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Psychonauts 2 Goes Gold, Solidifying August 25 Release Date

Developer Double Fine has announced that the action-platformer Psychonauts 2 has gone gold in preparation for its August 25 release.

The studio took to Twitter to deliver the news, reiterating that the game will be available on Xbox Game Pass the same day it launches worldwide. Psychonauts 2 will also hit PC, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5. Preordering on all platforms is now available, with pre-loading offered for Xbox owners.

The gold master, colloquially referred to as “going gold,” is an odd announcement for Psychonauts 2’s digital-only release. Typically, “going gold” means a game is ready for disc printing and physical distribution. Though the title isn’t launching physically, “going gold” in this case means the same thing: Psychonauts 2 1.0 build is primed and ready for its official launch.

In a follow-up tweet, Double Fine said the studio has “more cool stuff to share” as Psychonauts 2’s August 25 release date steadily approaches.

In our Psychonauts 2 hands-on preview, we walked away eager to play more as it focuses on “brightly colored characters, running and jumping on vibrant platforms that didn’t feel so dark and serious.”

In other Psychonauts 2 news, Double Fine boss Time Schafer discussed life after Microsoft’s acquisition of the company, saying the Xbox maker engages in “limited integration” in which studios still have creative freedom.

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Niantic Responds to Fans’ Fury Over Pokemon Go Changes

Niantic has issued a response to fans over complaints surrounding the company’s decision to reduce the in-game extended range feature for Pokestop interactions in Pokemon Go. The developer says it will form a committee, consult with community members, and deliver a further response by September.

Fans have directed anger at Niantic after it reverted pandemic-related changes to the game, most prominently the distance at which Pokestops can be intereacted with. For a game that prides itself on its community-based gameplay and the size of its fanbase, the company had been silent over the issue for some time, leading to a widely-shared open letter from players. Niantic has finally offered a response to the community, which was published on the studio’s blog.

In the response, Niantic explained that its decision to revert the interaction distance from 80 meters back to 40 meters was made because it wants “people to connect to real places in the real world, and to visit places that are worth exploring.”

Niantic then went on to say that it has heard the community “loud and clear” surrounding the changes to the Pokestop Gym interaction distance. The studio acknowledged the concerns raised by the community before explaining what further action it will take. The team said, “We are assembling an internal cross-functional team to develop proposals designed to preserve our mission of inspiring people to explore the world together, while also addressing specific concerns that have been raised regarding interaction distance.”

As part of the process, Niantic said “we will also be reaching out to community leaders in the coming days to join us in this dialogue”. This will take place before the studio shares its findings by September 1. It is unclear at this stage what proposals could be implemented into the game or to what degree these will satisfy the community. However, fans of Pokemon Go will be hoping that community leaders’ concerns are listened to and addressed sooner rather than later.

The increased interaction distance feature was introduced last year as a way to allow the community to keep playing Pokemon Go from the safety of their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. The in-game feature improved player safety and accessibility within the game and has been praised by the community and creators alike. Fans of the title took to social media in full force asking for Niantic to reconsider removing the feature from the game. You can see the community’s open letter in a tweet below or read our previous article on the story for further context.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. He can sometimes be found pacing up and down long stretches of road hunting for his favorite Pokemon. You can follow him on Twitter.

Spider-Man Star to Lead New Vampire Series

Spider-Man star Jacob Batalon has been cast in Syfy’s Reginald the Vampire, a dramedy based on Johnny B. Truant’s Fat Vampire book series.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Batalon, who plays Peter Parker’s sidekick Ned Leeds in Spider-Man: Homecoming and its sequels, is making the move to television to sink his teeth into Syfy’s newly announced vampire series, Reginald the Vampire, which has picked up a straight to series 10-episode order.

The series will follow “Reginald Baskin (Batalon) who tumbles headlong into a world populated by beautiful, fit and vain vampires” and must “navigate every kind of obstacle — the girl he loves but can’t be with, a bully manager at work and the vampire chieftain who wants him dead,” though fortunately, he discovers he has “a few unrecognized powers of his own.”

Reginald the Vampire is being penned by Harley Peyton (Twin Peaks, Chucky), who will also executive produce and serve as showrunner. Jeremiah Chechik will step behind the camera to direct the series while also executive producing alongside Todd Berger and Lindsay Macadam. Julie DiCresce will co-executive produce.

The first book in Truant’s Fat Vampire series was published in 2012 and it spawned five follow-up sequels: Tastes Like Chicken, All You Can Eat, Harder Better Fatter Stronger, Fatpocalypse, and Survival of the Fattest. Truant also authored a three-book spinoff series, but this is the first time his work is being adapted for the small screen.

