Author: Trafficblast

Disney has revealed an official poster for Star Wars: The Bad Batch ahead of its debut on Disney+ on May 4, 2021.

This new poster was shared on Twitter and features the members of the titular Bad Batch – Hunter, Echo, Tech, Wrecker, and Crosshair – alongside the dark presence of the Emperor and the unnamed Kamino child who appears to play a big part in this original series.

While not shown, we know this series will also feature Grand Moff Tarkin, a young Saw Gerrera (played by Andrew Kishino, reprising his role from The Clone Wars series) and The Mandalorian’s Fennec Shand (played by Ming-Na Wen).

Star Wars: The Bad Batch will begin with a special 70-minute premiere on May 4, which also happens to be Star Wars Day, followed by new episodes every Friday starting on May 7.

This Bad Batch is a group of five clones that were each created with a specific skill in mind to serve the Empire as Clone Force 99. They also come with a rebellious streak that causes them to become branded as enemies of the state. All five clones are being played by Dee Bradley Baker.

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This new series will act as a continuation of sorts the now-concluded Clone Wars series. It’s one of the many Star Wars projects in production, including a Rogue One prequel series focused on Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor, an Obi-Wan Kenobi series starring Ewan McGregor and a mysterious female-led series from Russian Doll’s Leslye Headland.

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

Following last month’s gameplay reveal for Sniper: Ghost Warrior Contracts 2, developer CI Games has revealed where the game will take place. Unlike the previous two games in the franchise that were set along the Russian-Ukraine border and Siberia, Sniper: Ghost Warrior Contracts 2’s sandbox is Kuamar, a fictional Middle East location filled with plenty of vantage points from to utilize.

Players won’t just be limited to sniping positions though, as they’ll be able to infiltrate enemy positions and engage in more traditional firefights with the forces of the tyrannical Kuamar regime led by its president Omar Al-Bakr and his wife Bibi Rashida. As the operative codenamed Raven, players will explore the region and its locales through a series of missions.

While it’s no Sniper Elite when it comes to headshots, Sniper: Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 still has plenty of gore in the long-range department as evidenced by its accurate headshots that violently remove entire skulls from enemy soldiers every time a bullet finds its mark.

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Players will be able to do use their sniping skills for more creative kills as well when the game launches on June for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.

Wasteland 3’s first story DLC has been announced. The Battle of Steeltown is headed to the squad-based RPG on June 3 for PC and consoles.

The Battle of Steeltown takes players to … Steeltown, which is the southwest Colorado facility where trucks, armor, weapons, and robots are made. However, something is wrong, so you and your squad go there to find out what’s going on.

“Striking workers, bandit raids…not to mention the gates are locked tight. Without help the area will revolt and take Steeltown’s leader, Abigail Markham, with it,” reads a line from the expansion’s description. “But maybe that’s not such a bad thing? You and your team of Rangers will need to decide that for yourself.”

The Battle of Steeltown is playable solo or in co-op, and the expansion features new quests that challenge players to take on new robot enemies. New mechanics have been added as well, including stacking status effects, elemental shields, telegraphed attacks, and non-lethal weapons. The expansion also has more weapon and armor.

“Full of choice, consequence, and Wasteland 3’s unique brand of humor, it’s also a culmination of all the hard work we’ve put into the game since launch,” game director David Rogers said in a release.

The Battle of Steeltown also includes new music and post-apocalyptic inspired covers. The expansion costs $14 USD, but Xbox Game Pass subscribers can get it for 10% off.

Developer inXile said it will announce more details on the specifics of what’s new in The Battle of Steeltown in the weeks ahead. You can watch a trailer for The Battle of Steeltown here on YouTube.

The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors. GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.

The 1.2 update patch for Cyberpunk 2077 reportedly contains a collection of quest files that seem to point towards some unreleased DLC.

As reported by Eurogamer, a data miner has discovered references to “episode one” quests that appear to largely take part in the Pacifica region of Night City.

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The report describes a variety of quest files and descriptions that have been discovered in the patch 1.2 files, extracted using a modding tool. Within Cyberpunk’s files, main quests are labelled either q00x, q10x, or q20x, which denotes their location in either the prologue, act 1, or epilogue of the game. Within patch 1.2, though, files labelled q301 can be found, which would put these quests beyond the boundaries of Cyberpunk’s original story. They are also labelled “Story-ep1”, suggesting that the (possibly placeholder) name for upcoming quests could be “episode one”. These file names have also been confirmed to IGN by a separate source.

