Author: Trafficblast

Game Boy-style Platformer Save Me Mr Tako Returns to Storefronts

Save Me Mr Tako, a Game Boy-style platformer about a helpful octopus, is returning to storefronts in May after its delisting following the developer’s separation from publisher Nicalis.

In a Patreon post, developer Christophe Galati announced that Save Me Mr Tako would be getting a definitive edition digitally on Steam and Nintendo Switch on May 5, 2021. Galati will self-publish his game on PC via Steam, while Limited Run Games handles the console edition.

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Save Me Mr Tako is a tribute to the Game Boy era, and features a pacifist octopus named Tako with the ability to thrive on land as well as in the water, who travels the world and mediates conflict between humans and octopuses.

Its new Definitive Edition includes a number of updates, including numerous quality of life, technical, and balance changes, as well as a hint system, three difficulty modes, a jukebox, new border images, and a new English localization.

Save Me Mr Tako was originally launched in October of 2018, but was delisted from all digital storefronts two years later after Galati parted ways with original publisher Nicalis. At the time, no specific reason was given for their separation. However, Galati had previously alluded to issues with releasing game patches through Nicalis, indicating that Nicalis was entirely in control of whether or not issues with the game got fixed. Nicalis president Tyrone Rodriguez replied on Twitter at the time that Save Me Mr Tako “did not yet make back what we put into it” and couldn’t justify the resources to QA the patch. A Kotaku report from around that same time indicated that Galati was not the only indie developer with this or similar issues.

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Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Black Panther 2: Boseman ‘Wouldn’t Have Wanted Us to Stop,’ Director Says

Black Panther 2 director Ryan Coogler recently spoke about the late Chadwick Boseman, and shared that he knows his friend and collaborator “wouldn’t have wanted us to stop.”

In an interview with THR, Coogler began by revealing that he didn’t know much of the battle Boseman was going through with colon cancer, a fight that took his life way too early at the age of 43.

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“I didn’t know what was going on,” Coogler says. “I knew what he wanted me to know. I miss him in every way that you could miss somebody, as a friend, as a collaborator. And it sucks because I love watching movies, and I don’t get to watch the next thing he would have made. So it’s grief on a lot of levels, but then, it’s a deep sense of gratitude because I can close my eyes and hear his voice.”

Coogler was in the middle of writing the sequel to Black Panther when Boseman passed, and he discussed how, although it was difficult to continue working on the film without its star and his friend, he knows “Chad wouldn’t have wanted us to stop.”

“You’ve got to keep going when you lose loved ones. I know Chad wouldn’t have wanted us to stop. He was somebody who was so about the collective. Black Panther, that was his movie. He was hired to play that role before anybody else was even thought of, before I was hired, before any of the actresses were hired. On that set, he was all about everybody else. Even though he was going through what he was going through, he was checking in on them, making sure they were good. If we cut his coverage, he would stick around and read lines off camera [to help other actors with their performances]. So it would be harder for me to stop. Truthfully. I’d feel him yelling at me, like, ‘What are you doing?’ So you keep going.” Coogler explained.

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Black Panther is scheduled to being filming in July 2021, and Marvel Studios has already confirmed that it will not be recasting Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa.

Beyond Black Panther 2, Coogler is also working on expanding its world with the upcoming Disney+ series based on the Kingdom of Wakanda.

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

Call of Duty: Warzone Is Teasing A Major Zombies Event Again

Call of Duty: Warzone has been teasing a major zombies event for months now, and it appears that the rumored destruction of the game’s map might be just around the corner. The game’s social media accounts recently posted in-universe (i.e. fictional) news broadcasts that claimed that the zombie situation is under control, but on Friday the zombies overcame the TV studio itself.

A recent update moved the zombies to Verdansk’s TV station to go along with the storyline, and some of them have mutated to become more resistant to bullets. There are also machines on Verdansk that indicate the percentage of zombie spread, implying that they will continue to grow as the storyline progresses. Some have speculated that the game’s new “bombardment” killstreak, which unleashes a cluster bomb on an entire area of the map, might be used as part of the anti-zombie initiative.

The new header image on Warzone’s official site and the slogan “the end begins” certainly suggests that there will be some kind of reckoning that involves the zombies. Rumors and reports have long claimed that Verdansk will soon be destroyed as part of this zombie event, possibly by a nuclear explosion, in order to make room for a ’80s themed map to go along with Black Ops Cold War.

