Month: July 2021

Death Trash will launch in Steam Early Access on August 5. The creepy-looking action-RPG is set to fully release for Steam, itch.io, GOG, and the Epic Games Store at a future date.

Developed by Crafting Legends, Death Trash is set in a post-apocalyptic world, called Nexus, inhabited by these gross cosmic flesh titans. As an action RPG, the game features both open combat and stealth sections and includes choice-driven dialogue.

Of note: Any character in Death Trash can be killed, even the important ones. Whether you should is up to you–considering how tough the combat looks, attacking random people doesn’t seem like the smartest means of solving all your problems. But the option is there for you if you want it.

Death Trash also features drop-in, drop-out co-op so you can take on its disturbing world with a friend. The entire campaign supports co-op.

In Death Trash, you play as someone who’s been outcast from one of the enclosed habitats on Nexus, forcing you to now explore the many deserts, ruins, and underground tunnels that dot the wasteland. Along the way, you’ll encounter other outcasts and cosmic horrors.

Developer Norsfell and publisher Gearbox Publishing have linked up with a nonprofit to plant 40,000 trees in celebration of Tribes of Midgard’s success, which has been downloaded over 250,000 times since its launch.

In a press release announcing the news, the duo said that in the three days after the action-RPG dropped on July 27, Tribes of Midgard became the ninth-most-watched game on Twitch with 100,000 concurrent viewers. Another milestone that has been surpassed: Players have defeated over 40,000 Jötnar, groups of Jötun (or giants), that roam the game’s world.

To celebrate that latter accomplishment, Norsfell and Gearbox have announced a partnership with One Tree Planted, a Vermont-based nonprofit dedicated to global reforestation efforts. The three will plant some 40,000 trees, though when and where they will be planted remains undisclosed.

We’ve reached out to Norsfell and will update if we hear back.

In other Tribes of Midgard news, the game received an update on July 29 that makes some gameplay adjustments like increasing the effects of Alvis Hammer II’s healing spell. There are also quality-of-life improvements, such as making the Blessing menu accessible through the B key on the keyboard.

Halo Infinite beta players have found a creative way to compete prior to the game’s official launch, and it doesn’t even involve shooting each others’ characters in the face. While the beta is limited to Arena Slayer and a training mode called The Academy, experienced Spartans have started racking up Academy scores to compare online.

Academy is meant to be an advanced tutorial, helping onboard newcomers and teach veterans some of the more nuanced techniques that it takes to be a top-tier Halo player. But the Academy challenges also issue scores based on performance, including multipliers for things like double or triple kills. So naturally it didn’t take long for players to start to gamify the tutorials.

343’s David Ellis, who works on the Academy, has been sharing some notable scores on Twitter under the hashtag WeaponDrillHighScore. Ellis requested people share their own scores with the hashtag, and subsequently asked that players participating share their platform and input device.

The resulting threads are full of Halo players showing off their scores, like one player who cracked 60,000 in a Sniper challenge, or above 20,000 for the Heatwave or BR75.

It’s essentially a DIY score challenge, albeit without leaderboards. Maybe after the interest shown in the beta that feature will be coming. It did catch the attention of at least one member of the Academy team, after all.

This first Halo Infinite beta trial is set to last until August 2. There are a few known hiccups, but if you get a spot here’s how to install and get into the beta.

Nintendo reportedly pulled out of being a part of this year’s Olympics opening ceremony “right before” the event.

The opening ceremony took place last week, and included 19 pieces of video game music from the likes of Nier, Monster Hunter, and Final Fantasy. However, according to a report from Shukan Bunshun (translated by IGN Japan), documents showing earlier plans for the event included five unused tracks, all of which came from Nintendo franchises, including Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, and Pokemon.

Backing up the idea that five Nintendo tracks were removed from the ceremony is the fact that five of the franchises included in the final opening ceremony track listing – Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Chrono Trigger, Monster Hunter, and Tales Of – saw two tracks played each. That could have been a back-up for losing the five pieces of music close to the event.

[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”slug=best-video-game-musicscores-of-2020&captions=true”]

As for why Nintendo pulled out of the event, Shukan Bunshun says that Mikiko Mizuno (most famous for being a choreographer for the likes of Babymetal) provided the show’s original plans. During this time, Shigeru Miyamoto reportedly travelled to Tokyo “almost every week” for meetings. However, Hiroshi Sasaki (who subsequently resigned after making controversial comments about a Japanese comedian and model) was eventually given the creative director job and seemingly changed many of the plans, reportedly leading to Nintendo cutting its part in the event shortly before it took place.

Some of Sasaki’s own plans do appear to include Nintendo, including one section that suggested Lady Gaga could wear a red hat, before travelling down a Mario warp pipe. Shukan Bunshun suggests this may have been speculative from Sasaki, rather than a firm idea for the event.

Nintendo’s part in the event isn’t the only element that was seemingly lost along the way – the report also claims that Mikiko’s original ideas included an opening section that involved Akira’s red motorbike travelling around the anime classic’s Neo Tokyo setting.

