If you log in to Escape From Tarkov today, things may be a bit more hectic than usual. That’s because a major update for the game, patch 0.12.11, is on the way, and will include the first inventory wipe of this year. Ahead of the patch actually landing, developer Battlestate Games has implemented some fitting changes, such as disabling secure containers and vendors offering their wares for next to nothing.
With secure containers no longer working, players aren’t able to keep any of their valuable items between runs anymore. Likewise, players will have an easier time trying out any items they weren’t able to get their hands on thanks to vendors charging much less. These both tie into the game’s upcoming wipe, prompting players to care less about their soon-to-be-deleted gear and more about trying new things out.
Escape From Tarkov, much like Rust, charts player progression through their inventories. The more advanced gear a player has, the further along they are. So, when inventories in the game are wiped, it’s a pretty big deal–everyone is on the same level, with the same equipment. Escape From Tarkov issues two wipes each year, with this being the first of 2021. The last wipe for Escape From Tarkov came in December of last year.
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Escape From Tarkov New Map Premiere | Summer Game Fest 2021
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Battlestate games have also hinted at when the upcoming patch will arrive. A post from the developer’s Twitter account, spotted by PCgamesn, says that forces inside of Tarkov must disarm by 10 AM TLT, or East Timor Time. That translates to June 29 at 6 PM PT / 9 PM ET.
More content is also on the way for Escape From Tarkov. The game is getting a new area called the Streets of Tarkov, first shown off at the Summer Game Fest. Streets of Tarkov will be added to the game as part of its 0.13 update, though developer BattleState Games has not shared when that update will hit the game.
Watch live streams, videos, and more from GameSpot’s summer event. Check it out
The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) has filed a rating for Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut, which effectively reveals the existence of a new PS4 and PS5 version of Sucker Punch’s hit game ahead of any official announcement.
The ESRB’s newly published rating reveals that Sony Interactive Entertainment has submitted a game called Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut for rating, and that it is available on both PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. Beyond that, little else can be learned, as once again, Ghost of Tsushima has been rated M for Mature, and the rating summary for both the original game and this Director’s Cut version are identical.
There is one strange element; the rating states that there are ‘In-Game Purchases’ but only for the PlayStation 4 version. It’s unclear what this means, as Ghosts of Tsushima on PS4 does not feature microtransactions. The other note in the description states ‘Users Interact’ on both PS4 and PS5, presumably pointing to the Legends multiplayer mode that was added to the original game a few months after launch. At a guess, the in-game purchase on PS4 may be a PS5 upgrade, but it remains to be seen exactly what the ESRB means by this, or if they are mistaken.
TikTok has discovered that Tom Holland was dreaming about playing Spider-Man long before he appeared in the MCU.
Click here to watch the viral TikTok video featuring a young Holland at a red carpet event speaking about the 2012 disaster movie The Impossible, in which he made his feature film debut starring alongside the likes of Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor. In the clip, Holland ponders the idea of taking on a “less serious” role after his initial big-screen breakout.
When asked specifically about whether he would like to be cast as a superhero someday, Holland highlighted Spider-Man as the character he’d like to play at some point in his career. “What kind of superhero would I want to play? Maybe Spider-Man in ten years’ time,” Holland said before joking with the interviewer that it would be “the reboot of the reboot.”
Holland made his web-slingin’ debut in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War before swinging into his first solo outing as a young Peter Parker/Spider-Man in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming. He will be wall-crawling across our screens again in Spider-Man: No Way Home, the follow-up to 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home, when that Phase 4 movie hits theaters this December.
As it stands, SPUMC 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 movie that is expected to fill in another piece of the shared universe puzzle, with Aaron Taylor-Johnson stepping up to play one of Spider-Man’s oldest enemies.
Apex Legends‘ most famous landmark, Skull Town, returns to the game during the Genesis event as a brand-new Arenas map. However, Skull Town isn’t here to stay, leaving the battle royale’s 3v3 PvP mode at the end of Genesis, on July 13.