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Animal Crossing Build-A-Bear Collection Launches Tomorrow

Animal Crossing fans will want to pay close attention to Build-A-Bear tomorrow. The recently announced Animal Crossing: New Horizons Build-A-Bear collection will be available for purchase starting Tuesday, April 6. At this time, we still have no idea which characters will be featured in the collection. It’s probably safe to say that we’ll see well-known villagers such as Tom Nook and Isabelle. Considering the popularity of Animal Crossing, we expect that the plushies will be a hot commodity and could become difficult to purchase.

If you’re interested in the Animal Crossing: New Horizons collection, make sure to sign up for email updates at Build-A-Bear. We’ll also update this story with details on the entire New Horizons Build-A-Bear collection once it goes live.

Build-A-Bear is known for its design-your-own plushies that you can fill with stuffing and dress up in the store. If you order online, you still go through the building process, but you won’t get to stuff Tom Nook and kiss his heart before he’s sewn shut. While many Build-A-Bear plushies require you to purchase an outfit separately, themed collections like these typically have outfits by default and tend to be a tad pricier. It will be interesting to see if Build-A-Bear offers any additional New Horizons-themed outfits or accessories.

Let’s just hope that the Animal Crossing: New Horizons Build-A-Bear rollout goes more smoothly than the Sanrio Amiibo cards. Exclusive to Target, the Sanrio cards sold out almost instantly the other week. It didn’t help matters that Target’s website was having issues updating stock, which caused even more frustration. In more positive Animal Crossing news, Cherry Blossom season is back in New Horizons until April 10, and a batch of new seasonal items are up for grabs in the game.

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Daily Deals: Last Day to Get Control and 11 Other PC Games for $12 at Humble

Today is the last day to score the current Humble Choice bundle, which includes Control and 11 other games for only $12. This deal ends tomorrow at 10am PST and another bundle will take its place. In other news, there are several new video game deals at Best Buy, like Persona 5 Strikers for $39.99, Cyberpunk 2077 with steelbook case for $29.99, and Yakua: Like a Dragon for $39.99.

Humble Choice Bundle Includes Control and 11 Games for $12

This month’s Humble Choice PC bundle will end tomorrow at 10am PST, so this is your last chance to cash in on some great PC games. The highlight is Control, which won IGN’s 2019 Game of the Year, but several other games are included. The full list:

  • Control
  • XCOM: Chimera Squad
  • ELEX
  • WWE 2K Battlegrounds
  • Hotshot Racing
  • Peaky Blinders: Mastermind
  • Kingdom Two Crowns
  • Wildfire
  • Cyber Hook
  • Pesterquest
  • Boreal Blade
  • Ageless

Control by itself is currently $29.99 at Steam but you’re getting all 12 games for much less. The Humble Choice Premium subscription costs only $12 per month for new customers (for up to 1 year) and you can cancel anytime, which means you can sign up for just this one month.

More Deals for March 2

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Eric Song is IGN’s deal curator and spends roughly 1/4 of his income on stuff he posts. Check out his latest Daily Deals Article and subscribe to his IGN Deals Newsletter.

Game Devs Are Sharing Their Favorite Easter Eggs

In honor of this weekend’s springtime holiday, game developers are sharing some of their favorite Easter eggs in games they’ve worked on. A Twitter thread asked devs to respond with “the best Easter eggs you ever hid in a game,” and developers were happy to oblige.

The request from Vlambeer lead Jan Willem Nijman was followed by a treasure trove of Easter eggs in everything from big AAA releases to smaller indie games. The homages range from film references to hat-tips to other games to small in-jokes.

Both Uncharted 4 and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy have a camera-pan reminiscent of the Assassin’s Creed franchise. All four Ninja Turtles weapons are tucked away in different spots in The Division. The original Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare has a background meant to evoke the island from Zelda: Wind Waker. The list goes on and on.

This comes just after a few other recently discovered Easter eggs, like the Last of Us 2 reference in Uncharted 4, or the “F— the Oscars” reference in It Takes Two. You can see some of our favorites from developers below, and comb through the Twitter thread for even more.

