Since it rocketed to fame earlier this year, Phasmophobia’s brand of ghost hunting antics has terrified numerous players, in part due to the way the game handles audio. Apart from speaking to friends over crinkly radios, many players believed that your voice played a huge role in making ghosts appear, causing a ghost to hunt you if you taunted it enough.
Turns out that was never true…until now. Phasmophobia developer Kinetic Games announced a new update for the game’s beta build on Monday, which now allows the game’s cast of ghosts to listen for player voices when hunting, spurring them to search the locations where noise originates.
“Lots of people thought it was a feature so it has been added,” Kinetic Games tweeted. “This is experimental so please let me know if there are any issues.”
Kinetic Games also shared that the new feature is based on how loud a player’s mic is, meaning you can still whisper while a ghost is hunting for your terrified fleshy body.
The new audio feature is sure to throw more boisterous players out of the frying pan and into the fire, and might play a significant role in Phasmophobia’s larger levels where players can put more distance between them and their ghostly target.
During a January 8th update, Kinetic Games also added new features that make ghosts move to your last known position, meaning you’ll probably have to be a little craftier than hiding around the corner. Phasmophobia’s professional difficulty mode will also no longer tell you if a ghost responds to groups of players or isolated individuals.
Kinetic Games has also recently teased its new prison level, which promises to be one of its biggest ghost hunting grounds. If you’re stuck with a particular ghost, check out IGN’s Phasmophobia wiki for tips and guides.
CES 2021 officially starts on Monday, and this year the trade show is going completely digital. While many of its sessions are reserved for registered attendees, there are plenty of exhibitors that are making their presentations available to the public. Here’s everything you need to know to stay up to date on the biggest announcements at CES 2021 and tune into the upcoming streams.
CES 2021 Dates and Schedule
CES 2021 takes place between Monday, January 11, and Thursday, January 14. The first day of the show is limited to media and a Verizon Keynote. The second and third days include a variety of conferences and an exhibitor showcase running from 7am to 8pm. The last day is reserved for CES partner programming. For a complete breakdown of the events planned, we suggest checking out the official CES 2021 schedule.
What to Expect During CES 2021
CES 2021 will be completely digital. This means if you’re a registered participant, you’ll be viewing everything at home via a video conference or stream. There are a variety of sessions people can attend, all of which you can explore in the official CES 2021 schedule. We’ve put together a list of exhibitors we recommend keeping an eye on during CES 2021:
AMD
Asus
HP
HyperX
iBUYPOWER
Intel
Lenovo
LG
Microsoft
Nvidia
Panasonic
Philips
Razer
Samsung
Unity
If you’re not attending the virtual tradeshow, you can still check back here for the latest announcements and also tune in to the streams some of the exhibitors are making available to the public.
How to Watch CES 2021
As we mentioned earlier, there are exhibitors hosting events you can watch that aren’t exclusive to CES attendees. This includes the likes of AMD, Nvidia, Samsung, and more. IGN plans to host the Nvidia GeForce event and possibly more of these streams. We’ll be sure to update this guide with more information on that soon. Until then, check out the dates and times of some of the more notable CES 2021 livestreams:
While Acer isn’t hosting a stream, it will have a virtual event that spans 2 days where people can explore “product experience zones” and participate in immersive tours. To attend, you’ll need to register for a general pass.
The year 2021 is filled to the brim with DC movies, TV shows, comics, and even the launch of a new video game franchise, all featuring your favorite heroes and villains such as Batman, Superman, Harley Quinn, and Flash, so we’re going to list everything DC you can expect to see over the next 12 months.
It’s worth mentioning that every release date in this article should be taken as tentative because, as we saw in 2020, issues related to Covid-19 may cause unexpected delays.
DC Movies in 2021
The DC film slate is slim in 2021 but nevertheless features two notable releases.
Justice League: The Snyder Cut
The first major DC movie release of 2021 is Justice League: The Snyder Cut, which will release sometime in March. Fans lobbied Warner Bros. for years to allow director Zack Snyder to deliver a Justice League movie that matched his original vision, and now it will finally release on streaming service HBO Max. The film will use footage left out of the theatrical version and include a few minutes of freshly shot material featuring returning actors such as Ben Affleck (Batman), Ray Fisher (Cyborg), and Joe Manganiello (Deathstroke). Jared Leto’s Joker has also been added to the film. The Snyder Cut will be released as a four-part mini-series on HBO Max with hour-long episodes, and Snyder also said he’s working on making it available to watch as a single, four-hour film.
