silence. However, when they are forced to venture into the unknown, they quickly realize the creatures that hunt by sound are not the only threats that lurk beyond the sand path.

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The movie received largely positive reactions from its advanced screenings, with some critics addressing the unrelenting tension and suspense of the story whilst others heaped on the praise for the soundscape and the performances of new-to-the-series Cillian Murphy and the returning Millicent Simmonds, hailing the sequel as a worthy and terrifying successor.

IGN awarded A Quiet Place: Part II an 8/10, and commended Krasinski and Co. for broadening the world with “a larger cast, bigger action set-pieces, and more monster scenes” without ever losing sight of “emotional intimacy between the characters that made the first movie work so well,” making it a movie that almost “stands toe-to-toe with its predecessor.”

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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

Red Dead Redemption 2 Is Getting Nvidia DLSS – Here’s What That Means

During Nvidia’s keynote event at Computex 2021, the company announced new graphics cards, alongside 130 new games that will support the company’s DLSS technology, most notably Rockstar Games’ 2018 hit Red Dead Redemption 2.

The PC version of Red Dead Redemption 2 was originally released in 2019, roughly a year after it launched on consoles, providing a ton of tweaks and technical upgrades, such as uncapped framerates. But, those improvements come with a cost – the PC port of the game is graphically intensive and requires a beefy rig to achieve the best performance possible.

Nvidia’s DLSS, or deep learning super sampling, is a piece of tech that upscales lower resolution images and uses artificial intelligence to make the image appear in a higher resolution without sacrificing a substantial amount of power from your hardware to achieve the quality. That automated improvement in image quality can make a huge difference, allowing your machine to push more resources towards framerate, without sacrificing resolution (although only those with Nvidia RTX GPUS can use DLSS).

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Red Dead Redemption 2 with DLSS enabled will provide a free performance boost and allow more PC owners to get a higher framerate in the game without having to upgrade their machines. DLSS support should also help alleviate some issues for those who do not have PCs powerful enough to run the game on recommended settings, or who want an RTX 30-series graphics card but are struggling to get their hands on one.

It is important to note that Red Dead Redemption 2’s DLSS addition means the game will see improved performance and an FPS boost, but no ray tracing support, like Doom Eternal, which Nvidia announced would get both DLSS and Ray Tracing support.

Nvidia and Rockstar have yet to announce when Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC will get DLSS support, but Nvidia says it is “coming soon.”

As for those without an RTX card, there could soon be a separate solution. AMD will launch its DLSS competitor, FidelityFX Super Resolution, later this month – and it’s an open-source solution, meaning it can theoretically run on any graphics card, including Nvidia’s non-RTX models.

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Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Funny Lord Of The Rings Video Imagines What Fellowship’s Small Talk Might Have Been Like

There is a lot of walking in The Lord of the Rings, so much so that it’s inspired a YouTube comedian to wonder just what the Fellowship chatted about on its journey. As any hiker knows, small talk is a big part of any hike or long walk, and YouTube user Joz Norris came up with a funny and delightful video that imagines what Frodo and company might have been discussing on their journey to destroy the One Ring at Mt. Doom.

Walking alone and talking to the camera, Joz Norris imagines they’re part of the Fellowship and need to come up with basically anything to talk about, which leads to some wonderful sequences. In one part, Norris says, “Okay, let’s play a game. Guess what I’m thinking about?” Norris then smiles and looks at the camera, as if communicating with another member of the party. “It is the ring, yeah.”

“Do you remember when those Orcs ambushed us back there? So annoying,” he says in another segment. “I wish they’d just leave us alone.”

Another line that stands out involves the simple kind of “what if?” question that comes up often during small talk. “So, if you were Sauron and you had to choose to either be a big eye or a big ear or a big bum, which would you choose?” Norris says. “Yeah, I know, but if you had to be one of them?”

The full video is a delight and well worth watching, so check it out in the video embedded above (via ComicBook).

Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings film series celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, as Fellowship of the Ring debuted in theaters in December 2001. The series remains popular, and Amazon is currently producing a new TV series in New Zealand that has a massive budget.

In other Lord of the Rings news, Amazon recently canceled its Lord of the Rings MMO due in part to a reported contract dispute. A game focused on Gollum is in the works for 2022 after previously being planned for 2021.

Sony Announces Brand-New Public Evo Tournaments

Sony has revealed a set of open-format fighting tournaments ahead of Evo 2021.

The Evo Community Series was revealed on the PlayStation Blog today. Dubbed “a global celebration of the fighting game community,” the ECS takes place between June 10 and August 3 and will feature more than 120 tournaments around the world, with $74,000 in total prize money available to competitors. PlayStation made a meaningful move into the FGC esports scene when it acquired the Evolution Championship Series in March of 2021, and this is it’s first public move into expanding the event.

Three PlayStation-hosted tournaments will also take place during the ECS, starting with the PlayStation Tournaments FGC Arcade: Evo Edition which runs between June 10 and June 22. North American and European competitors with active PS Plus subscriptions will be able to duke it out for the chance of winning part of a $20,000 prize pool in Granblue Fantasy: Versus, Guilty Gear Strive, Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate and Tekken 7.

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The PlayStation Tournaments Evo 2021 Online Warm-up will then take place between June 26 and July 13, offering a $19,000 prize pool to competitors from North America, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia, playing Guilty Gear Strive, Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate, Street Fighter V: Champion Edition and Tekken 7.

Finally, the PlayStation Tournaments Evo 2021 Online Side Tournaments will follow between July 8 and August 3, allowing players from North America, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and Japan to fight for a $35,000 prize pool in BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Granblue Fantasy: Versus, Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme Vs. Maxi Boost ON, Skullgirls 2nd Encore, Soulcalibur VI and Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[cl-r]

Certain matches from the tournaments will be broadcast on Twitch and Youtube, across PlayStation and Evo’s social streaming channels.

If you think you’re up to the challenge, you can register on PlayStation’s Competition Centre website. Registration for August’s Evo 2021 Online competition also opens today.

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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Far Cry 6 Is Political, Narrative Director Says

Following statements last week that had some players confused on whether Far Cry 6 is a “political game,” narrative director Navid Khavari has made things unquestionably clear: Far Cry 6 is a political game.

In a post on the official Ubisoft website, Khavari said that a “story about a modern revolution” has to be political and that Far Cry 6 will contain discussions on topics like fascism, imperialism, forced labor, LGBTQ+ rights, and free elections, though this will be in the context of the fictional Yara nation rather than a real country. The setting was clearly inspired by Cuba, but it’s not directly inspired by Cuba alone, and it’s this distinction that may have led to confusion about the game’s political intentions or lack thereof.

Now Playing: Far Cry 6 – Everything You Need To Know So Far

“The conversations and research done on the perspectives of those who fought revolutions in the late 1950s, early 1960s, and beyond are absolutely reflected in our story and characters,” Khavari said. “But if anyone is seeking a simplified, binary political statement specifically on the current political climate in Cuba, they won’t find it.”

There will still be “levity and humor” in Far Cry 6, as it’s a major element in the series, but Ubisoft aimed to also include mature themes and tackle complex political issues in the game, albeit regarding the fictional country.

“My only hope is that we are willing to let the story speak for itself first before forming hard opinions on its political reflections.”

Though Far Cry 5 seemed set to tackle political issues, as well–its box art features an American flag draped over a Last Supper-like table, for Pete’s sake–the game was actually focused on a religious cult and had little topical commentary. It remains to be seen how effective Far Cry 6 is in its about-face, but Khavari’s statements make it sound like the game does have something to say.

