Author: Trafficblast

Ai: The Somnium Files is set to launch for PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC in spring 2022. It’s already up for preorder (see it at Amazon). It’s available in a standard edition and a special collector’s edition. Below, you’ll find all the details about what comes in each edition, where you can preorder it, and how much it costs. Let’s get down to business.

Ai: The Somnium Files – Nirvana Initiative Collector’s Edition

Amazon

• Get it for PS4 – $119.99
• Get it for Nintendo Switch – $119.99
• Get it for Xbox One – $119.99

According to publisher Spike Chunsoft, the collector’s edition comes with the following (capitalization very much theirs):

• AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES – nirvanA Initiative 
• Exclusive Good Smile Company POP UP PARADE ~170mm PVC figure of the beautiful AI-Ball “Aiba”
• SECRET OF THE WORLD: THE DEFIniTIVE ART BOOK featuring concept art and illustrations by Yusuke Kozaki
• HARMOniOUS DISCORD official soundtrack by returning composer Keisuke Ito

Ai: The Somnium Files – Nirvana Initiative Standard Edition

Amazon

• Get it for Nintendo Switch – $59.99
• Get it for Xbox One – $59.99
• See it for PS4 – (Not yet available)

If you don’t need or want the extras, you can preorder the standard edition, which just comes with the game.

Ai: The Somnium Files – Nirvana Initiative Release Date

No exact release date has been announced yet, but the game will arrive on all platforms sometime in spring 2022.

What is Ai: The Somnium Files – Nirvana Initiative?

Ai: The Somnium Files – Nirvana Initiative is a sequel to the 2019 mystery detective game AI: The Somnium Files.

This time around, you play as Special Agent Mizuki who, along with her AI partner Aiba, must solve a series of strange murders. Six years ago, the right half of a body was discovered. This mystery went unsolved until now, when the left half of the body shows up with no signs of decay. What is happening? That’s up to you to uncover.

Other Preorder Guides

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Chris Reed is a commerce editor for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.

Take-Two Interactive, the parent company for developers including Rockstar Games, has acquired Dynamixyz, a French-based studio that has provided facial animation services for Take-Two games NBA 2K21 and Red Dead Redemption 2.

The acquisition means that Dynamixyz will now provide exclusive facial animation and proprietary motion capture to all of Take-Two’s publishing labels and developers.

“Dynamixyz’s revolutionary facial analysis technology and services is a highly complementary and strategic addition to Take-Two’s world-class publishing and development structure,” Take-Two’s Executive Vice President and Head of Strategy and Independent Publishing said in the announcement blog post. “Gaspard and the visionary team at Dynamixyz have a well-earned reputation for providing the widest and smartest range of facial motion capture solutions to the entertainment industry, and their work has captivated millions of people around the world from the box office to the living room. We’re thrilled to have them join our team, incorporate their proprietary technologies and creative wonder into our future offerings, and to continue to evolve their capabilities and solutions.”

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In our review for Red Dead Redemption 2, we noted that the facial animations in the game were “is a noticeable step up from GTA V.” While in our review for NBA 2K21, although we felt the start-up on animations once the ball got to the post lacked urgency we felt, in general, that dribbling felt “more responsive and rarely leads to the awkward, uncontrollable animations that have plagued the franchise for years.”

In addition to working on video games, Dynamixyz has previously provided its services to other forms of media in the entertainment industry, including the animated TV series Love, Death, and Robots, in addition to movies such as Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame.

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

The Uniqlo X Animal Crossing collection is available now featuring Animal Crossing: New Horizons-themed clothes both in stores and in-game. The collection had been previously announced for July without a specific date. You may want to hurry if you’re interested, as Animal Crossing: New Horizons merch tends to sell out pretty quickly.

The retail half of this collection features six T-Shirts for men, seven for women, and five for children. It also has three baby shirts, three bags, and three towels. The adult-sized shirts are available for $20 USD both online and in Uniqlo stores. The online shop is limiting orders to one piece per pattern per customer, so you can only order one of each design.

Uniqlo also put together a number of custom designs for Animal Crossing: New Horizons, making in-game versions of the real designs that players can download. You can also visit the Uniqlo Dream Island, which has a recreation of a Uniqlo store. The Dream address is DA-5439-8379-5190.

Uniqlo has done multiple video game collections in the past, including one for the Mario 35th anniversary and a collection inspired by Pokemon Go.

Netflix is producing a sequel to the 2020 Charlize Theron movie The Old Guard, which is good news because the original film left off on an epic cliffhanger.

Theron told Variety that a script is complete and shooting will begin in the first quarter of 2022. Little else is known, but Theron did confirm that the gay couple from the 2020 movie, played by Marwan Kenzari and Luca Marinelli, will return in the sequel.

The Old Guard reached 78 million viewers in its first four weeks, making it the fourth most popular Netflix original movie of all time based on Netflix’s numbers for people who watched at least two minutes.

Based on the graphic novel of the same name, by Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernandez,The Old Guard follows a group of immortal soldiers out for revenge. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Matthias Schoenaerts also starred in it.

