Author: Trafficblast

A new trailer for Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl today during a Pokémon Presents broadcast has revealed that the games will include the much-beloved feature that allows your Pokémon to follow you as you run through the world.

This feature has been included in a handful of games prior, and first introduced in Pokémon Yellow with only the player’s Pikachu partner able to follow behind. It reappeared in the original Diamond and Pearl games, though it was only available for certain Pokémon in a certain area of the game. It was fully available in HeartGold and SoulSilver, and then again in Let’s Go! Pikachu and Eevee and the DLC areas of Sword and Shield.

While Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl seem fairly close to the original games, we got a glimpse of several slight changes to the original formula, including the ability to customize your character’s outfit.

We also got a look at some returning, revamped features from the original games, including a revamp of the Underground and Secret Bases that hides new Pokémon Hideaways, where wild Pokémon roam freely on the map as they did in Pokemon Let’s Go!. There also appear to be changes to Super Contests, turning the event into more of a rhythm game.

Finally, the games are getting a special Nintendo Switch Lite Dialga & Palkia Edition, launching on November 5, 2021.

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl were first unveiled earlier this year at a February Pokémon Presents broadcast, where we got our first look at the game’s chibi art style. Developer ILCA Inc has taken on the remakes from Game Freak, and are using a chibi art style intended as a “faithful remake” of the original games. We’ve since gotten a release date of November 19, 2021 for the pair, with the larger open-world Pokémon Legends Arceus coming the following January.

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

Pokemon Unite, the MOBA-style free-to-play Pokemon game, will launch for mobile devices next month through iOS and Google Play. As part of the Pokemon Presents broadcast, The Pokemon Company announced that Unite will be released for iOS and Android devices on September 22.

Preregistration begins today, August 18, for both platforms, and you can earn in-game rewards for doing so. The company also confirmed that cross-play is supported. You can preregister for Unite on mobile through these links: iOS, Google Play.

The Pokemon Company also announced the next two Pokemon that will come to Unite, presumably on both mobile and in the previously released Nintendo Switch edition. These Pokemon are Mamoswine and Sylveon.

Following Unite’s launch on Switch, some players criticized how the game lets you purchase more powerful held items with real money, which many argue can be described as pay-to-win.

In other news, the Pokemon Presents broadcast on Wednesday included updates on Pokemon: Legends Arceus and the Pokemon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl games. One of the big reveals was that of a new Switch Lite launching in November themed around Diamond and Pearl.

Pokemon fans have a new special-edition Nintendo Switch console to pick up this fall. To celebrate the upcoming release of Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, Nintendo is releasing a limited-edition Dialga and Palkia Nintendo Switch Lite. The Nintendo Switch Lite Dialga and Palkia Edition releases November 5, two weeks before Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl arrive on November 19. It’s not available to preorder just yet, but we will update this article with links to major retailers as soon as listings go live.

The Nintendo Switch Lite Dialga and Palkia Edition doesn’t come with either of the upcoming games, but it’s also being sold at the standard Nintendo Switch Lite list price of $200. If the new console looks familiar, that’s because it uses the design of the special-edition Nintendo DS Lite that was released alongside Diamond and Pearl. The console is gray and black with images of Dialga and Palkia, the two cover Pokemon, on the back.

Gallery

This is the second Pokemon-themed Switch Lite. In 2019, Nintendo released a Zacian and Zamazenta Edition alongside Sword and Shield. While that console was available to purchase post-launch (at times), we haven’t seen it for list price in quite a while. If you want the Dialga and Palkia Edition, it would be smart to get it as soon as possible.

Of course, this Switch Lite isn’t the only new Nintendo model releasing this fall. The Nintendo Switch OLED arrives on October 8, and preorders keep going in and out of stock. If you haven’t ordered the Gen 4 remakes yet, check out our Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl preorder guide.

The third episode of Techland’s ongoing Dying Light 2 web series will air on August 26 at 11 AM PT / 2 PM ET, on the Gamescom Studio channel. Hosted by lead game designer Tymon Smektała, Dying 2 Know will focus on Dying Light 2’s parkour and combat, two essential gameplay elements that helped players survive the events of the original game.

Techland added that Dying Light 2’s parkour now has a more advanced, and realistic movement system, and can be used to mix complex moves into combat. Handy stuff for the game’s protagonist Aiden when he evades the infected hordes, the more savage viral predators that emerge at night, or other human survivors scavenging for supplies.

As for combat, there’ll be a deep dive into the arsenal of deadly tools that can be collected and used, the inspiration behind some of the game’s weapons, and a closer examination of the factions in Dying Light 2. On the community side, Techland will also speak about its upcoming UGC cosplay contest and the Techland Gamers and Goodies community hub that will be activated in both Dying Light games.

