Author: Trafficblast

The next Dragon Age game will take place in Tevinter, according to an official BioWare game development book. For fans of the series, the new setting suggests a lot about the story and conflicts that will be front-and-center in the anticipated sequel.

Eurogamer reports that the setting was confirmed in the book BioWare: Stories and Secrets from 24 Years of Game Development. This follows a hint that came at the end of Dragon Age Inquisition‘s Trespasser expansion, and will finally make good on a setting we’ve previously only heard about secondhand.

The Tevinter Imperium is a human nation ruled by a council of mages. The council of magisters is led by the Imperial Archon. Tevinter has also been described as a rich, decadent nation that kept a tight rule on its people, including by use of blood magic. Given that plenty of Dragon Age stories have revolved around tensions between magic-users and non-magic folk, it’s sure to be a rich vein for intrigue.

The report also notes that while Tevinter looks to be the primary setting, concept art in the book implies that you’ll travel to surrounding areas as well. Some of those include Antiva City, the Mourn Watch in a Necropolis likely to be in Nevarra, and the treasure hunters guild based in Rivain.

The next Dragon Age, which is still officially untitled and may not actually be called “Dragon Age 4,” still appears to be far from release. EA and BioWare haven’t even given a release window, including in a debut trailer shown in December. At the same Game Awards event, BioWare showed a trailer for the next Mass Effect game, which is also undated.

Konami has announced an internal restructure in which three production divisions will be dissolved – but has denied that it is shutting down its gaming production after fans and media began speculating about the move.

The story began in an announcement to investors of, among other things, organizational restructuring. A post on the Konami Digital Entertainment website explained that it will dissolve Production Divisions 1, 2, and 3, “to respond to the rapid market that surrounds us.” With Production Divisions previously representing the company’s home of game development, some took this to mean that gaming production at the company was being shuttered as a whole.

However, in a statement to IGN, a Konami representative wrote: “The announcement made refers to an internal restructure, with Production Divisions being consolidated. We have not ‘shut down’ our video gaming division.”

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While Konami hasn’t commented further, the same announcement shows that several executives who previously led Production Divisions are now solely leading separate Production Departments. Per the statement’s mention of consolidation, it may be that the development work of the old Divisions is being folded into wider Departments.

Konami, once a huge part of the games development and publishing landscape, has become increasingly quiet in the field in recent years, which goes some way towards explaining why many jumped to the conclusion that Konami was moving away from games production. The company is currently actively developing PES 2022 for next-gen consoles, and set up a western game publishing division last year.

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Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

Hitman 3 speedrunners are currently posting record completion times of IO Interactive’s latest assassination sandbox, with some players now able to complete the opening Dubai level in under ten seconds. The first level of Hitman 3 tasks players with eliminating two targets inside of a heavily-fortified skyscraper, with one of the potential victims routinely wandering around the upper floors and constantly flanked by security.

According to Speedrun.com, a website that tracks how quickly players can complete games, user Goron currently holds first place with a world record of eight seconds, followed closely by four other players who share second place with a nine-second run. The strategy for completing the mission ‘On Top Of The World’ is simple but requires pinpoint accuracy to pull off.

In the video provided in the link above, Goron attracts the attention of Marcus Stuyvesant on one of the upper floors with a well-placed shot from Agent 47’s silenced pistol, instantly executes him with a headshot, and quickly eliminates his second target, Carl Ingram, within less than a second. With the starting point of the Dubai level also being a convenient exit point, Goron was able to pull off the impressive feat with time to spare.

This particular method does result in 47 being spotted by nearby NPCs, leading to a less than impressive two-star rating for the level. Hitman speedrunners will likely be attempting to see who can achieve the fastest Silent Assassin completion of the game and its various levels, a far more challenging scenario that involves only assassinating marked targets so that the highest mission rating can be earned.

One gamer by the name of El GuLe has already pulled off a 17-second Silent Assassin run, using a silenced sniper rifle to draw targets to areas where a killshot is possible. One headshot and a fatal bullet to the wrist later, and El Gule has set an astonishing record that other players will be looking to break.

For more on the final chapter in the current Hitman series, check out our Hitman 3 hub that’s loaded with tips and tricks to help you become the world’s deadliest assassin.

NBC’s Peacock and WWE have announced a multi-year agreement that gives Peacock exclusive streaming rights to the WWE Network in the US.

WWE has revealed that NBCUniversal will officially launch the WWE Network on its Peacock streaming service in the US on March 18, beginning the roll-out of “more than 17,000 hours of new, original, and library WWE Network programming” both on-demand and on a 24/7 channel. Per Variety, any existing subscribers of the WWE Network in the US will be migrated over to Peacock Premium for $4.99 per month or, for an ad-free experience, Peacock Premium Plus will be available for $9.99 per month.

The Wall Street Journal reports that WWE is set to rake in more than $1 billion for the five-year deal, which will see Peacock become the sole streaming distributor in the US of the WWE Network. Consequently, WWE will shut down its WWE Network streaming service in the US in March but will continue to operate as a standalone streaming service outside of the US, meaning that nothing will change for WWE Network subscribers in other countries. The companies plan to share further details about the switch to Peacock and the management of customer accounts in the next few weeks.

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The new agreement will bolster Peacock’s sports programming selection, with all of WWE’s live pay-per-view events, including WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Fastlane (available on Peacock on March 21). The catalog also includes original series like Steve Austin Broken Skull Sessions, Undertaker: The Last Ride, and the all-new WWE Icons, plus in-ring shows like NXT, NXT UK, and WWE 205 Live, as well as replays of Raw and SmackDown, together with WWE Network archives and documentaries.