The initial confusion came after Khavari said Ubisoft didn’t “want to make a political statement about what’s happening in Cuba specifically,” which some took as a statement on the game’s apolitical nature as a whole. Given Ubisoft’s past shying away from direct political messaging in its games–even overtly political ones like the DC-set The Division 2–the company’s willingness to finally address the elephant in the room is encouraging.

Far Cry 6 releases for Xbox One, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, PS5, Stadia and PC on October 7. We expect to see more of it at Ubisoft Forward on June 12.

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PlayStation Now June 2021 Games Include The Witcher 3, Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown, And 3 Sonic Games

It’s the start of a new month, and that means Sony is refreshing the PlayStation Now library with additional titles–and there are some big ones for June.

Available now for PlayStation Now subscribers are five additional titles, beginning with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Game of the Year/Complete Edition. This includes CD Projekt Red’s acclaimed RPG and all of its DLC packs and its two expansions, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine. The Witcher 3 will be available on PlayStation Now until September 6, 2021.

Team Sonic Racing is also now available on PlayStation Now. The arcade-style racing game that was originally released in 2019 has numerous characters from the Sonic universe to choose from. As its name suggests, it focuses on team-based racing where players work together.

Two more Sonic games–Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces–are now available on PlayStation Now as well. Additionally, Sega is bringing Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown to PlayStation Now in June, and PlayStation Plus members can also download it for free.

The fantasy battler Slay the Spire, which combines roguelike elements and card battling, is now available on PlayStation Now as well until December 6, along with Car Mechanic Simulator, which is exactly what it sounds like.

PlayStation Now is a streaming/download (in some cases) subscription service available for $10/month or $25 for three months, or $60 per year. In addition to streaming to PS4 and PS5, PlayStation Now games can stream to a computer.

PlayStation Now June 2021 New Additions

  • The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Game of the Year/Complete Edition (available until September 6, 2021)
  • Team Sonic Racing
  • Sonic Mania
  • Sonic Forces
  • Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown
  • Slay the Spire (available until December 6, 2021)
  • Car Mechanic Simulator

‘There Is a Plan’ for Connecting Sony’s Spider-Man Universe to the MCU

Sony executive Sanford Panitch has indicated that Spider-Man: No Way Home will kick off a shared Marvel universe.

Speaking to Variety, Panitch, the president of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, appeared to confirm that “there is actually a plan” to connect Sony’s Spider-Man Universe to the MCU, with Spider-Man 3 possibly opening the door for Peter Parker’s alter-ego to swing between movies and tangle with different characters as part of a shared Marvel universe.

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“There actually is a plan. I think now maybe it’s getting a little more clear for people where we’re headed and I think when No Way Home comes out, even more will be revealed,” Panitch teased while discussing the third Spider-​Man film starring Tom Holland, which represents one of the final films in Marvel and Sony’s current deal to share the web-slinging character.

“The great thing is we have this very excellent relationship with Kevin [Feige],” he added. “There’s an incredible sandbox there to play with. We want those MCU movies to be absolutely huge, because that’s great for us and our Marvel characters, and I think that’s the same thing on their side… There’s lots of opportunities, I think, that are going to happen.”

Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters (or SPUMC for short) is developing several movies based on Marvel characters, with Venom: Let There Be Carnage coming up in 2021, Morbius in 2022, and Kraven the Hunter in 2023 — a film that is expected to fill in another piece of the shared universe puzzle. Avengers: Age of Ultron’s Aaron Taylor-Johnson will be making the jump to the SPUMC to play Kraven.

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Before that though, Spider-Man: No Way Home will debut in theaters. The film is expected to introduce some multiverse elements and may even converge the Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland universes together in such a way that it potentially allows Holland to make appearances in both the MCU and the SPUMC in the future.

No Way Home’s casting line-up, confirmed or otherwise, has been teasing a live-action Spider-Verse/multiverse crossover of epic proportions, which could be intertwined with later events in the MCU, particularly Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. For more on the Doctor Strange sequel and its multiverse concept, read our theories about which characters and worlds may appear in the film.

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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.