If you haven’t seen the movie, we won’t spoil it for you here, but the final scene is a dramatic cliffhanger. Here’s to hoping the sequel picks up from there.

What We Do In The Shadows creators Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement are working on a new TV show. Clement has revealed the series will be very different to anything they’ve made before.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Clement was reluctant give many details away but did give a few hints about what to expect. “Taika and I are working on a new series right now which we just started writing,” he said. “I can’t tell you much about it yet, but what’s fun about it and what makes it exciting for me is it’s something I always wanted to do which is long-form episodes in a sitcom. It’s an action-adventure comedy.

“It’ll be different from what I’ve usually done. I’ve made three sitcoms now, and I hope this one is still funny but more of an adventure series.”

Waititi and Clement have collaborated numerous times in past. The pair co-directed and starred in the 2014 horror comedy movie What We Do In The Shadows, which spawned the highly acclaimed show of the same title and the spin-off Wellington Paranormal. Waititi also directed multiple episodes of Clement and Bret McKenzie’s musical comedy series The Flight of the Conchords.

This new show is one of many projects that Waititi is involved in. His upcoming sports comedy Next Goal Wins, starring Michael Fassbender, was shot in late 2019, and he recently wrapped production on the Marvel movie Thor: Love and Thunder, ahead of its February 2022 release. He’s also producing the HBO pirate comedy Our Flag Means Death, developing two animated Charlie and the Chocolate Factory series for Netflix, co-producing the FX comedy Reservation Dogs, and is attached to a future Star Wars movie.

GameStop has kicked off its Fourth of July sale with deals on games, accessories, and collectibles. While there aren’t a ton of deals on new games, there is a great promotion on preowned titles. All preowned games are buy two, get one free. Unlike some other B2G1 free promotions at GameStop, this deal doesn’t have any exclusions. GameStop’s Independence Day sale runs through Sunday, July 4.

As always, you’ll get the cheapest game for free during the buy two, get one free promotion, so it makes sense to pick games that are close in price. For instance, if you’re shopping for Switch games, GameStop has Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Super Mario 3D All-Stars, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for $48 each. If you were to buy all three of those at regular price, you’d spend $180. Instead, you’re getting this trio of great games for $96 total.

Select PC gaming accessories are also on sale during GameStop’s Fourth of July promotion, including numerous Asus products. The Asus Rog 2.4GHz wireless headset is discounted to $180 and the Strix Impact II wired gaming mouse is $40.

Razer accessories are also on sale for up to $20 off. You can grab the BlackShark V2 wired gaming headset for $90, the Ripsaw HD capture card for $140, and the Kraken wired gaming headset for $61.20.

Though not a stellar deal, you can get GameStop gift cards by buying collectibles this weekend. If you spend $75, you’ll get a $10 gift card and $15 if you spend $125.

For more holiday deals, make sure to check out our roundup of the best Fourth of July sales. Also, don’t forget that the Steam Summer Sale is still running. We’ve rounded up our favorite deals as well as some great bargains.

PlayStation has acquired Nixxes, a Dutch studio that specialises in porting games to PC.

Announced by Head of PlayStatio Studios Hermen Hulst, Nixxes has been bought for an undisclosed fee. The studio will “provide high quality in-house technical and development capabilities for PlayStation Studios,” according to a press release.

Nixxes has worked extensively with Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal and IO Interactive since forming in 1999, porting the recent Tomb Raider trilogy and the two most recent Deus Ex games to PC. While no specifics have been given about Nixxes’ work for PlayStation, it feels likely that the studio will support Sony’s increased focus on porting its console exclusive games to PC.

Excited to announce that the talented Dutch studio Nixxes Software will be joining PlayStation Studios. It’s a real pleasure to welcome a team with such deep technical expertise and vast experience to the @Playstation family. Huge congrats to everyone @NixxesSoftware!

— Hermen Hulst (@hermenhulst) July 1, 2021

“I highly respect Nixxes and am excited for this very experienced team to become part of the world-class development community at SIE,” said Hulst in a statement. “They have a passion for improving games and for delivering the best possible experience for gamers. Nixxes will be a strong asset for everyone across PlayStation Studios, helping our teams focus on their most important goal, which is to create unique PlayStation content at the best possible quality.”

“We can’t wait to get to work and are so excited to bring our technical and development expertise to an IP powerhouse like PlayStation Studios,” said Nixxes founder Jurjen Katsman. “We’re looking forward to working with some of the most talented teams in the industry to deliver the highest-quality gameplay experiences for PlayStation fans.”

It marks the second Sony studio acquisition this week, after Housemarque officially became a part of PlayStation Studios. It feels likely that we may see a third soon, after Sony Japan seemed to leak that it would also acquire remake studio Bluepoint.

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If you like LEGO and Star Wars, and you have $199.99 burning a hole in your account, you might want to act fast on this one. The new 2021 LEGO R2-D2 set is now available at a handful of retailers. It’s already sold out at a couple of places, including the LEGO Store, so it may not stay in stock for long.