James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad is a sequel-but-not-a-sequel to 2016’s Suicide Squad. Returning characters Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), and Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney) are joined by a truly bizarre selection of deep-cut DC characters such as Bloodsport (Idris Elba), Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian), and King Shark (Steve Agee). Keep a special eye on John Cena’s Peacemaker, as the character already has a spin-off TV series planned for HBO Max. (Speaking of HBO Max, when The Suicide Squad hits theaters it will also be available to watch on the streaming service for 30 days.) Gunn shared that he was given carte blanche to kill off any character, which keeps the film in the spirit of the comic book source material, so make sure not to get too attached to anyone.
The massive slate of superhero shows spanning the Arrowverse and the rest of the DC multiverse returns in 2021! The show that started it all, Arrow, is no longer with us, but it left behind a strong legacy that is carried on by numerous other superhero series.
Batwoman Season 2
Batwoman will debut Season 2 on January 17, 2021, but with one big shakeup. Star Ruby Rose left the role of Kate Kane aka Batwoman, and now Javicia Leslie has been cast as the show’s lead. She will portray a new character named Ryan Wilder who takes up the mantle of Batwoman. The rest of the Season 1 cast will be returning for the new season. Kate’s disappearance will be addressed in Season 2 and the mystery of her departure will be part of the plot.
Black Lightning Season 4
Black Lightning will return on February 8, 2021, for Season 4, which will be the show’s final season. Season 3 ended with Jefferson Pierce aka Black Lightning dismantling the ASA and its super-soldier program, so in Season 4 expect to see the fallout of that conflict along with a new villain coming to Freeland. The series may be ending, but a spin-off featuring Painkiller is in development with an episode of Black Lightning Season 4 acting as a backdoor pilot.
The Flash Season 7
The Flash will return for Season 7 on February 23, 2021. Production issues related to Covid-19 caused Season 6 to end abruptly, leaving fans without the final three episodes, so Season 7 will start by capping off the previous season’s arc pitting Barry Allen’s Scarlet Speedster against Eva McCulloch aka Mirror Master.
Legends of Tomorrow is coming back for Season 6 in 2021, although a specific release date has yet to be revealed. Season 5 left us on a cliffhanger as Sara Lance aka White Canary was kidnapped by aliens, so expect to see the team embark on a cosmic rescue mission filled with aliens and plenty of the show’s signature antics.
Supergirl Season 6
Supergirl will return sometime mid-2021 for Season 6, which will be the final season of the show. But where one super-show ends, another begins…
Superman and Lois Season 1
Superman and Lois is a brand new Arrowverse show that will make its series premiere on February 23, 2021. The series will star Tyler Hochelin and Elizabeth Tulloch reprising their roles as the Man of Steel and Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane, respectively. The story follows the married couple as they navigate the troubles of raising two super-boys, Jonathan and Jordan Kent.
Stargirl Season 2
Stargirl is coming back for Season 2 in 2021. Season 2 left viewers with an ominous tease for the villain Eclipso, who in the comics is a dark god with the power to possess people. Given he’s one of DC’s scariest and most formidable foes, it looks like Stargirl and the JSA have quite the challenge ahead of them in Season 2.
DC Universe Shows: Titans, Doom Patrol, Harley Quinn and Young Justice
Titans Season 3, Doom Patrol Season 3, Harley Quinn Season 3, and Young Justice: Phantoms (Season 4) are all in the works. Fans are hoping these shows will return in 2021 but there are currently no announced dates for when they will release on HBO Max. Titans is reportedly scheduled to wrap production in June 2021, so at the very least that show may release in late 2021.
DC Comics in 2021
Future State
The DC Comics lineup is undergoing a major overhaul in 2021. A line-wide event called Future State will unfold over two months starting in March 2021 and offer a glimpse at what the DC universe looks like in the future.
While DC has clarified Future State is not a continuity reboot, it will still introduce some exciting changes — such as a mysterious new Batman, a new Wonder Woman named Yara Flor from Brazil, and the comics-debut of Teen Titans animated series character Red X.
