Author: Trafficblast

Following EA’s delisting Ultima Underworld 1+2, Syndicate Plus, and Syndicate Wars on GOG.com, the company has shared a bit of an explanation as to why this happened and how the decision “didn’t fully consider player’s perspective.”

For those unaware, these three games were removed from GOG.com per the “publisher’s request” on June 28. While the titles would remain in the libraries of those who already purchased them, the games would be gone from the digital store for new purchase on that date.

This was met with a public outcry, and EA ended up changing course and announced on August 6 that the games would not only be returning to GOG, but that they would become free until September 3.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, EA’s executive vice president for marketing, commercial and positive play Chris Bruzzo talked about this controversial move and how it was a result of “a breakdown in the publisher’s process for managing the digital titles it has on sale.” He also reassured fans that procedures have changed to ensure this doesn’t happen again.

“When making decisions that affect players we take the time to review exactly what the potential impacts are and whether they serve the player’s best interests,” Bruzzo said. “When we delisted Syndicate and Ultima Underworld we missed that step and so didn’t fully consider the player’s perspective.

“From the level of interest players showed in delisting these games, it was clear that people still wanted them to be available, so we did two things. The first was to ensure that going forward we have a process in place that considers the player perspective in listing decisions. The second was to relist the titles and make them available to as many people as possible with a month-long promotion.”

He finished by saying that the team “saw so much love for these titles, more than twenty years after they originally launched we realised that we had to make them available again.”

Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss made our list of the Top 10 Dungeon Crawlers of All Time, so it’s great to hear more people will have the chance to try it out if they haven’t yet.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

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

Whether or not you played The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, one of Besthesda Game Studios’ most popular titles, you probably know of the iconic “you’re finally awake” scene, which plays at the start of the game. While the scene is remembered fondly, a former developer recently detailed how the most iconic scene in the game caused headaches for the development team.

The news comes from Nate Purkeypile, a former developer at Bethesda, who created a Twitter thread explaining how Skyrim’s intro caused many issues for the development team. Purkeypile explains how the developers could not figure out why the cart would suddenly lose control. “Something was telling that cart to just f*ck right off and to get off that road… Nobody knew what was going on at first,” Purkeypile tweeted.

So, I have a story about the Skyrim Intro and how hard game development is.

That intro is famous now, but back then, it was just that one thing that we had to keep working and working on forever. I lost track of how many times I’ve seen that cart ride. Easily hundreds. (thread) pic.twitter.com/D0E0oZ5uX8

— Nate Purkeypile (@NPurkeypile) August 17, 2021

What was the culprit exactly? Well, it turns out that the issue was a bug — as in a virtual bug in the game and not a software bug — that was causing the cart to freak out and start flying off the road.

“So it turns out there was another bug where the bee in the game couldn’t be picked up. So then some potions couldn’t be made,” he tweeted. “That bug got fixed. Only the type of collision put on the bee didn’t just let it get picked up. It also made it collide into things.”

The issue with this digital bee, as Purkeypile notes, is that it was an “immovable force of nature.” Meaning that if the cart and the bee crossed paths at a particular moment in the game, it would cause the cart to freak out and get flung off the road, like a medieval rocket ship.

While the story is quite funny, I think it is important to express that this is a good example of why game development is no cakewalk.

Purkeypile never did explain how this literal bug was fixed, perhaps bees were removed from the area during the cutscene, but it’s yet another story in Skyrim’s saga. Read IGN’s original Skyrim review here where we encountered no unmovable bees.

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

Developer Respawn has released a new version of its free-to-play shooter Apex Legends. Called the Bangalore Edition, it bundles together a number of cosmetics and premium currency for $20 USD.

As the name suggests, the Bangalore Edition focuses on Bangalore, and it includes a new character skin, weapon skin, and weapon charm. The Super Soldier skin gives Bangalore some cool-looking battle armor, while the weapon skin gives the G7 Scout a makeover. You can see the Super Soldier skin in the image below.

In addition to these cosmetics, this version also comes with a special badge and 1,000 Apex Coins (which normally cost $10). You can grab the Bangalore Edition now on the PlayStation Store, Xbox Store, Steam, Origin, and Nintendo Store. If you have EA Play, you can get the Bangalore Edition for $18.