Fortnite Players Can Livestream Gameplay Using Houseparty

Video chatting app Houseparty has expanded its livestreaming tools by letting Fortnite players on PC and PlayStation consoles stream gameplay to up to nine of their friends.

The feature is only available for PC, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5. There’s no word on if it will become available to other platforms. Epic Games said it will “let everyone know if we’re able to support more platforms in the future.”

Those who connect their Fortnite account to the Houseparty app on their Android or iOS device can livestream their gameplay to up to nine of their friends and the friends of those in the Houseparty room. Users will get a notification when their friends are going live.

To livestream Fortnite using Houseparty, users must first download the app on their Android or iOS device. Once installed, link your Houseparty account to your Epic Games account. This will enable video chat and streaming on the app, as well as where it can be disabled. Open the app on your phone and connect to Fortnite through Settings. Join your friends like normal, boot up Fortnite on the specified consoles, and go live.

Epic Games and Houseparty unveiled the video chatting feature in Fortnite in November 2020. Epic responded to safety concerns at the time, saying that only a users face would be cropped and a Fortnite-themed background would scrub the rest. It’s worth noting that since June 2019, Houseparty is owned by Epic.

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Borderlands Movie Casts Atlas, Plot Revealed

There is more news about the Borderlands movie today, as Edgar Ramirez has been cast in the role of the nefarious Atlas Corporation’s founder. Ramirez is known for his roles in Zero Dark Thirty, Gold, and Point Break, so he’s well-versed in action.

He joins a cast that includes a number of other huge names, including Cate Blanchett, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Hart, and Jack Black. The film is directed by Hostel’s Eli Roth, who said in a statement that it’s an “incredible honor” to have Ramirez star in the movie.

“Atlas has to be a truly magnetic personality, someone with charisma and charm but that air of menace underneath it all,” Roth said in a statement (via Deadline). “I’ve been a fan of Edgar’s since his early performances and he continues to amaze me with each dramatic turn. We want to create something wild, fun, and very different from anything they’ve seen from Edgar before. I am so, so excited to work with him.”

The plot for the Borderlands movie has also been revealed today. In short, it follows Lilith (Blanchett), who returns to Pandora to find the missing daughter of Atlas. She teams up with Roland (Hart), a former mercenary, on her quest. Along the way, Lilith and Roland meet up with Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt), Krieg (Florian Munteanu), Tannis (Curtis), and Claptrap (Black).

“These unlikely heroes must battle alien monsters and dangerous bandits to find and protect the missing girl, who may hold the key to unimaginable power,” reads a line from the description. “The fate of the universe could be in their hands–but they’ll be fighting for something more: each other.”

Film giant Lionsgate is producing the movie, which is written by Craig Mazin, who is also writing the HBO’s adaptation of The Last of Us. Additionally, Take-Two’s CEO, Strauss Zelnick, is an executive producer.

As for the Borderlands game series, the Borderlands 3 Director’s Cut releases on April 8 following a delay related to the terrible storms in the studio’s home state of Texas.

Personal Data For 500 Million Facebook Users Leaked Online

Personal information for over 500 million Facebook users was recently posted online on a hacking forum. According to Business Insider, the data includes phone numbers, Facebook IDs, full names, birthdays, bios, locations, and some email addresses.

The posted data includes users from 106 countries, with the vast majority of records coming from either the US, the UK, or India. Business Insider obtained a sample of the publicly available data and verified its contents by matching known Facebook users’ phone numbers with information in the data set.

A Facebook spokesperson told Insider that the leaked data is the result of a data breach that occurred in 2019. The tech company patched the vulnerability that allowed hackers to scrape the set later that year. Alon Gal, the chief technology officer of the cybercrime intelligence firm Hudson Rock, told Insider that while the data is old, it can still be used by hackers and scammers to trick users into giving up their private information.

“A database of that size containing the private information such as phone numbers of a lot of Facebook’s users would certainly lead to bad actors taking advantage of the data to perform social-engineering attacks [or] hacking attempts,” Gal told Insider.

The existence of the data has been known since at least January, when Gal and journalists discovered an automated bot that was advertised on the same hacking forum that spat out phone numbers for Facebook users for a price. This isn’t the first time that Facebook user data has been compromised due to questionable practices. Back in the early 2010’s, the data firm Cambridge Analytica harvested the data of 87 million Facebook users in violation of the company’s policies.

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