On Reddit, Respawn lead level designer Dave Osei said that Skull Town won’t remain in Apex Legends after Genesis is over because of “a slight tech limitation.”
“Currently, all [battle royale] Arena locations are using the full BR map to run,” Osei said. “You might notice that they take the longest to load when matchmaking. This saved a ton a dev time during production of Arenas.”
Arenas only has two unique maps, Phase Runner and Party Crasher. Its three other maps are like Skull Town, in that they’re prominent landmarks from the battle royale half of the game: Kings Canyon’s Artillery, World’s Edge’s Thermal Station, and Olympus’ Gardens.
“To keep Skull Town, we’d have to find a way to separate it from OG Kings Canyon, which is also a limited-time map,” Osei said. “This requires other departments to get involved (Art, QA, etc.) and they’re pretty busy on future content. So we made the call to keep it limited.”
Skull Town used to be Apex Legends’ most popular drop spot, sometimes attracting entire lobbies to battle it out in one location. In order to shake things up, Respawn had Loba inadvertently destroy the landmark at the start of Season 5: Fortune’s Favor (May 12, 2020). The explosive start to the season saw the loss of South Settlement and Thunderdome as well.
During Genesis, both Kings Canyon and World’s Edge will revert to their original forms, giving players a chance to play on Season 0 Kings Canyon and Season 3 World’s Edge again. The event also adds Revenant’s heirloom to the game, 24 unique cosmetics, and a prize track that offers limited-time rewards. Genesis also implements balance changes for several characters, though Respawn is already teasing further adjustments, such as a future patch for Wattson that will change how she feels to play.
Watch live streams, videos, and more from GameSpot’s summer event. Check it out
Rainbow Six Extraction, previously titled Rainbow Six Quarantine, will pit highly trained tactical soldiers against an invasive alien species. However, in an interview with The Loadout, game director Patrik Méthé said that players wouldn’t be able to go in “guns blazing,” like in other PvE co-op titles.
According to Méthé, one of the game’s core principles was that “guns are not enough” to win. “It means that in order to be successful, you’ll have to do proper recon, identify the threats and the opportunities, communicate with your teammates, use the right gadgets at the right time and, most importantly, evaluate when it’s time to move forward and when it’s time to extract,” Méthé continued.
Rainbow Six Siege players will feel familiar playing Rainbow Six Extraction. The two games are built around the same mechanics, with different operators having different abilities for example. However, instead of fighting other human operators, players will have to navigate increasingly dangerous areas filled with diverse and deadly alien predators. The experience, according to Méthé, will be “very different” in the ever-expanding field of co-op shooters.
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How Rainbow Six Extraction Builds Off Siege’s DNA | Play For All 2021
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“There are a bunch of games in the genre that are very fun, as they allow the player to mindlessly mow down hundreds of enemies per session. On our side, since we are in the Rainbow Six universe, it was critical that our game rewarded tactical play, as a means to be successful,” Méthé said. “If you go in guns blazing, you won’t have a lot of success, especially on higher difficulties.”
While they have their differences, Rainbow Six Extraction will have one thing in common with Rainbow Six Siege: penalties for players that leave matches. Leaving a game of Extraction early will lead to multiple punishments, including the loss of match progression, matchmaking bans, and even the loss of their operator, who will go MIA.
Rainbow Six Extraction is set to release on September 16 for the PS4, Xbox One, PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Stadia, and Amazon Luna.
Watch live streams, videos, and more from GameSpot’s summer event. Check it out
The developers of Ninjala have announced a special collaboration event with the anime Demon Slayer, in honor of the the “ninja-gum” game’s first anniversary. Exclusive to Nintendo Switch, Ninjala features Splatoon-style gameplay and was released in June 2020–which had a memorable West Side Story-themed launch trailer. The Demon Slayer collaboration event will take place in Ninjala from July 19 to August 30.