In other Apex news, Respawn recently nerfed an SMG and LMG, and it plans to tone back the power of Seer this week. In addition, Apex Legends Season 10 Emergence is going on right now, which added Seer and overhauled an old map. If you’re curious about the new Legend, you can take a look at GameSpot’s guide on how to play Seer. There’s also a deal going on in the in-game store that lets you buy special, recolored versions of legendary skins for Wraith, Horizon, Loba, Revenant, and Bloodhound.

An upcoming Blu-ray release of F9: The Fast Saga will include a special Director’s Cut, Universal revealed today. It headlines a package that will include the theatrical release as well as a host of bonus content.

According to Collider, the Director’s Cut will feature seven minutes of new footage. It will include, “A deepened sibling rivalry between Dom and Jakob, more of Dom’s evolution as a father, a never-before-seen-flashback featuring some of the franchise’s most beloved characters, extended sequences featuring Tej and Roman, an additional Cardi B appearance, and an expanded action climax featuring the infamous Armadillo tank.”

The additions will take F9 to a hefty 150 minutes. That’s two-and-a-half hours worth of explosions and space cars. As for the bonus content, the release will include a gag reel, an “intimate look” at the making of the film, and a deep dive into the movie’s cars hosted by John Cena.

F9 was first released back in May, with our review praising it for delivering “bold twists, grit-teethed gravitas, and out-of-this-world action.” Plus, we finally got justice for Han.

The physical release will be available via 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD starting September 21, with the digital release available for purchase or rent starting September 7.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN.

Ubisoft has released the patch notes for Rainbow Six Siege Crystal Guard. Y6S3 of Rainbow Six Siege launches sometime in September, but the new season is now available on the PC public test servers, with the new operator Osa coming on August 18.

The main addition in Crystal Guard is the brand-new attacker, Osa. Rainbow Six Siege’s first transgender operator, Osa’s gadget is the transparent Talon-8 shield, which can be carried or deployed. The shield can be placed on the floor, or in windows or doorways, allowing her to observe the enemy while in full cover.

The Crystal Guard update also includes reworks of three maps; Bank, Coastline, and Clubhouse. All three maps have received technical overhauls to match modern standards and Bank has received an art overhaul. The new update now allows players to mix and match elite headgear and uniforms with any other headgear and uniforms, as long as it’s for the same operator.

The update also includes a price reduction for five operators. Maverick and Clash now cost 10,000 Renown or 240 R6 Credit, Amaru and Goyo are now 15,000 Renown or 360 R6 Credits. Finally, Zero, also known as Sam Fisher from Splinter Cell, now costs 20,000 Renown or 480 R6 Credits.

While the alien-infested PvE spinoff game Rainbow Six Extraction was delayed until January 2022, the Rainbow Six Siege event inspired by the game, Containment, is still live through August 24.

Rainbow Six Siege’s Crystal Guard update also includes a number of operator adjustments and fixes. You can read the full patch notes on Ubisoft’s website or below:

Rainbow Six Siege Y6S3 Patch Notes

New Operator – Osa

Map Reworks

Bank

• EXT Boulevard vehicles have been moved to new locations to prevent runout eliminations.
• Some EXT Low Roof and EXT High Roof skylights have been blocked to prevent unfair firefights.
• Line of sight into EXT Back Alley has been adjusted to prevent spawn peaks.
• EXT Terrace has been updated to prevent spawn peaks.
• Filing cabinets between 1F ATMs and 1F Lobby have been removed to prevent easy shots into the interior balcony.
• All metal bars have been removed from B Vault to increase the ease of shooting.
• A new alleyway named EXT Side Alley connects EXT Boulevard and EXT Back Alley.
• Hatch in 1F Lobby now leads to B Vault.
• Railing in 2F Skylight Stairwell is now destructible.

Coastline

• The line of sight into the building from EXT Rooftop has been partially blocked to prevent unfair firefights.
• Some windows in 1F Courtyard are now blocked, and all open windows can be barricaded.
• A new 1F Reception bomb site replaces the 1F Service Entrance bomb site.
• 1F Service Entrance is now located between the 1F Reception bomb site and the exterior door, preventing Defenders from planting the defuser directly at the exterior door.
• Exterior wall in 2F VIP Lounge is now breakable and players can rappel up from EXT DJ Booth.

