Author: Trafficblast

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence’s belated buddy cop blockbuster Bad Boys for Life is joining the lengthy list of films getting an early digital release amid the current COVID-19 coronavirus crisis, reports Variety.

Bad Boys for Life will hit digital platforms on March 31 (its physical 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD release is slated for several weeks later, on April 21).

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Bad Boys for Life originally hit cinemas on January 16 in Australia and January 17 in the UK and North America – so the gap between its theatrical and home release isn’t quite as truncated as other films recently confirmed to be making unusually speedy home releases – but it is still slightly earlier than has previously been typical.

The long-gestating follow-up to 1995’s Bad Boys and 2003’s Bad Boys II, Bad Boys for Life has been well-received by fans and critics and is currently 2020’s highest grossing film. IGN’s review called Bad Boys for Life an outrageous throwback threequel with great cast chemistry and plenty of all-out action.

Development on a fourth instalment has already been confirmed.

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While the spread of COVID-19 has resulted in considerable upheaval across the entertainment industry, more importantly there are number of things you can do to stay safe during this pandemic.

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Luke is Games Editor at IGN’s Sydney office. You can find him on Twitter every few days @MrLukeReilly.

The Hearthstone team recently revealed its plans for the Year of the Phoenix, and to say they’re huge would be an understatement. We’re talking about the Priest class getting a rework, duplicates being eliminated from card packs, a free deck for new and returning players, Leeroy Jenkins (and others) being sent to the Hall of Fame, and, of course, the biggest news of all – Hearthstone is getting its tenth class: the Demon Hunter.

Demon Hunter will launch alongside the next expansion – Ashes of Outland – and IGN has a brand new Demon Hunter card from that set to reveal today. Introducing, Fel Summoner:

Fel Summoner is a key card in one of the three archetypes Team 5 planned for Demon Hunter out of the gate – its “big demons” deck. That deck plays in a controlling style, attempting to keep its opponent at bay using hero attacks and AOE during the early- to mid-game so that it can start rolling out big threats and dominate the board later on.

Fel Summoner has stats in line with her purpose – dying so that you can pull a big demon, like a Pit Commander or Hulking Overfiend, from hand. It’s an interesting card because while your opponent will likely be able to kill her easily, he or she will also need to have a plan to deal with the demon that may or may not be pulled onto the board. And if Fel Summoner isn’t dealt with, well, that’s a lot of incoming damage.

It remains to be seen just how many “big demons” you’ll need in your deck to reliably take advantage of Fel Summoner’s ability, but I can tell you that it’s very likely to be viable, as the journey to get this archetype to a good place was a long one. Fel Summoner changed quite a bit over the course of final design as the team homed in on how the big demon deck would play. Fel Summoner, in fact, was actually swapped in to replace a spell called “Bind to the Cause”, and then evolved again, into the card that’s shipping with the set. You can see the evolution below.

Demon Hunter as a whole is shaping up to be a heap of fun, so be sure to check out our exclusive behind the scenes video below, in which we detail how Team 5 brought Demon Hunter to life in terms of art, UI, VFX and storytelling. Also stay tuned for our companion video that tells the story of how the team designed the new class – the hero power, the archetypes and more. It’ll be live on Thursday PDT / Friday in ANZ.

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You can also see the Demon Hunter initiate set here and all the Ashes of Outand cards that have been revealed to date here.

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Cam Shea is Editor in Chief for IGN’s Australian content team and a Hearthstone player since beta. He’s on Twitter.

Aquaman writer David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick has said Aquaman 2 will pull from the Silver Age Black Manta Comics.

Spotted by Batman News, Johnson-McGoldrick took the chance to answer fan questions on his Twitter account and, when asked if he had any recommended reading that might give insight into Aquaman 2, he cited Black Manta Silver Age stories in his reply.

Hmm… Good question. We’re not taking any one particular comic book story and adapting it, but if you want to know the vibe we’re going for, pick up pretty much any Silver Age story featuring Black Manta.

— David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick (@bravecarrot) March 21, 2020

Another fan asked about when we might see The Trench spin-off movie and, while he didn’t give a concrete date, Johnson-McGoldrick let us know the setting is potentially slated to fit in between Aquaman 1 and 2.