Where to Buy LEGO Star Wars R2-D2 75308

• Get it at Amazon – $199.99
• Get it at Walmart – $199.99
• Get it at Target – $199.99
• See it at LEGO Store – SOLD OUT
• See it at Best Buy – SOLD OUT

There have been LEGO R2-D2 sets before (in fact, the last big one came out in 2012), but this is definitely the most impressive one yet. It clocks in at a hefty 2,314 pieces and contains a number of cool tricks hidden under its panels.

All of these features let this build do things you can see the little droid do in the movies. You can rotate Artoo’s head for starters. There’s also a tiny model of Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber waiting to be ejected, just like it does in a memorable scene from Return of the Jedi.

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The model stands on two legs normally, but if you lift it and shift the legs back, you’ll release the droid’s third leg, giving it more stability. You can open various compartments on the model to find robotic arms and other appendages R2 uses in the movies to fix things.

Like some other recent LEGO sets, this one is designed for adults. It’s recommended for people 18 years and up, due in part to the complexity of the build. It also comes with an informational placard you can set next to it for display. 

All in all, it’s a pretty great-looking set. Again, it’s sold out at a couple of retailers already, so you may want to pick it up sooner than later if you’re interested.

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Chris Reed is a commerce editor for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.

Space Jam: A New Legacy combines the worlds of the NBA with the Looney Tunes, and if you were expecting official merchandise to have a zany flair then you’ll likely appreciate what Xbox and Nike have collaborated on. The Xbox wireless controller and sneaker bundle features a Road Runner vs Wile E. Coyote theme that is inspired by the endless chase of Carnovirous Vulgaris toward Accelerati Incredibilus.

What that means is that the Xbox controller looks like it’s covered in animation cells from a classic Road Runner cartoon, while the Nike LeBron 18 Lows will emulate that colorful design in a way that might make pedantic sneaker fans faint with shock.

According to Nike senior designer of footwear Jason Petrie on Xbox Wire, the left shoe represents Wile E. in earth tones with a Nike logo that looks like an ACME-branded trap, while the right shoe features Road Runner with blue and yellow tones that covers the Nike logo in dust clouds.

The Xbox controller is meant to tie the entire theme together and complete the story, with memorable phrases etched on the side. The combo will be available through the Nike SNKRS app in the US on July 15, although you’ll most likely need to move as fast as the Road Runner to secure a sale given how popular the sneaker market is. This is just one of several Space Jam promotions on the way ahead of the film’s release on July 16 in theaters and HBO Max.

A retro-style beat-’em-up is exclusively available on Xbox Game Pass from today and will be released as a free-to-play game in two weeks, while a trio of special edition controllers will also be available.

Space Jam: A New Legacy is directed by Malcolm D. Lee and co-written by Juel Taylor, Tony Rettenmaier, Keenan Coogler, and Terance Nance. The film’s cast includes LeBron James, Don Cheadle, Khris Davis, Sonequa Martin-Green, Cedric Joe, Jeff Bergman, Eric Bauza, and Zendaya.

You can also check out our list of the biggest movies still coming in 2021.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s community has set itself a number of gruelling in-game challenges over the years but, four years after launch, one long thought impossible has been beaten.

A chest found in the Aris Beach area of the map, which has for the longest time seemed to be unreachable, has finally been unlocked by a dedicated and determined BOTW player. The chest is found deep underwater, and only appears if you get within 60 metres of it. To add to the challenge, the chest immediately starts sinking as soon as it appears, and disappears after 7 seconds.

But that hasn’t put fans of the game off from uncovering its secrets. Kleric, a gaming YouTuber, discovered the way to recover the mysterious sinking chest, and posted the results in a tweet. After a month of theory crafting, and exploring various methods for accessing the chest, Kleric finally worked out a way to ensure the chest doesn’t disappear, and can stick around long enough to be opened.

Let’s goooooo!!!!
This is the impossible chest, found 80 meters below the ground at Aris Beach, and will despawn after 7 seconds of sinking after loading in.

It has never been opened prior to this moment! 😮#BreathoftheWild pic.twitter.com/zKnNPflENO

— Kleric (@MrOrdun) June 30, 2021

After glitching through the map so that they were 60 metres beneath the world, Kleric found the chest, and through using a combination of Stasis, bombs, arrows and Magnesis, was able to push the bomb back up through the world so it wouldn’t disappear. Landing it on a Cryonis block of ice, Kleric was finally able to open the chest that had eluded the BOTW community since launch.

Unfortunately, for Kleric, the mysterious contents of the chest weren’t actually all that interesting, as all they received was a piece of amber, a fairly common material in the game. But you know what they say: it’s all about the journey, not the destination.

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It’s definitely worth having a look at the full video to understand how Kleric achieved this maddening feat, and once again highlights just how versatile BOTW’s gameplay can be. We now know that the sequel to Breath of the Wild is targeted to arrive in 2022, and is likely to provide just as many opportunities for players to uncover all its secrets.

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Liam Wiseman is a Freelance News Writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @liamthewiseman