Clubhouse

• 1F Stock Room bomb site has been removed and there are now two bomb sites in 1F Bar, one behind the bar and one beside the stage.
• A doorway has been added between the bar and stage in 1F Bar.
• New props have been added to the bar area in 1F Bar.
• A path now connects EXT Kennels and EXT Graffiti Area.

ELITE CUSTOMIZATION

• In order to ensure headgear and outfits fit together with the introduction of Elite Customization, a number of tweaks have been made to existing Elite skins. These tweaks adjust components like wires and tubes that previously connected headgear and outfits together and could be cut off when customizing loadouts. Below, are some examples of these changes:
• Smoke – Added a backpack to the Elite Uniform with connectors for headgear that can be plugged in.
• Doc – Added a collar to the Elite Uniform.
• Sledge – Removed connecting tube on Elite Uniform and added an historically accurate filter to Elite Headgear to replace the removed tube.
• IQ, Echo, Glaz, Jager, Twitch – Removed the wire on Elite Uniform to prevent connection issues.

HP REPLACES ARMOR

Operator armor has been converted to health (HP). 3-Armor Operators have 125 HP, 2-Armor Operators have 110 HP, and 1-Armor Operators have 100 HP.

PLAYER COMFORT

OPPONENT RIM LIGHT

• By default, opponents are now highlighted with a rim light, which helps prevent unfair camouflage. This Interface Preference can be turned off in the Options menu.

DBNO SCORING

• Players will now get a kill score when they down or completely eliminate an opponent. Players will receive an assist score when they eliminate an opponent who was already downed by a teammate. Note: The ‘kill feed’ will display the name of the last player to damage the opponent, whether or not they got a kill or assist.
• The DBNO scoring event has been removed. This prevents players from gaining unfair intel when they down an opponent who isn’t in their line of sight.

BALANCING

TWITCH REWORK

• Twitch now drives a standard drone during the Preparation Phase. Her Shock Drone is equipped during the Action Phase. It now jumps and fires lasers that destroy opponent devices instead of disabling them.

IQ REWORK

• IQ’s Electronics Detector is now equipped with the Ping System 2.0, allowing her to identify and ping electronic devices through walls, including those held by Operators, like the counter defuser and Vigil’s ERC-7.

MUTE CHANGES

• The area of effect for Mute’s Signal Disruptor is now spherical instead of cylindrical, and the device lights up when active.

FUZE CHANGES

• Fuze’s Cluster Charge can now be deployed on reinforced surfaces. When triggered, the sub-grenades take additional time to pass through reinforced surfaces, whereas they instantly pass through soft surfaces.

FLASH DETECTION CHANGES

• Ying’s Candela, Blitz’s G52-Tactical Shield, and the Stun Grenade use a new flash detection system that calculates flash duration. It takes the environment and angle of the explosion into account as well as players’ distance and orientation. This means that if an Operator is affected, they will always be flashed at 100%, but the duration will change each time, increasing the reliability of the flash effect.

OPERATOR BALANCING

These changes will be broken down and explained in detail in our upcoming Designer’s Notes blog post.

AK-12 (ACE AND FUZE)

• Increased first shot kick.
• Increased vertical recoil.
• Horizontal spread is now stronger and more constant to the right.
• Long burst recoil now starts on 10th bullet instead of the 12th.

FINKA

• Frag Grenade replaces Hard Breach Charge.

SLEDGE

• Removed SMG-11.

GLAZ

• Increased magazine capacity of OTs-03 to 15 bullets (from 10).

IANA

• Removed 2.0x scope from G63C.
• Removed 2.5x scope from ARX200.

TWITCH

• Twitch now drives a standard drone during the Preparation Phase. Her Shock Drone is equipped during the Action Phase. It now jumps and fires lasers that destroy opponent devices instead of disabling them.
• Note: The collision size of the Shock Drone has been adjusted, and as a result, it no longer fits through 6 drone vents. Level Design is working to correct this. The affected vents are located on the following maps:
  • Kanal – 2F Printer Room
  • Kanal – B1 Bathroom
  • Oregon – 1F Shower Corridor
  • Oregon – 1F Small Tower
  • Border – 1F Bathroom
  • Border – 1F Main Lobby

IQ

• IQ’s Electronics Detector is now equipped with the Ping System 2.0, allowing her to identify and ping electronic devices through walls, including those held by Operators, like the counter defuser and Vigil’s ERC-7.