We may not have gotten to see Nintendo games translated to real life for the Olympics, but we do at least have its new theme park, Super Nintendo World. The first version of the park opened in Tokyo this year, and we said it “brilliantly reinvents and gamifies the theme park experience, while offering an unprecedented level of immersion and – most importantly – fun.”

[poilib element=”accentDivider”]

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].

ViacomCBS and Comcast’s potential partnership, involving a joint venture of the two companies streaming services, has been put on hold amid mounting regulatory scrutiny.

According to sources cited by Forbes, both companies slowed down their discussions about a partnership due to growing concerns about “the Biden Administration’s pledge to aggressively enforce the nation’s antitrust laws.” However, it’s also suggested that talks may resume, depending on the outcome of the proposed WarnerMedia-Discovery merger.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/07/29/the-biggest-streaming-movie-and-show-releases-of-august-2021″]

ViacomCBS and Comcast are said to be awaiting the administration’s verdict on the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery to monitor how regulators react to the proposal before moving forward with their own partnership plans. A source tells Forbes that both parties held at least one “high-level” talk in June about the possibility of merging Paramount+ and Peacock.

Over recent years, the streaming market has grown increasingly saturated with new additions such as Disney+, Apple TV+, and HBO Max joining the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video to offer consumers alternative ways to watch a wider range of content, but when Paramount+ and Peacock joined the fold, they struggled to match the success of their competitors.

At the very least, the companies will likely consider bundling the two subscriptions to improve their reach, though other strategic possibilities will no doubt be explored if the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger survives regulatory review, considering that Biden signed an executive order on July 9 vowing “to combat the excessive concentration of industry.”

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/05/18/what-the-43b-warnermediadiscovery-deal-means-for-hbo-max-dc-comics-ign-the-fix-entertainment”]

The WarnerMedia-Discovery merger was announced in May, with the companies joining forces in a $43 billion deal to combine WarnerMedia’s entertainment assets with Discovery to create a “premier, standalone global entertainment company” hosting “WarnerMedia’s storied content library of popular and valuable IP with Discovery’s global footprint.”

Want to know more? Click here to find out what the merger means for you.

[poilib element=”accentDivider”]

Adele Ankers is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.

Panic Inc.’s crank-featuring 1-bit handheld, Playdate sold all 20,000 units committed for 2021 release – and it took just 20 minutes.

As reported by TechCrunch, Panic said that its shipping estimator accurately confirmed that 20,000 units of the handheld had sold in just under 20 minutes when they went up for pre-order on July 29. Orders after that point are still being accepted, but these are unlikely to reach customers until 2022.

[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”slug=playdate-photos&captions=true”]

Playdate’s pre-order sales launch wasn’t without some technical issues. Panic acknowledged on Twitter that its online store was experiencing some difficulties at the time – especially in relation to international orders. Some international users experienced problems when trying to select their country for delivery, whilst other issues with stock tracking meant that for a brief period of time the handheld showed as sold out.

Following its technical issues, Panic said that it was trying to “figure out the best plan for international orders that got delayed due to failures” but that the company was “amazed at the response” by fans over this first wave of Playdate orders. Panic also said in another tweet that there was potential for a “2023 bucket” of orders to make its way to customers in the future, thought the company did reassure fans that it should take a while to get there.

⚠️ There was a slight issue with our stock tracking and Playdate may have temporarily shown as “Sold Out” — we’ve fixed that now! Anyone should be able to place an order — but you may need to put Playdate back in your cart.

Sweatin’ over here

— Playdate (@playdate) July 29, 2021

For those of you who haven’t followed the full Playdate story so far, the nifty little device utilizes a rotating crank which can be used to control different elements of its prebuilt games. IGN previewed the mini-handheld back in June before delving into a more hands-on experience earlier this month. For more from Panic, check out our Firewatch review where we ranked the Santo Campo developed game “among the best of the ‘walking simulators’ thanks to stellar writing, art direction, and voice acting.”

[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”slug=playdate-games&captions=true”][poilib element=”accentDivider”]

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Update: Metroid Dread amiibo preorders are back in stock at Nintendo Store UK. Stock is limited so get your preorder in as soon as possible. Amazon is now out of stock.

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for the latest deals on games, tech and accessories.

Metroid Dread Amiibo Preorders Back in Stock

[poilib element=”commerceDeal” parameters=”slug=metroid-dread-amiibo-preorder-uk”]

Preorder Metroid Dread for Nintendo Switch

[poilib element=”commerceDeal” parameters=”slug=metroid-dread-special-edition-now-live”]

Metroid Dread Release Date

Metroid Dread will release on Nintendo Switch on October 8, 2021, alongside the Samus and E.M.M.I amiibo.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/06/15/metroid-dread-announcement-trailer”][poilib element=”accentDivider”]

Robert Anderson is a Commerce Editor and deals expert for IGN. Send him awesome gaming screenshots @robertliam21 on Twitter.

Following the release of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, Capcom is asking players to give their opinions on the series – and specifically asking if they want brand new games in the series.