Other projects coming up at Syfy include Don Mancini’s Chucky series, which will share continuity with the film series, plus a 10-episode Day of the Dead series, a Bring It On Halloween spinoff, and a modern retelling of Slumber Party Massacre — a series that not only inspired at least one spin-off franchise but also dozens of other “massacre” knock-offs.

Batalon will next be seen reprising his role as Ned in Spider-Man: No Way Home, due out on December 17. The movie is expected to include some multiverse elements and may even converge the Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland universes together in such a way that it potentially allows Holland to make appearances in both the MCU and the SPUMC.

Adele Ankers is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.

Pokemon Go Dev Responds To Pandemic Bonus Removal Controversy

Pokemon Go developer Niantic has released a statement in response to the recent controversy surrounding its removal of some of the game’s pandemic bonuses. The statement begins by thanking fans for their passion and explaining the studio’s rationale for the changes, before going into its plans to look into further tweaks it can make to address players’ concerns.

“The recent Exploration Bonus changes we’ve made in the US and New Zealand are designed to restore some of the foundational elements players enjoyed prior to 2020, and reward players once again for moving and exploring,” Niantic explained. “Encouraging people to explore, exercise and safely play together in person remains Niantic’s mission.”

Now Playing: Pokemon Go 5 Year Anniversary Trailer

The statement then touches on one particular change that fans have taken umbrage with: reverting the distance from which you can interact with PokeStops and Gyms. Niantic doubled that distance to 80 meters as part of its measures to make Pokemon Go more enjoyable and easier to play amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but recently rolled it back not long after Pokemon Go Fest 2021 concluded.

“We have heard your feedback about one change in particular–that of the PokeStop and Gym interaction distance. We reverted the interaction distance from 80 meters back to the original 40 meters starting in the US and New Zealand because we want people to connect to real places in the real world, and to visit places that are worth exploring.

“However, we have heard your input loud and clear and so to address the concerns you have raised, we are taking the following actions: We are assembling an internal cross-functional team to develop proposals designed to preserve our mission of inspiring people to explore the world together, while also addressing specific concerns that have been raised regarding interaction distance. We will share the findings of this task force by the next in game season change (September 1). As part of this process, we will also be reaching out to community leaders in the coming days to join us in this dialogue.”

Niantic’s response comes just as Pokemon Go’s second Ultra Unlock event kicks off. That runs from August 6-17 and features Pokemon from different regions, as well as Shiny Palkia. The third and final Ultra Unlock event begins on August 20 and introduces Pokemon from Sword and Shield, including the Legendaries Zacian and Zamazenta.

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New Battlefield 2042 Map Detailed In Latest No-Pats Chapter

As part of its buildup to the Exodus short film, Battlefield 2042 developer Ripple Effect has detailed one of its upcoming maps in its latest entry in the No-Pats multi-part series. The story brings readers to South Korea, where players will eventually be able to explore a map set in the city of Songdo titled Kaleidoscope.

In the story, a Korean woman steals 10 petabytes of data from one of the city’s largest companies, Daesong Electronics, which hosts a majority of the internet after 2040. The woman, a No-Pat, then delivers the data to the main character of the story.

While this tale of corporate espionage is interesting on its own, today’s chapter also gave us a closer look at Kaleidoscope, one of Battlefield 2042’s new maps. A piece of concept art shows a large and sprawling modern city, filled with gleaming skyscrapers intersected by large parks and waterways. However, parts of the city are in flames, with smoke rising in its different districts.

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Another piece of art shows the city being ripped apart by a twister, with scaffolding torn off the tops of buildings and shards of glass flying around in the churning wind. We don’t see any more of the map past these depictions, but they hint towards an expansive map filled with different venues for combat, from skyscrapers to city streets and parks.

Battlefield 2042 is currently set to launch on October 15 for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, and Xbox One, but some players will have a chance to play the game a bit early. A technical test for Battlefield 2042 is set to start next week, with invites going out now. However, we likely won’t hear anything about this technical test, as it’s under a strict NDA.

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The Medium Is Making Use Of The PS5’s DualSense For A More Immersive Experience

Atmospheric horror game The Medium is set to launch on PlayStation 5 on September 3, after initially debuting on Xbox Series X|S and PC earlier this year. Ahead of the release, developer Bloober Team has detailed how the PS5’s DualSense controller is allowing it to add more immersion to The Medium’s tense atmosphere.