MUTE

• The area of effect for Mute’s Signal Disruptor is now spherical instead of cylindrical, and the device lights up when active.
• The area of effect is displayed for 2.5 seconds after deployment is complete.
• Bullet collision is more accurate as the device’s antennas and handles have been added to the collision.

FUZE

• Fuze’s Cluster Charge can now be deployed on reinforced surfaces.
• When triggered, the sub-grenades take additional time to pass through reinforced surfaces, whereas they instantly pass through soft surfaces.

TWEAKS & IMPROVEMENTS

GAME BALANCING

FLASH DETECTION CHANGES

• Ying’s Candela, Blitz’s G52-Tactical Shield, and the Stun Grenade use a new flash detection system that calculates flash duration. It takes the environment and angle of the explosion into account as well as players’ distance and orientation.
• This means that if an Operator is affected, they will always be flashed at 100%, but the duration will change each time, increasing the reliability of the flash effect.

PLAYER COMFORT

POST-ACTION REPORT

• Post-Action Report has updated art representations in each tab. The information in the Battle Pass tab and the Packs tab is more specific and clear.

SHOP – ESPORTS

• A free gift (Esports Pack) can be acquired in the Esports category of the Shop.
• New items have been added to Esports Packs.

DISPLAY AREA

• Players can now scale the display area of the menu and in-game HUD. These options are in the Display section of the Options menu.

WEAPON MAGAZINES

• Adjusted ammo count for primary and secondary weapons to set a consistent magazine ammo range for each weapon in a weapon type.

DAMAGE DROP-OFF

• Adjusted damage drop-off for each primary weapon type (except for shotguns with spread pellets) to have consistent, linear curves.
• Unified damage drop-off for silencers (15%) across all primary weapons (except for shotguns with spread pellets).

FRIENDLY FIRE

• To help combat toxicity, friendly fire for thrown device hits and launcher hits has been removed.
• This change does not impact the effect of the gadget. For example, throwing a frag grenade at a teammate will not deal damage, but the explosion of the frag grenade will.

RARITY ICONS AND CARDS

• Improved the recognizability of different rarity categories for items and pack cards.

MATCH REPLAY

• Added gamepad functionality.
• Added support for Team Loadout.
• Added support for Banned Operator icons.
• Improved sounds overall.
• Reduced replay file size.

SPECTATOR MODE

• Spectator mode now shows the Operators who have been banned by each team and displays the magazine ammo in the loadout info.

OPPONENT RIM LIGHT

• By default, opponents are now highlighted with a rim light, which helps prevent unfair camouflage. This Interface Preference can be turned off in the Options menu.

DBNO SCORING

• Players will now get a kill score when they down or completely eliminate an opponent. Players will receive an assist score when they eliminate an opponent who was already downed by a teammate.
• Note: The ‘kill feed’ will display the name of the last player to damage the opponent, whether or not they got a kill or assist.
• The DBNO scoring event has been removed. This prevents players from gaining unfair intel when they down an opponent who isn’t in their line of sight.

SCREEN SHAKE REDUCTION

• Screen shakes that result from explosions are now reduced across the board and are completely removed from certain device explosions. This helps make shooting more precise and competitive.
• Screen shakes are completely removed from explosions caused by:
  • Ela’s GRZMOT Mines
  • Zofia’s KS79 Lifeline concussion grenades
  • Echo’s Yokai sonic bursts
  • Nomad’s Airjab Launcher repulsion devices

FLINCH REDUCTION

• The flinch animation that used to occur when an Operator was hit by bullet damage is now reduced. This helps make shooting more precise and competitive.

MMR ROLLBACK 3.0

• To ensure fair players keep their MMR (such as when they win against a cheater), improvements to the system address the most relevant matches and restrict the time window in a current season when rollbacks occur.
• The messages displayed by the system have been improved.

GAME HEALTH

HP REPLACES ARMOR

• Operator armor has been converted to health (HP). 3-Armor Operators have 125 HP, 2-Armor Operators have 110 HP, and 1-Armor Operators have 100 HP.