In the crossover event, you can play as a total of nine characters from Demon Slayer, including Tanjiro, Nezuko, Rengoku, and Tomioka. Antagonists, like powerful demon Muzan Kibutsuji, will also be available. Tanjiro’s character will also receive a unique gum bottle design. Get a peek of the Demon Slayer characters in Ninajala below.
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There will also be nine gum utsusemi that you can morph into and lay as a trap. Tanjiro, Nezuko, Rengoku, Tomioka, and Muzan are among the selections. A tournament will also take place during this event, and give special ippon decorations, emotes, and ninja gum based on ranking.
In other news, the trailer for Ninjala’s season six is out and a new battle royale mode will be added soon as well. Season six will follow a superheroes and villains storyline, and give new gum weapons and shinobi cards. The new Ninjala battle royale mode will be added during season seven and is called Last Ninja Standing. It’s a Hunger Games set up where players who get knocked out will not be able to respawn.
Watch live streams, videos, and more from GameSpot’s summer event. Check it out
The wait is finally over: Sony has released the WF-1000XM4s, the update to its popular WF-1000XM3 earbuds. Featuring a modernized design and a brand new V1 processing chip to deliver “industry leading” noise canceling and sound quality, these new headphones retail for $279.99 and are some of the most anticipated of the year. I’ve spent the last two weeks putting them through their paces to see exactly how they stack up.
Sony has officially caught up with the times. Even at the time of their release, the WF-1000XM3s were bulky and didn’t look particularly sleek. The XM4s leave the oblong, bluetooth earpiece look in the rearview mirror and instead utilize a much more modern, stylish design. The core of each earbud is now a normal circle but the shells are contoured to fit the inner folds of the ear. Bronze accents appear on the front edge of each earpiece, bringing it in line with the styling of the over-ear XM4s, and provide a nice contact point for adjustment without triggering the touch controls. The XM4s are still a bit bulky for my taste and protrude more than my Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro, but the trade-off in sound quality and noise canceling is well worth the added size.
The XM4s use Sony’s new V1 integrated processor for its noise canceling duties, which the company claims are the most effective in the true wireless market according to internal testing. The processor interprets ambient noise picked up from two microphones, one feed-forward and one feed-backward, and applies an improved algorithm to perform its cancellation. I haven’t been able to try every noise canceling bud on the market, of course, but against the flagship true wireless buds from Samsung, Sennheiser, Apple, Jabra, and 1More, the XM4s block more sound and deliver on their promise of industry-leading noise cancellation.
If ANC is one half of the equation, sound quality is the other. Sony has equipped these headphones to deliver exceptionally good sound with a pair of 6mm drivers tuned for mainstream appeal. They’re rich in bass and detail in the mids and highs and have a vocal-forward sound that’s great for music and movies alike. They also support Sony’s high-resolution Bluetooth codec, LDAC, which offers enhanced sound quality with far higher audio bandwidth than typical, compressed Bluetooth. That makes them an especially good fit for Android users but will leave Apple fans out in the cold. They lack supporting high-res codecs like AptX HD, however, so you’ll want to check to make sure your device supports LDAC to make the most out of them. Even without high-res audio, the XM4s sound remarkably good and have the kind of big, rich sound typically reserved for headphones.
The other benefit of the processor is its energy efficiency, which translates into better battery life. Sony quotes battery life of 8 hours with ANC enabled and I found that to be spot on. Turn ANC off and that jumps to 12 hours per charge. The case, which is 40% smaller and more pocketable than the XM3’s case, is good for two full recharges bringing total battery life to 24 hours with ANC on. Most ANC earbuds need a recharge after 4-5 hours, but with the XM4s I was able to go full workdays before throwing them back in the case. If you do run short, five minutes in the charging case returns an hour of listening. Apart from being smaller, the case now also supports wireless Qi charging if you’d rather avoid the USB Type-C connection.