“NBCUniversal has a long-standing relationship with WWE that began nearly 30 years ago with Monday Night Raw on USA. WWE has always tapped into the cultural zeitgeist with spectacular live events and larger-than-life characters, and we are thrilled to be the exclusive home for WWE Network and its millions of fans across the country,” said Rick Cordella, Peacock’s EVP and Chief Revenue Officer. “WWE Network is a transformative addition to the platform and complements Peacock’s massive catalog of iconic movies and shows, as well as the best live news and sports, from NBCUniversal and beyond.”

“We are thrilled to further the long-standing and trusted partnership WWE has with NBCUniversal,” Nick Khan, WWE’s President and Chief Revenue Officer, added in an adjoining statement alongside the announcement. “Peacock is an innovative platform that will enable us to showcase our most significant events, including WrestleMania, and provide the extraordinary entertainment our fans have come to expect with the combination of premium WWE content, live sports, news, films, and television programs.”

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WWE’s 24/7 streaming network launched in 2014, offering wrestling fans exclusive access to live and on-demand programming with some original series and special partnerships. For the first time ever, US subscribers will be invited to access this content on Peacock’s streaming platform, which is already populated with a diverse selection of noteworthy movies and shows to choose from.

For more about the service, read IGN’s official review of Peacock, then check out our rundown of 20 hidden gems worth watching on the platform.

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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

A GTA Online cheatmaker has been forced to close and donate its proceeds to charity following legal action from Rockstar Games’ parent company Take-Two Interactive.

As spotted by Rockstar Intel, Luna Mod Menu distributors Luna Cheats has replaced its website with a short statement, alluding to the legal action. “After discussions with Take-Two Interactive, we are immediately ceasing all maintenance, development, and distribution of our cheat menu services. We will also be donating our proceeds to a charity designated by Take-Two. We apologize for any and all problems our software has caused to the Grand Theft Auto Online community.”

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The Luna Mod Menu allowed players to cheat in GTA Online, letting users drop money, spawn vehicles, buff damage and protect themselves from hazards. You can see the menu in action in this YouTube video. This has clearly been done to help halt griefing and stop cheaters, but Luna Cheats is by no means the only cheat distributor for GTA Online. It remains to be seen whether Take-Two will summon similar measures across the board.

For more on GTA Online, check out our interview with Rockstar North about how The Cayo Perico Heist brings together the best of the last seven years of GTA Online.

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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

The Witcher: Blood Origin, Netflix’s upcoming prequel series to The Witcher, has officially announced its first cast member: Jodie Turner-Smith will play the role of Éile, “an elite warrior blessed with the voice of a goddess”.

Turner-Smith is best known for her starring role alongside Daniel Kaluuya in Queen & Slim, and also appeared in Syfy’s Nightflyers, based on the George R.R. Martin novella.

A Netflix press release describes Éile as, “an elite warrior blessed with the voice of a goddess, [who] has left her clan and position as Queen’s guardian to follow her heart as a nomadic musician. A grand reckoning on the continent forces her to return to the way of the blade in her quest for vengeance and redemption.”

There’s not a lot more to go on about Éile, as Blood Origin is a prequel set 1,200 years before the main Witcher show – a period never explored in any depth in the original Witcher novels.

The show’s logline reads: “Set in an elven world 1200 years before the world of The Witcher, Blood Origin will tell a story lost to time – the creation of the first prototype Witcher, and the events that lead to the pivotal “conjunction of the spheres,” when the worlds of monsters, men, and elves merged to become one.”

Blood Origin is being developed by the original series’ showrunner, Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, and Declan de Barra, who wrote the season 1 episode ‘Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials’, and will comprise 6 episodes.

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Blood Origin doesn’t yet have a release date, but it’s not the only ongoing Witcher TV production – there’s also an anime adaptation, and Season 2 of the core show is on the way, due for release this year. It previously had to halt production due to the ongoing effects of the pandemic. We’re also expecting Season 3 to come along too.

Here’s what to expect from The Witcher Season 2. The show will be set in a single timeline this time around, solving perhaps the biggest issue we had in our Witcher Season 1 review.

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Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

A rating on an Australian classifications board suggests id Software may be at work on a new VR Game. And based on the rating, at least, this VR game will be a pretty grisly one.

The rating for “Project 2021A” was filed on January 22, 2021, with Bethesda Softworks, ZeniMax, and id Software listed by name. The name doesn’t give any clues as to the content, but the ratings for specific types of objectionable material may shed more light. According to the board, it has a very high impact under the Violence category, strong Themes, and some mild language.

All that sounds like it would be right at home in one of id’s existing franchises, like the recently revitalized Doom series. Id Software has already dabbled in VR with Doom VFR in 2017, but the listing suggests this is a new project altogether.

The news is also significant in light of the pending acquisition deal with Microsoft. Once that acquisition is complete, Microsoft will own all of Bethesda’s studios, including id Software. Microsoft has stated it will consider multiplatform releases on a case-by-case basis going forward, hinting that it may keep some for its own platforms or to bulk up its Game Pass offerings. But Xbox head Phil Spencer also hasn’t been keen on bringing VR to the console businesses, first strongly dismissing the idea and later clarifying that he just meant to clearly state his priorities. Either way, VR is not a priority for Xbox, so this mystery project may remain PC-only.