NEW SKILL DISTRIBUTION

• The team detected a trend where Ranked players who reach Platinum don’t play as much to reach Diamond. For this reason, Platinum now has smaller gaps between skill ranks, and more skill ranks have been added to Diamond, so high level players can climb skill ranks faster and have a greater sense of progression.
• New Platinum gaps (old ones in parenthesis):
  • Plat III – 3200 (3200)
  • Plat II – 3500 (3600)
  • Plat I – 3800 (4000)
• New Diamond gaps and skill ranks:
  • Diamond III – 4100
  • Diamond II – 4400
  • Diamond I – 4700
• Please note: This is not Ranked 2.0 – that feature will require more changes and will come at a later date.

INDIVIDUAL ATTACKER SPAWN

• Players can choose whether they want to spawn with other players or spawn alone.
• This setting is now always active in all playlists, allowing players more agency over their spawn selection and overall strategy.
• Since the setting is now always active, the option to vote for a single Attacker spawn location has been removed from Custom Game settings.

MAP ROTATIONS

• Instead of a big rework, this season there will be three maps with small changes: Bank, Coastline, and Clubhouse.
• Ranked/Unranked: No rotation, since Favela was introduced to Ranked and Unranked map pools midseason during Y6S2.
• Newcomer: Coastline replaces Favela in the Newcomer map pool.
• Note: Remember, Quick Match does not have a rotation.

Microsoft has begun testing a higher resolution for Xbox Series X. And if you are an Xbox Insider with Alpha Skip-Ahead access, you now have the option to see the increased resolution for yourself.

As detailed in the Xbox Insider release notes, the new system update now offers the feature to increase the Series X’s dashboard when the console is connected to a 4K monitor or TV. “This change means Home, Guide, and other areas of the UI will be displayed in a higher native resolution for increased sharpness and text readability,” the Xbox testing team says in the post.

The increased resolution for the Series X dashboard is a nice improvement for the ninth-gen console, which has been running the dashboard UI elements at 1080p since its release last November. However, it’s important to keep in mind that the blog post’s language suggests that not every part of the Series X dashboard may run in 4K, at least not yet.

A higher resolution dashboard is not the only thing Xbox is testing out in system previews. Last week, the company began testing multiple new features across its Xbox Insiders program for both console and PC. This includes insiders on PC having the option to play Xbox Cloud Gaming directly through the Xbox PC app instead of a web browser, as well as a new night mode on Xbox Series X|S.

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

Fortnite was once called the Funko Pop of video games, and newly leaked collaborations confirm the game’s run of crossovers and licensed content is just going to keep on rolling. Thanks to a group of reliable Fortnite leakers, we now know of four new collaborations coming soon to Fortnite.

The most relevant of them is probably Morty, the young adult deuteragonist from Adult Swim’s popular cartoon, Rick and Morty. Rick Sanchez was famously made the level 100 battle pass reward for Fortnite Season 7, so it only makes sense that Morty would find his way to the island as well. As shown in the first leaked images from @Hypex and @Not0fficer, Morty will utilize a mech suit, much like Meowscles’ offspring Kit, in order to maintain a hitbox on par with the rest of the Fortnite roster.

Also revealed by the same pair of leakers is the first-ever Will Smith skin. While the actor has dozens of roles under his belt, the Fortnite outfit will borrow from his Bad Boys days in which he’s played Detective Mike Lowrey across a series of movies between 1995 and 2020. A fourth movie is currently in production at Sony Pictures.

Yet another collaboration is planned too, and like Rick and Morty, it ties an Item Shop character to their battle pass partner. Guggimon, the virtual TikTok star featured in the Season 7 battle pass, will be reunited with Janky, the feisty-looking bear clad in a rainbow sweater and Timberland-style boots.

Meanwhile, a separate leak seemed to spoil the reveal of a Tyler Rake skin. If you don’t know who Tyler Rake is, he’s the lead character in Netflix’s Extraction. Portrayed by Chris Hemsworth, it’s possible Netflix is aware of the character’s somewhat low status among action heroes like James Bond, Jason Bourne, and Ethan Hunt, and the brand may be using Fortnite to boost Rake’s image, even as the movie came out over a year ago.

While we haven’t seen the whole skin yet, a partial reveal was linked to Rake’s movie attire, leading many to suspect it’s him, especially after Donald Mustard teased the addition of Rake over a year ago.

Fortnite collaborations are occurring almost as often as leaks these days, but Epic is still able to keep some under wraps from time to time. Officially revealed this week is the first-ever Wonder Woman skin in Fortnite too. You can find a lot more in Fortnite this week, including the 17.40 patch notes, which heralded the debut of the new Impostors mode.