The aptly titled The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles User Survey, which Capcom added to its website, asks players to give their detailed opinions on virtually every part of the game you can imagine. Capcom would like to know if you had high expectations for the game before purchase, where you purchased your copy from, what progress you’ve made with the game so far, and, most cricually, whether or not you’d buy a future Ace Attorney game if it were to be made.

[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”slug=the-great-ace-attorney-chronicles-e3-2021-screenshots&captions=true”]

Following this, players can also give their opinions on a list of further topics linked to The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles including voice acting, story, sound effects, background artwork, game controls, and more. Capcom has even prepared for the possibility that you might not have bought their latest title when filling out the survey. Opting to tell them that you don’t own The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles and have no plans on purchasing it in the future grants you access to a range of follow-up questions. These questions prompt you to tell Capcom what consoles/platforms you currently own to play games, which genre of games you prefer, and how many titles you have bought in the past year.

It’s safe to say this is one of the more thorough user surveys we’ve seen in a while. If you do manage to get to the end of the mammoth survey, then Capcom will reward you with an “original digital wallpaper” to say thanks for completing it.

In other Capcom news, the company recently announced record quarterly sales and profits thanks in part to the success of Resident Evil Village and Monster Hunter Rise. Monster Hunter Rise, which Capcom released to Nintendo Switch in March, sees its second collaboration with other Capcom games go live today. Amaterasu, the beloved white wolf from Okami, is being added to the game which will let Monster Hunter players ride her around the beautiful land of Kamura Village.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/07/27/monster-hunter-rise-okami-collaboration-trailer”][poilib element=”accentDivider”]

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

A recent Animal Crossing: New Horizons datamine suggests that The Roost Cafe (and hopefully Brewster), one of the community’s most-requested features, could still arrive in the game during a future update. Needless to say, the fans are very excited.

Originally reported by Animal Crossing World, the version 1.11 patch for Animal Crossing: New Horizons contains some tweaks to lines of code that could suggest the addition of the cafe sooner rather than later.

According to the article, dataminers found code relating to a camera parameter change referenced as ‘IdrMuseumCafe’ back in version 1.10. However, additional lines of code have now seemingly been spotted reading ‘IdrMuseumEnt03’. Whilst not confirmed, this sounds like it likely relates to a third entrance to the Museum, which you could hope would lead into The Roost.

[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”slug=77-brilliant-little-details-in-animal-crossing-new-horizons&captions=true”]

Elsewhere in the article, reports suggest that dataminers found the code reference ‘cNpcMemory:TalkProgressMuseumBuiltCafe’. Whilst it is again unclear as to exactly what this line of code means, it does contain the phrases NPC and MuseumBuiltCafe which are enough to give usome hope that we’ll be able to build a cafe into our museum.

The Roost cafe manager, Brewster, first made his appearance in Animal Crossing Wild World and has been a fan favourite within the Animal Crossing community ever since. While Animal Crossing: New Leaf made The Roost its own building, it’s usually been found attached to Blathers’ museum.

Rumblings of Brewster’s speculative return were not missed by fans across social media. The Animal Crossing Reddit page accurately summed up excitement levels right now with this simple but effective post:

The data additions come hot on the heels of Nintendo telling fans that it won’t stop updating the game anytime soon, which has led many to hope for some more meaningful changes to the game. Of course, as with all datamines, new code doesn’t necessarily mean new content – it could be putting ideas in place just in case Nintendo decides to add updates at a later date.

Over on Twitter, Brewster’s absence from Animal Crossing: New Horizons has been sorely noted. Whilst many fans are calling for the return of the Roost, one particular fan going by the username @iwantbrewster claims that they have taken to fully boycotting Animal Crossing: New Horizons until the barista is reunited with his adoring fans. Let’s hope it’s not too long before that boycott can be lifted.

it has been 355 days since i started boycotting acnh until brewster is added.

— alayna 🐦☕️ (@iwantbrewster) July 27, 2021

If you’re currently playing through Animal Crossing: New Horizons, why not check out our dedicated New Horizons wiki which contains a range of tips, tricks, and guides.

[poilib element=”accentDivider”]

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

After addressing several technical issues, Valheim developer Iron Gate Studio has provided an update on the upcoming Hearth & Home expansion that will be available in Q3 2021. Originally delayed so that technical issues in the game could be fixed, the team explained that Hearth & Home content is still on track for a release in the current quarter.

“We’re still on track to deliver the update this very quarter, and as always, thank you for your kindness and patience,” the team wrote on Valheim‘s Steam store page. “Your response to our roadmap post in June was super supportive, and the questions that came through in the Reddit AMA gave us lots of inspiration for future updates.”

Iron Gate provided a sneak peek at what the new content will look like with a small haul of loot kept securely hoarded away.

The team also announced that it’s expanding next month, adding a new programmer, animator, and a QA Manager to its staff. After Hearth & Home arrives, Iron Gate Studio will move on to focus on the big Mistlands update and the production of smaller Valheim patches. Some of those fixes arrived last month, as a new update addressed a save bug issue that was erasing entire worlds and characters.

Valheim has been one of the biggest success stories of 2021 so far, as the popular Norse multiplayer game has sold 6.8 million copies as of March 31, an impressive feat considering that the game is currently only available on PC.