Playing as Marianne, you gain access to her supernatural abilities fairly early in the game. Some, like the Spirit Blast, can be used for puzzle solving and offensive attacks, both of which might feel better with the DualSense’s adaptive triggers. The triggers will offer some resistance as the ability charges up, slowing easing as it approaches time for you to fire it off with a full press of the trigger.

The controller’s accurate haptic feedback is also used for other abilities. The Spirit Shield will now rumble the controller according to all the moths that die when colliding with it, for example. Additionally, when traversing an area in the spirit realm, the controller will pulsate according to how much time you have left to explore, increasing as you edge closer to having to return to your physical body.

Bloober Team says these are just some examples of how it’s making use of the DualSense, teasing that certain set-pieces will have special interactions that it doesn’t want to spoil. The horror adventure impressed with its tragic tale and captivating atmosphere earlier this year, with GameSpot’s 9/10 The Medium review reading, “The Medium’s conclusion sticks with you; it’s one last horrifying reminder that trauma may not define a person, but it can have consequences we can’t even begin to foresee if it’s not adequately dealt with and simply left to fester over time.”

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JJ Abrams On The Pressure Of Working On Star Wars And Star Trek

Writer and director JJ Abrams has worked on some of the biggest entertainment franchises of all time, including Mission Impossible, Star Wars, and Star Trek. Recently, he was asked about getting involved in such major franchises and how he feels about the pressure that comes along with it.

Appearing on the SmartLess podcast, Abrams was asked what made him say yes to working on big projects like Star Trek and Star Wars when he knew it would come with a lot of scrutiny and criticism from some corners of the community. It is “hubris and stupidity” that fueled him to jump into these projects, Abrams said.

“When you get involved in something that pre-exists you, you’re immediately on your heels. Because no matter what you do, someone is taking it personally,” he explained. “There is no quiet. No internal thoughts any more. And so, that is a f**king nightmare. That aspect is awful. But the truth it, and I am not joking when I say hubris. Because to say yes to something that is not just enormous and a religion for people but also that has a release date and not a script.”

Another element of working on major franchises in the internet age is that Abrams’ words can get twisted, he observed. “I’m not complaining about this, but I know it’s common. When you’re involved in things that matter to people, no matter what you say–no matter what you say–it is somehow taken out of context and spun,” he said. “There are so many reporters that I love and admire, especially in this moment when journalists are getting their asses kicked. It’s more important than ever to celebrate them. And yet there are some that are just kind of clickbait whores, let’s be honest.”

Abrams brought up an example of a reporter who asked him something along the lines of, “‘What do you say to people who hated The Last Jedi because they think it’s feminist propaganda or something?'” Abrams, who produced that movie, was left dumbfounded.

“I was like, ‘What?’ I think if you hate a Star Wars movie because … you probably have bigger problems. The headline was like, ‘JJ Abrams: If You Didn’t Like The Last Jedi, You’re Anti-Feminist’ or something. I was like, ‘Holy mother of God,” he said.

Abrams directed 2009’s Star Trek reboot for Paramount and its 2013 sequel Into Darkness, and was then hired by Disney to re-launch the Star Wars film series with The Force Awakens in 2015. Rian Johnson directed the second of the new trilogy, The Last Jedi, before Abrams finished things off with The Rise of Skywalker as its director.

Abrams, his partner Katie McGrath, and their Bad Robot company recently signed a lucrative deal with Warner Bros. to produce new content for HBO Max and other places. One of Bad Robot’s shows, a spin-off of The Shining called Overlook, is potentially moving to Netflix after HBO Max passed. Abrams, who also co-created Lost and Alias, is currently producing a sci-fi TV show called Demimonde for HBO.

Bad Robot also runs a game studio, and earlier this year, the company announced that it had raised $40 million to help fund the development of a new AAA IP.

Back 4 Blood Is Big On Steam And Twitch Right Now

Back 4 Blood’s first beta launched this week on multiple platforms, and even with it being limited, the player count on PC managed to crack Steam’s top 10 list of the most actively played games. According to SteamDB, Back 4 Blood peaked at 88,403 players, an impressive number considering the more limited rollout of codes for the game on its first day.

Over on Twitch Back 4 Blood also dominated the video platform–and at the time of writing–it has over 171,000 people watching it. Part of that success comes from Twitch streamers being able to gift early access Back 4 Blood codes to fans, as watching an hour of gameplay will result in a Twitch drop containing the code and three invites for friends.

Now Playing: 22 Minutes of NEW Back 4 Blood Gameplay

Back 4 Blood’s current beta will end on August 9 and will be open to everyone when it resumes from August 12-16. Both versions of the beta include a fairly substantial amount of content, such as every weapon in the game, two of the lengthy PvE missions, the very snackable PvP mode Swarm, and access to five of the eight playable survivors.