Our source explained that files referencing these additional quests have been present since Cyberpunk 2077’s launch version – v1.03 – but the Eurogamer report reveals that an additional 215 files referencing “ep1” have been added in the 1.2 update. The contents and descriptions for many of these files feature links to Mr. Hands, the NPC Fixer who provides side quests in the Pacifica region of Night City.

While many of the files apparently contain just placeholder text, some include descriptions, objectives, or even email messages between characters. Among the quest details discovered through these files is a storyline in which the player is apparently asked to rescue a character called Anthony Anderson from the Scavengers gang. There are also descriptions and some objectives for quests involving a hostage situation and finding a den of hidden netrunners.

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Eurogamer’s data miner source notes that new Cyberpunk files are normally written in Polish, but their translation into English could point to them being closer to completion.

As well as seemingly being a step towards DLC, Cyberpunk 2077 v1.2 is also a step towards bringing the game back to PlayStation Store, from which it was removed from sale shortly after launch. The update also introduced a host of new bugs, but a 1.21 hotfix has recently been deployed to help counter this.

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Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Entertainment Writer. 

The antitrust lawsuit between Epic Games and Apple is getting closer, and the witness lists include two high-profile figures set to take the stand: Epic CEO Tim Sweeney and Apple CEO Tim Cook. Sweeney will testify for almost eight hours while Cook will be examined for approximately two hours.

VGC reports that the two CEOs are expected to testify about very different but broad topics. Sweeney is likely to focus on Epic’s business model and discussions with Apple and Google, as well as its relationship with competitor Samsung. Cook is said to focus on the App Store and its competitors, as well as more broadly about Apple’s corporate values.

The tentative witness list also includes executives from other tech companies including Microsoft, Facebook, and Nvidia. Apple previously attempted to block Epic from publicly calling some witnesses, but that request was denied. The trial is set to begin on May 3, with plans to last about three weeks.

The legal battle began when Epic issued an update to Fortnite that circumvented the App Store’s payment mechanism, effectively cutting out Apple’s 30% cut. Apple responded by pulling Fortnite from the App Store, triggering Epic to respond with a ready-made PR campaign including a movie parodying Apple’s famous 1984 commercial and a “Free Fortnite” social media campaign. In a legal filing issued shortly after, Epic claimed Apple’s store represents a monopoly, and requested permission to sell directly to customers a la Netflix–or even to set up its own competing App Store altogether.

Epic also started a lobbying group with some other developers called the Coalition for App Fairness. It has been pushing for bills in various states that would effectively force Apple and Google to allow developers to set up their own payment systems. One such bill recently stalled in the Arizona state senate. Apple, meanwhile, appears to have internal documentation from Epic regarding its PR campaign–which it says was called “Project Liberty”–and that the effort was intended to boost interest in Fortnite.

A free issue of the ongoing Life is Strange comic series, Partners in Time, will be released on August 14, the game’s official Twitter account has revealed. The issue will be published by Titan Comics as a part of Free Comic Book Day 2021–an event created to encourage purchasing comics locally–and contains not only the next chapter of the Partners in Time series, but a prequel to the next entry in the game series, Life is Strange: True Colors. According to the tweet, the issue will be divided into two stories: one centering around Life is Strange veterans Max Caulfield and Chloe Price, and another following the series’ new protagonist, Alex Chen.

The first story is the next chapter in the ongoing Partners in Time series, which follows the aftermath of Life is Strange assuming players selected the game’s “bad” ending and saved Chloe at the expense of Arcadia Bay. Additionally, the story features another returning character, Life is Strange: Before the Storm’s Steph Gringrich, who is confirmed to be in the upcoming True Color game and could indicate the story will bridge the time gap between the events of the first game and the upcoming title.

The second half of the comic provides readers with a first look at the town of Haven Springs and Alex Chen, the telepathic protagonist of Life is Strange: True Colors. The comic is said to cover the events leading up to the game, which is set to release in its entirety–a first for the Life is Strange series–on September 10.

Announced last month, Life is Strange: True Colors is the fifth entry in the Life is Strange series, and the second developed by Deck Nine Games rather than Dontnod Entertainment. Just like in the series’ previous installments, True Colors follows a protagonist with superhuman abilities who uses them to deliver a heartfelt story. For Alex Chen, it’s her power of Empathy, which allows her to experience the emotions of others. While this power is a great tool for understanding the motives and emotions of those around her, this unnatural gift can prove overwhelming for Alex–especially while trying to manage her own grief.

Life is Strange: True Colors is available for preorder now, with the Life is Strange: Remastered Collection included with the Ultimate Edition of the game.