Controlling the buds is easy thanks to intuitive touch controls. By default, the left earbud controls your current sound mode – Ambient Sound, Noise Canceling, Off – and holding it temporarily activates the microphones for quick conversations. The right bud controls media, calls, and summons your virtual assistant or can be swapped to control volume using the app. Unfortunately, it’s one or the other which is disappointing and frustrating if you want to control your tracks and adjust volume when out for a run. The touch controls are mostly reliable but I did find myself having to tap multiple times if I was a little off center on my first try.
Thankfully, if you do take them out for a run, you won’t have to worry about sweat or a little rain. The earbuds are now IPX4 rated, which means they’ll stand up to splashes and a little moisture. You won’t want to take them out in a downpour or completely submerge them, but they’re entirely more functional for active users than the XM3s.
Even though they’re on the larger side, I found the earbuds to fit securely and comfortably in my ears thanks to longer nozzles and Sony’s new Noise Isolation ear tips. The buds need to be twisted into place to achieve a secure fit, but once they’re in, they stayed locked into place for me. The tips are made of a polyurethane foam which conforms to your ear canal to block out more sound and achieve a tight seal. They work great but took a couple of days to soften and truly feel comfortable over extended listening sessions.
These new tips are concerning. They work well but if they’re like other foam ear tips, they will wear down over time and need to be replaced. Sony only includes a single pair of small, medium, and large tips and no silicone options at all, so it seems certain that these buds will require additional investment at some point down the line. Sony’s tips feel more resilient and are holding up well after two weeks of use but it’s too early to tell how long these will last with daily use (average foam tips are usually good for 2-3 months). Given the high cost of these earbuds, only including one pair of each size just feels stingy.
As with the XM3s, call quality is the Achilles heel of the WF-1000XM4s. Sony has outfitted each bud with beamforming microphones and bone conduction sensors to make sure your voice comes through clear, even in noisy environments. They do a good job of blocking out background noise and callers were always able to hear me, but the actual quality of the vocals is average at best. In test recordings, I found that I sounded compressed and a bit robotic rather than natural and true to life. Sony has made strides from the XM3s but still falls short of the competition in this area.
Another disappointing discovery is the lack of multipoint pairing. Multipoint, a feature found on the full size WH-1000XM4s, allows you to connect the headphones to two devices at once and to seamlessly take a call while watching a movie on your laptop for example. Hopefully, this is a feature that can be added in an update in the future.
Sony WF-1000XM4 – App Support
To make the most out of the Sony WF-1000XM4s, you’ll want to pick up the Sony Headphones app. This is where most of the customization happens and where you’ll access firmware updates (Sony has already released one which addresses some random drops I experienced early in testing). Here, you’ll be able to adjust the sensitivity of Ambient Mode, customize Adaptive Sound Control, apply different EQ profiles and more.
The app is easy to navigate. Upon connecting your headphones for the first time, you’ll be guided through setup and then let loose to explore the different features the XM4 offers. The app into Status, Sound, and System tabs to keep things organized, but there’s still quite a bit to wrap your head around.
Adaptive Sound Control allows the headphones to automatically swap between Ambient Sound and Noise Canceling modes based on your location and movement. It’s a nice feature, but unlike the over-ear version of the XM4s, the earbuds aren’t able to adjust the level of ANC, so it really only swaps between varying levels of Ambient Sound when ANC isn’t triggered. I also found it to be far too sensitive and would swap to walking mode just by taking a couple of steps away from my desk.
The Sound tab is where you’ll spend the bulk of your time as it’s where you’ll enable or disable ANC, adjust the level of Ambient Sound, apply equalizer settings, and really dial in the level of quality you want from your earbuds. The app even lets you prioritize a stable connection versus sound quality, though I was able to level mine on “Priority on Sound Quality” without any issue.