Though the stories of Future State take place in the future, fans can expect some of the characters and concepts introduced during the event to be incorporated into the present day DC Universe afterward. Perhaps we’ll meet that new Wonder Woman when she’s just starting out as Wonder Girl.
Comic readers should take note that as of Future State, the DC superhero line of comics will be reduced to 25 ongoing titles, many of which will be adopting an anthology style. For example, the new Justice League series will have a backup story featuring the Justice League Dark.
DC Video Games in 2021
Gotham Knights
A new DC video game called Gotham Knights is scheduled to debut in 2021. Developed by WB Games Montréal (and set its own universe separate from the Batman Arkham games), Gotham Knights is an action role-playing game (with online co-op) that has players exploring an open-world Gotham City as one of four characters: Batgirl (Barbara Gordon), Nightwing (Dick Grayson), Robin (Tim Drake), and Red Hood (Jason Todd).
We don’t know much about its story just yet, but WB has said that the four young heroes must rise up in the wake of Batman’s shocking death to defend the streets of Gotham, combat the deadly Court of Owls, and solve the mystery behind their mentor’s apparent murder. Each Gotham Knights character has their own unique weapon and combat style, giving players options to choose between (for example) the acrobatic Nightwing wielding his trusty escrima sticks or Red Hood’s aggressive dual-pistol gunplay.
And in case you were wondering, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will release in 2022.
The winners of the Critics’ Choice Super Awards have been announced, with Amazon’s The Boys coming out on top in the TV series category.
The TV adaptation of Garth Ennis’ comic book earned four awards in total, including one for the best superhero series, at the Critics Choice Super Awards that aired on The CW on Sunday night. Produced remotely following COVID safety protocols, ceremony hosts Kevin Smith and Dani Fernandez handed out awards that honored the most popular, fan-obsessed genres across both television and movies.
In the TV series category, Starr was the only actor to take home multiple awards for his work, as he gained recognition as the best actor and best villain for his role in The Boys. His co-star Aya Cash picked up the trophy for best actress in a superhero series. The Mandalorian also dropped an award into its camtono of accolades, as the popular Disney+ series was named best sci-fi/fantasy series on the night.
Over on the film side, Hulu and Neon’s Palm Springs and Disney+’s Soul led the winners, earning three trophies apiece. Palm Springs won best sci-fi/fantasy movie, best actor in a sci-fi/fantasy movie for Andy Samberg, and best actress in a sci-fi/fantasy movie for Cristin Milioti, while Pixar’s Soul won the title for best animated movie. Jamie Foxx and Tina Fey also took home awards for their voice work in the movie.
A full list of the Critics’ Choice Super Awards winners can be found below…
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has said that the next Deadpool movie will be R-rated, and be part of the MCU – with Ryan Reynolds working on a script right now.
Speaking to Collider during a WandaVision press event, Feige went into a little more detail about the project:
“It will be rated R and we are working on a script right now, and Ryan [Reynolds is] overseeing a script right now… It will not be [filming] this year. Ryan is a very busy, very successful actor. We’ve got a number of things we’ve already announced that we now have to make, but it’s exciting for it to have begun. Again, a very different type of character in the MCU, and Ryan is a force of nature, which is just awesome to see him bring that character to life.”
There has been some confusion over whether the MCU would (or perhaps could) include Deadpool, particularly as no Marvel movie has yet crossed over into R ratings. However, Feige seems to be confirming both an R rating and its place in the MCU. Another hurdle could have been the age limit on streaming service Disney+ – however, the upcoming Disney Star service (which allows for higher age ratings) may help account for that.
There is a lot of MCU to come before Deadpool, however – with pandemic-related delays meaning no MCU content arrived in 2020, we have WandaVision, The Falcon & Winter Soldier, Black Widow, Loki, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, What If…?, Eternals and the untitled third Tom Holland Spider-Man movie to arrive in 2021 alone. Here’s every official project on the MCU slate right now.
WandaVision – the first of Marvel’s new streaming series – begins this week, on January 15, making it the perfect time to check back on the timeline of Scarlet Witch and Vision in the MCU.
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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].