In the first Aquaman film we saw the Trench appear as amphibious creatures who attack Aquaman and Mera. They’re typically depicted as a vicious race of sea creatures which should fit the light horror tones said to be present in the spin-off.

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While there’s still no confirmation for exactly when The Trench is scheduled to hit cinemas, Aquaman 2 is still set to premiere on December 16, 2022.

[poilib element=”accentDivider”]Hope Corrigan is an Australian freelance writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

Devolver Digital has knocked down the price of its absurd puzzle-exploration game Pikuniku, developed by indie collective Sectordub. Normally $12.99, Pikuniku is now available for just $0.99 on Nintendo Switch.

The joyfully nonsensical game is suited for both adults and kids and supports local-multiplayer co-op play for two people, making it perfect for families currently stuck at home. Just watching the trailer should be enough to lift your mood.

GameSpot’s review of Pikuniku said, “With its simple character designs and a game world that often looks like a young kid designed it by cutting up and sticking together different bits of colored paper, Pikuniku sometimes feels like a video game adaption of a children’s book.” With its cute graphics and simple progression, it’s the perfect game to take your mind off world events.

Pikuniku is also available on Steam and is also included on Xbox Game Pass for both PC and Xbox One.

For other great games at bargain prices, check out our collection of the best cheap games for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Switch.

There’s a surreal element to the release of Half-Life: Alyx, as the long-dormant franchise had turned into a meme as the wait for a new game following Half-Life 2: Episode 2 stretched further and further. Now that the new game has finally released, one developer at Valve has spoken about the gap between releases, and while he can’t commit to anything, he’s hopeful that it won’t be as long.

Robin Walker, a long-time programmer at Valve, has spoken to Polygon about the pressures that come with the Half-Life brand. “Half-Life 3 really always needed to answer the question of what is the opportunity, what is the big technological leap that you think we can use in some way to build some really interesting experience for the player?,” he said. “That’s a paralyzing thing to work on.”

Half-Life: Alyx felt right, he says, and once they had a prototype it was clear that it could be the next game in the series. For now, he says, it’s not clear what the next game will be: “We haven’t made any decisions about what to do next, concretely, because there’s no reason to. We can wait a week.”

However, Walker has reason to think that the next game isn’t 13 years away again. “We ended the game in the way you always end the game as a game developer, which is that the end is when you feel like now you really know how to make this game,” he told Polygon. Walker continued. “I’d like to believe that we’re as good as we’ve ever been at building Half-Life at this point, and I hope we continue to make some more.”

“I don’t think there’s going to be another 13 years [until the next one],” Walker added, noting that he would likely have retired by then.

This isn’t confirmation that another Half-Life will begin development anytime soon, of course–the future remains unwritten for this series.

Half-Life: Alyx received an 9/10 in GameSpot’s review. “Disappointment you may have felt in its 13-year hiatus will feel like water under the bridge, and in a way, have played into just how powerful Half-Life: Alyx turned out to be,” reviewer Michael Higham wrote. “The names, the faces, the iconic objects that have become synonymous with Half-Life have their specific place. And if you weren’t aware previously, you’ll see just how important Alyx Vance–the series’ most infallible personality–has been the entire time.”

Path of Exile is the latest game to offer a special bonus for players who find themselves stuck inside amidst lockdowns and other restrictions that are in place throughout the world.

In a blog post, developer Grinding Gear Games announced that it’s giving everyone a free Thaumaturgy Mystery Box which contains an assortment of cosmetic items. All you need to do is open Path of Exile’s in-game shop and the Box will be automagically added to your account.

Grinding Gear specified that you must visit the in-game store to claim this freebie; visiting the Path of Exile shop website is not enough. Also, you must have created account already to get the freebie, and the offer is limited to one Box per account.

The Box is available to claim on PS4, Xbox One, and PC for the period of one week.

Grinding Gear is based in Auckland, New Zealand, a country that has launched some of the most strict protocols in the world to help fight the spread of COVID-19.

In other news, Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons & Dragons Online are offering special bonuses and in-game events through April to help people enjoy their time indoors.