Previous Dying Light 2 streams have been full of plenty of information on the game, such as its story, characters, and the various monsters that have helped make post-apocalyptic parkour a necessary skill for survivors.

The previous episode of Dying 2 Know shed more light on the Sleeping Beauties, Volatiles, and Banshees, as well as the new Revenants whose biological wing-like mutations suggest that not even high ground may be safe from this new breed of infected human.

Dying Light 2: Stay Human is set to release on December 7 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

Solitaire is coming to Xbox Game Pass–more specifically, subscribers will be able to get their hands on the premium, ad-free edition of the Microsoft Solitaire Collection for free. The announcement on Twitter was accompanied by an impressively epic gif, complete with explosions, hype, and strobing rainbow text in the world’s favorite font, Comic Sans.

The only thing the gif is really missing is the iconic card-bouncing winning celebration, though perhaps Microsoft wants you to earn that visual yourself.

The gif advertises the Solitaire Collection as the “most played video game in history,” though that achievement is helped quite a bit by the game being packaged by default on all Windows-running machines. In fact, not everyone is stoked about the Game Pass announcement, considering many solitaire players both hardcore and casual remember a day when the game was free (and ad-free) on all Windows PCs.

The premium version of Microsoft Solitaire Collection caused some controversy when it was introduced with Windows 10 in 2015, due to the addition of intrusive, full-window ads to the free version of the game. Now, Game Pass subscribers can bypass the ads and unlock the extra premium features as part of their existing subscriptions, but many players still clearly believe that Solitaire should have stayed free and ad-free for all users.

James Gunn has revealed that a forgotten action game by Goichi Suda inspired Harley Quinn’s breakout fight scene in The Suicide Squad.

During an interview with Collider, Gunn discussed the filmmaking process and his vision for the DC movie, revealing he drew inspiration for Harley Quinn’s hallway fight from Lollipop Chainsaw, a 2012 hack-and-slash video game he helped to develop. He said he used the game as a visual reference to create the colorful yet gory “Harley-vision” for the sequence.

“I did a video game called Lollipop Chainsaw,” Gunn explained, citing the game he worked on with Suda. “I always loved the way that the hearts and beautiful little things came out of people mixed with blood. So, a lot of it goes back to that, the aesthetic of mixing this horrible gore with Harley’s starry-eyed way of looking at life and creating Harley-vision basically.”

Gunn noted that the video game tribute was present in the first draft of the script and made it right the way through to production, where Gunn and the crew shot the standout scene, which explodes with bright flowers as Quinn charges into a violent rampage through a heavily fortified fortress, providing a memorable fight that blooms with brutality.

Lollipop Chainsaw is a zombie-hunting action title designed by Grasshopper Manufacture from a collaboration between game designer Suda51 and Gunn, who wrote the narrative with Masahiro Yuki. It offers a one-of-a-kind experience, following a cheerleader hero named Juliet Starling who must battle an army of the undead with charm and a chainsaw.

If you want to see the similarities between the game and the movie for yourself, The Suicide Squad is now playing in theaters and streaming on HBO Max. IGN scored the supervillain blockbuster a 9/10, calling its showcase of F-list DC villains “nothing short of brilliant,” which makes for “a bloody, chaotic ride from start to finish” that is “endlessly shocking and funny.”

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

Upcoming expansion Hearth & Home is Valheim‘s first major update, after spending its first few months in Early Access fixing bugs rather than adding new content. The update is set to add a bunch of new features, as well as reworking some existing ones–such as health and stamina.

As mentioned in an update earlier this month, Hearth & Home will change the way food works. Currently, eating food restores both health and stamina, but after the update some foods will provide health, some stamina, and some a mix of both. Stamina is useful for carrying out survival tasks and building, while health will make sure you don’t die, but it’s in combat where players will be able to prioritize one of the stats to change up their gameplay style.

According to the video posted by the Valheim devs, the stamina-focused combat style is currently the norm for most players, with high stamina allowing players to make more attacks on enemies. A health-focused combat style would instead concentrate on defensive play, including the use of shields. Not only will blocking power now be based on maximum health, it also will factor in to a new stagger mechanic. Based on your health, the stagger bar will fill up as you’re attacked, and if it reaches the top your character will be staggered.

Iron Gate has promised to release a further video digging deeper into improved shield mechanics, so keep an eye out if you’re keen to develop a more defensive fighting style in your Valheim adventures. After a delay to its initial release window, Hearth & Home is now still on track for release in Q3 2021.