There are more options today for those of you who are still trying to get your hands on a prebuilt gaming PC equipped with the latest RTX 30XX video cards. Amazon has a great deal on a CyberPowerPC RTX 3060 Ti gaming PC (and it’s sold and shipped by Amazon, not a marketplace vendor), although you will have to wait a bit for that one to ship out. If you want something that will arrive sooner, Newegg has ABS RTX 3060 and RTX 3070 gaming PCs and HP has their OMEN 25L with RTX 3070 with faster delivery dates. These deals and more below.
CyberPowerPC AMD Ryzen 7 RTX 3060 Ti Gaming PC for $1309.99
This is the best price currently for a prebuilt RTX 3060 Ti gaming PC. It’s not going to ship out very soon but at least you have your order locked in at this price, and it will definitely “sell out” by the end of the day. The RTX 3060 Ti is a bit more powerful than the RTX 2080 SUPER should be even able to handle games like Cyberpunk. The difference in performance between the RTX 3060 Ti and the RTX 3070 is so minimal that we’d recommend getting the 3060 Ti for the cost savings.
______________________________ 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.
This is a spoiler-free review of HBO’s new horror series 30 Coins. The first two episodes are currently available on HBO and HBO Max, with subsequent episodes airing Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and available on HBO Max under its new “International Genre” collection.
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It’s often said that exorcism horror has been done to death. But every so often a new project comes along that reinvigorates the classic subgenre and expands on the years of terror it has instilled. Recently, Shudder’s The Cleansing Hour brought a modern twist to the trope, and HBO Europe’s new series 30 Coins continues this mini-resurgence with a sterling supernatural fantasy centered on dark religious secrets and the redemption of a disgraced and haunted priest. Horror director Álex de la Iglesia (The Day Of The Beast, The Last Circus) helms the series and achieves with it a career-best outing. 30 Coins often feels more like a big-budget horror movie than a TV show in terms of both aesthetic and production values. And it doesn’t just look great; Iglesia and co-writer Jorge Guerricaechevarría craft an X-Files-esque offering of weekly supernatural shenanigans that deftly weave into something far bigger and darker as the show unfurls.
The horror begins when Paco (Miguel Ángel Silvestre), the mayor of a small Spanish town named Pedraza, is called away from his own inauguration. What could be that important? Well, that would be veering into spoiler territory, but let’s just say it’s something supernatural. It’s here we meet Elena (Megan Montaner), the town’s kindly veterinarian who is witness to the first horror of Pedraza. Due to Paco’s worries about the town going viral for all the wrong reasons (and the questionable veracity of the strange event), we’re introduced to the surly new local priest, Manuel Vergara (Eduard Fernández). This is just the beginning of a series of awful events that plague Pedraza and are connected to Vergara’s mysterious and dangerous past.
Much of the strength of 30 Coins comes from this trio of leads. Fernández does a brilliant job at balancing the pulpy archetype he’s given with a level of gravitas and grit to ground him. Silvestre is utterly believable as the ambitious politician more concerned with being electable than saving the world. But 30 Coins’ beating heart is Montaner. Elena is the embodiment of grief and loss, moored by the determination and resilience that come with it. Her struggles with her own faith, her burgeoning horror at what she faces, and her fight to be believed form the emotional core of the show. Despite such a powerhouse set of leads, 30 Coins also works as an ensemble piece and is peppered with impressive performances from the supporting cast.
Easily the best thing about the show is that, aside from the horror, it also works as an Indiana Jones-style artifact quest. Instead of giant boulders and Nazis, the heroes are in a race against monsters, ghouls, and ghosts to find the titular coins, which might be the very ones for which Judas betrayed Jesus. That theological and historical enigma adds complex and lore-filled layers to the dark horror, reframing it as an adult adventure series that also happens to feature a lot of death, blood, and brutal torture. That combination is key to what kept this reviewer hooked as Elena, Vergara, and Paco fall deeper down a dangerous rabbit hole in search of the coins.