This tab also allows you to scan your ear and set up Sony’s 360 Reality Audio spatial listening. Spatial listening adds a wonderful sense of space, but Sony has really missed the mark here. 360 Reality Audio is limited to a small selection of streaming apps, like Tidal and Amazon Music HD, which also require subscription services. As a Spotify listener, 360 Reality Audio wasn’t an option unless I wanted to completely change music services. Since Samsung and Apple each offer free spatial listening solutions, finding these limited to subscription services makes it feel like spatial audio has an additional cost here, even if the tech itself does not.
The app has a few other tricks up its sleeve, like a neat audio upscaling tech DSEE Extreme. It offers a slight but perceptible boost to audio quality, especially with tracks that may not have been high-resolution to begin with. Over on the system tab, you can customize your touch controls between volume, media, and Ambient Sound Control. There’s also a fitment test that will recommend different eartips if you’re not achieving an airtight seal.
Sony WF-1000XM4 – Performance
Sony makes big promises with the WF-1000XM4s and delivers in almost every way. Whether you’re listening to music, watching movies, or even playing some casual games, they offer a big, bold sound that’s rich in detail and full, powerful bass. Likewise, the noise canceling is best-in-class for a true wireless earphone. They’re not perfect, however, and they do struggle against the competition in at least one key area.
Going in, I expected the active noise cancellation to be the star of the show, and while it’s excellent, I was even more impressed at the XM4s sound quality. The earbuds have excellent presence and a sound that feels bigger than a true wireless earbud has any right to. Bass, mids, and treble are well separated and give each enough breathing room to be clearly heard, revealing more detail in songs and soundtracks. That sense of separation allows the buds to be especially open to the different EQ profiles built into the app or to dial in your own sound with a custom frequency curve.
The bass is especially impressive, filling out music with a textured richness and sense of body I haven’t heard even on the AirPods Pro or Galaxy Buds Pro. Even on the default EQ, they’re able to slam and deliver impact you can almost feel. Turning to a bass-enhanced profile, turning up the ClearBass slider (a standalone bass boost that’s separate from the normal EQ sliders), or even enabling Dolby Atmos, enhances the effect further, but it doesn’t sound bloated or crowd out the mids and highs like the Jabra Elite 85t. This is simply some of the best bass you’ll find in a true wireless earbud and definitely lends them some cinematic cred for movies and games.
The detail in the mids and highs is also excellent, though how much of it you’ll hear will depend on your current EQ setting. Sony offers a number of presets for Bass or Treble Boost, Speech, Vocals, and more and also lets you customize each to your liking with personalized EQ curves. The default tuning is quite good and makes vocals stand out with exceptional detail. This quality makes picking out difficult to hear dialog a breeze in movies – I’m looking at you Tenet. I also liked that Sony included a wear sensor with these buds, so movies and music would automatically pause when I took them out and resume after I put the earbud back in.
The noise canceling is best in class. It blocks out more ambient noise than competing earbuds, especially when it comes to droning sounds like air conditioners or engines. Against competing flagship headphones like the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro or Apple AirPods Pro, the upgrade isn’t huge but is easily noticeable. Where it really stands out is against cheaper sets like the Jabra Elite 85ts and, surprisingly, the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2. If you’re coming from the over-ear WH-1000XM4 or last-generation’s WH-1000XM3s, don’t expect the noise canceling to be at the same level, however. The WF-1000XM4s don’t cancel out middle and high frequencies to the same level, so the over-ears are still better for office settings.
The XM4s aren’t without their quirks, though. Ambient Mode is excellent for being able to hear the world around you almost as if you weren’t wearing earbuds at all, but the headphones have a nasty tendency to disable the microphones when changing tracks on Spotify or YouTube. It only lasts a second but is jarring and feels a bit like you’re thrown into a vacuum for that second. I also found the Adaptive Sound Control to be completely hit or miss. Being able to detect motion and location to adjust noise cancellation settings is a welcome feature, but the XM4s changed mode so frequently that it became irritating, even with the notification chime disabled.