The game’s deck-building system is also on full display and can be experimented with to form an interesting selection of mutators to help players survive the endless Ridden hordes. For more on how to get into Back 4 Blood’s current beta this weekend, you can check out our guide on it.

Back 4 Blood officially launches on October 12 for PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, and PS5, and Xbox Game Pass subscribers can access the game on launch day as part of the service on console, PC, and cloud. For more info on the game and its various editions, you can check out our Black 4 Blood preorder hub.

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South Park: Kristen Schaal Talks About Getting Fired After Just One Month

Actress and writer Kristen Schaal has shared a story about getting fired from South Park after just one month on the job. Speaking to The Daily Beast, the Flight of the Conchords star discussed her journey with the show, which was just renewed for six more seasons as part of a $900 million deal for series creators Matt Parker and Trey Stone.

Parker and Stone reached out to Schaal to write for South Park Season 11 after they watched her Penelope Princess of Pets internet series with Kurt Braunohler. As a fan of the show, and someone who grew up in Colorado, Schaal jumped at the shot of writing for South Park.

“So I was in awe. And I didn’t last long. I was there for like a month and I was told–I got a warning that I was talking too much,” she said.

Schaal, who had never been in a writer’s room before South Park, said she was pitching too many ideas. “I was pitching too much. I’d never been in a writers’ room before. So I was just like, let me earn my keep. I was like, ‘How about this? How about this? How about this?’ And that’s not how it works.”

Schaal’s ideas for South Park were out of sync with where the rest of the room wanted to take the show. At the time, South Park was crafting a lot of storylines that parodied movies, and Schaal admitted “my movie knowledge is not good.”

“I couldn’t go there, so I just kept pitching another thing. So looking back, yeah, they let me go. I could do a writers’ room now, just for everybody listening, but I was too nervous and too excited to be in there,” she said.

Schaal said she thinks “a couple” of her ideas made it onto South Park, but “can’t remember specifically.” She said there is no bad blood between herself and Stone and Parker, though she admits it was “devastating” when she got the call that she was let go from the show.

At the time, Schaal was living in comedian Tig Notaro’s garage that was converted into a guest house. On the day she got fired, Schaal caught up with Flight of the Conchords co-creator James Bobin for drinks, and he gave her good advice about how to see the situation.

“He said, ‘You’re going to get fired, you’re going to get hired, it’s fine,'” she said.

Indeed, Schaal would go on to meet her husband, The Daily Show writer Rich Blomquist, while working on the Adult Swim show Snake N Bacon. Schaal herself then started working at The Daily Show, and later went on to voice roles on Bob’s Burgers and BoJack Horseman. In 2019, she voiced Sayrna in BioWare’s Anthem.

As for South Park, Stone and Parker’s new deal covers 14 new movies for Paramount+ and six more seasons of the main show. A new South Park video game is also said to be included in the deal.

Dead Space Remake Reportedly Aiming for Fall 2022 Release

The Dead Space remake being developed by EA Motive is reportedly aiming for a fall 2022 release date.

According to a report by GamesBeat, sources familiar with the development of the game have said that Dead Space could launch as early as fall 2022. This may be sooner than many fans expected given that very little has been shared about the game, which was only officially announced last month.

The report by GamesBeat claims that, internally, EA is anticipating a Dead Space launch during its 2023 fiscal year. However, when approached for a statement surrounding the supposed release of the game, EA said, “We haven’t shared a release date for the game, and we don’t have any comment based on the current rumor and speculation. But we’re glad people are excited for the game!”

IGN recently spoke to Senior Producer Philippe Ducharme and Creative Director Roman Campos-Oriola about how the game will use next-gen technology to bring the world of Dead Space into the current console era. The pair confirmed that the newest title is not just a touched-up version of the original, but instead, being completely rebuilt in EA’s powerful Frostbite engine. Faster console SSDs also mean that the developers have recreated the game to run without loading screens. In a similar vein to 2018’s God of War, the Dead Space remake will allow you to play the game from “start screen to end credits seamlessly”.

EA has confirmed that the upcoming Dead Space remake will launch on the PS5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC. If you haven’t yet seen the teaser trailer for the game, you can check it out below:

If you’d like to discover more about the game, then check out this piece detailing EA Motive’s stance on including microtransactions within the game – spoiler warning, there won’t be any.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN who enjoys playing horror games alongside his trusty companion, the pause button. You can tell him how dissapointing that is over on Twitter.