It helps that Iglesia and Guerricaechevarría have a great handle on their world and its rules, no matter how fantastical. Their deft delivery of the more outlandish parts of the story makes it far easier to sink into what could’ve otherwise become a melodramatic or bloated exploration of religious fervor and the horrors of fanaticism. Instead, the pair create a streamlined and scary story that is just as interested in the culpability and evil of humans as it is with macabre monsters. Walking that tightrope between the real and imagined is often what separates a good horror story from a great one, and luckily 30 Coins definitely falls into the latter category. Even in the rare episode where the monster of the week aspect might lose you, there’s the greater mystery to solve. Drawing you into the larger conspiracy and supernatural spectrum of the coins means that there’s always more to be invested in than the often inspired and creepy creatures that our heroes come up against. Speaking of those, we get some truly great on-screen creations here, with the feature-length pilot episode featuring some especially horrifying beasts straight out of a Francis Bacon painting that’ll surely haunt your nightmares long after the credits roll.
Hitman 3, the stylish assassination game, features Agent 47 trekking and executing missions all over the world. Ahead of the game’s launch, IO Interactive took to Twitter to announce all six of the locations Agent 47 will visit.
In addition to the previously revealed Chongqing, Dubai, and Dartmoor locations, Hitman 3 will take players to Berlin in Germany, Mendoza in Argentina, and the Carpathian Mountains in Romania. Mendoza will host Agent 47’s penultimate mission, and the game’s epilogue will take place in the Carpathian Mountains.
GameSpot editor Phil Hornshaw was able to play Hitman 3’s first two levels set in Dubai and Dartmoor. Hornshaw praised the gameplay and commented, “For its third game, Hitman 3 isn’t changing the formula that made the first two titles so much fun. Each of its missions is a huge, clockwork-like contraption of various characters wandering here and there, which can be disrupted through often-weird, novel killing methods.”
Hitman 3 releases on January 20. It will be available to play on PC, Stadia, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. The game will come to Nintendo Switch as a Cloud version at a later date. Check out our Hitman 3 preorder guide for more information.
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Monster Hunter Rise launches for Nintendo Switch this March, and alongside the game, Capcom is releasing three new Amiibo figures. The publisher had previously teased that these figures will unlock special layered armor sets in the game, and now it has revealed what those sets look like.
All three figures net you gear based on the Magnamalo, Rise’s new flagship monster. The Magnamalo Amiibo unlocks the Sinister Seal armor set for your hunter, while the Palamute and Palico Amiibo unlock similar sets of armor for your Palamute and Palico companion, respectively. You can take a look at each of the armor sets below.
The standalone Amiibo figures will be sold exclusively at GameStop in the US and EB Games in Canada. The Magnamalo figure also comes packaged with the Monster Hunter Rise Collector’s edition, which features other digital and physical extras like an enamel pin and a sticker pack. You can learn more in our Monster Hunter Rise preorder guide.
Capcom revealed more details about Rise during its Monster Hunter Digital Event earlier this month. Among other things, the publisher shared a new trailer that showcased a new arctic locale called the Frost Islands, as well as a handful of new and returning monsters like the Goss Harag and Mizutsune.
Monster Hunter Rise launches on March 26. A limited-time demo is now available on the Switch eShop until February 1. It features four missions and supports up to four players locally or online. To take advantage of the latter, you’ll need to have a Nintendo Switch Online subscription, but Nintendo is currently offering a free seven-day NSO trial through its My Nintendo rewards program. You can read our Monster Hunter Rise demo impressions here.
Spanish streamer and EU Heretics team owner David “TheGrefg” Martinez has beaten the record for most concurrent viewers for any gaming-related stream on Twitch. The content creator’s stream revealing he’s a new skin in Fortnite managed to reach 2.5 million viewers, which is far above the previous record holders.
For context of how big this is, the runner-ups to this record include channels like Twitch eLeague and YouTuber Rubiu5. The former has managed to reach 1.1 million viewers and the latter surpassed 1.06 million–both of which are much lower than 2.5 million, so Martinez has utterly smashed the record by a significant margin.
Though not as big, other runner-ups include streamer Ninja, who also has a Fortnite skin styled after him, and has had as many as 667,000 concurrent viewers and U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who had over 400,000 concurrent viewers when she streamed Among Us.
Though the skin isn’t live in the game yet, Martinez’s Fortnite skin will likely cost somewhere around 2,000 V-bucks (about $16 USD) provided it follows the same pricing model as the other “icon skins” that have been added to the game, such as the aforementioned Ninja skin and those styled after Loserfruit and Lachlan. Martinez will be the eighth icon skin added to Fortnite.