The lack of low latency codec also means doing any kind of dedicated gaming with them is out of the question. Watching movies wasn’t an issue because sites like YouTube offer latency correction to keep A/V in sync. Games don’t offer the same and there is noticeable lag when gaming. Slow-paced titles were fine, but Call of Duty was noticeably delayed.
That said, the issues here really don’t feel that great when compared to what the XM4s actually offer. The sound quality and noise cancellation are some of the best on the market today and are the core reason to choose these headphones over the competition. The biggest usability issue I encountered was vocal quality on calls which still puzzlingly lags behind the competition. Even with their shortcomings, however, these are excellent earbuds that make for an enjoyable listening experience.
James Wan has started filming Aquaman 2 under a curious production name that could hint at the plot of the sequel.
In an Instagram post, Wan shared a photo of the clapperboard used on set for Aquaman 2. The board is set down in an icy cave and instead of the title of the movie, the codename “Necrus” is visible on the board.
The use of the name is notable considering Wan previously revealed that Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is the official title for the sequel. In an earlier Instagram post, Wan shared a photo from the production meeting with the Lost Kingdom title clearly visible.
But on set, the director has opted to film using the name Necrus. However, there’s a pretty clear connection between the two names.
The Lost Kingdom subtitle is apparently a reference to the seven kingdoms of Atlantis. Six of the kingdoms have been shown already, meaning the lost kingdom, in this case, is a reference to the seventh mysterious one.
In the DC comics, Necrus is another lost underwater city (weird DC has so many). Necrus doesn’t exist in any one location but appears in different parts of the ocean at seemingly random times. This is because Necrus is governed by an alien satellite.
The ruler of Necrus is a tyrant named Mongo who rules over a militaristic civilization. This is a pretty good setup for an Aquaman sequel, I think. Will Aquaman face Mongo when the sequel drops or is this a clever misdirect by Wan?
A Legend of Mana anime series is currently in the works, Square Enix announced Monday.
Legend of Mana – The Teardrop Crystal is being produced by Warner Bros. Japan (production on MADHOUSE’s Mob Psycho 100), Graphinica Inc (Hellsing: The Dawn, Juni Taisen, and Hellsing: Ultimate’s final three episodes) and Yokohama Animation Lab.
Square Enix says the anime will follow the events of Legend of Mana, and released a piece of teaser art along with the announcement. Check it out below.
Graphinica and Yokohama Animation Lab previously worked together on the Legend of Mana remake’s opening cinematic, which you can watch below.
The anime is planned to air worldwide, but Square Enix has yet to announce which streaming platforms it will land on or a release date.
“When the animation project was first pitched to me, the remastering of ‘Legend of Mana’ was not even in discussion,” Mana series producer Masaru Oyamada. “I initially attended the meeting without deep thoughts, but when Mr. Yawata from Warner Bros. Japan passionately pitched the ‘Legend of Mana’ animation project (with so much love), I realized I need to created the game as soon as I can. So rumor has it, that’s how the HD remaster project began. Fans of the Legend of Mana, please be assured. The people involved in the project still have the love for the series just the same as back then.”
IGN’s Seth Macy gave the Legend of Mana remake a seven out of 10, calling it a “beautiful modern rendering of a PlayStation classic,” while noting it retained a lot of the original’s issues.
Square Enix also announced that the Trials of Mana remake is releasing on Android and iOS devices on July 15, featuring touch controls and customizable graphics settings.
A new free-to-play action RPG titled “Echoes of Mana” is also coming to mobile devices in 2022. It will feature a new story that brings new and old characters together, along with a multiplayer mode. The trailer shows off what appears to be characters from the Adventures, Trials, and Secrets of Mana games.
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Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/legend of blah-blah for IGN.
With large swathes of the country in lockdown, there’s never been a better time to get some video game escapism on. Obviously, the cheaper the video game, the better. With that in mind, we’ve scoured the Steam sales and various End of Financial Year price blitzes to find you the absolute best deals out there.
