Author: Trafficblast

Jodie Turner-Smith has exited Netflix’s upcoming Witcher prequel series, The Witcher: Blood Origin, due to a scheduling conflict.

Deadline first reported the news of Smith’s departure, with a statement from Netflix confirming the actress’ exit from the series. “Due to a change in the production schedule for The Witcher: Blood Origin limited series, unfortunately Jodie Turner-Smith will no longer be able to continue on in the role of Éile,” a spokesperson for the streamer told the outlet.

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Smith had been lined up to star in one of the show’s lead roles, playing Éile, “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.”

A new actress will now need to be found for the role, starring alongside previously-announced cast member Laurence O’Fuarain, who has been cast as Fjall, a warrior that “carries a deep scar within, the death of a loved one who fell in battle trying to save him,” propelling him to fight “beside the most unlikely of allies as he carves a path of vengeance across a continent in turmoil.”

Set 1,200 years before the events of The Witcher, Netflix’s hit series starring Henry Cavill, the streamer’s upcoming six-part prequel series will tell a story lost to time — regarding 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.

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Blood Origin is being developed by the original series’ showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, and Declan de Barra who wrote The Witcher Season 1 episode ‘Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials.’ The Witcher novelist Andrzej Sapkowski is also onboard as a creative consultant. No release date has been set for The Witcher: Blood Origin or The Witcher Season 2, though production recently wrapped on the latter.

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

Jed Shepherd, who co-wrote the Zoom-themed horror movie Host for Shudder last year, is now branching out into games, with the announcement of the FMV-style game Ghosts. The game will reunite most of the cast of Host, with a paranormal antagonist called The Long Lady designed by Sirenhead creator Trevor Henderson and brought to life by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop.

The game follows a crew of ghost hunters (featuring Host stars Emma Louise Webb, Haley Bishop, Jemma Moore, Radina Drandova, and Caroline Ward) exploring “the most haunted location in London,” with the player taking the role of the broadcast producer. With a number of different live feeds coming in, the player must decide what goes to air, making decisions that will hurt or help the show–and potentially the cast itself. The game will involve looking after the safety of the cast, while also making sure the show is entertaining.

Shepherd has cited FMV games like Night Trap, Phantasmagoria, and Double Switch as inspiration, but is looking to set Ghosts apart through the implementation of “real time” functionality. Under this system, players will have to log on to play the game at 10pm, and leaving the computer for a break of any sort will result in the cast meeting quite gruesome ends.

While the concept is interesting, it’s yet to be seen how it will play out in practice. It looks like there will be a way to work around the restrictive timing however, with the game’s Kickstarter mentioning an “unlockable pre-watershed version where you can breathe and save your progress,” available before 10pm.

The creators are looking to raise about $227,000 for the game on Kickstarter, after partnering with indie studio Visible Games and publisher Limited Run Games to bring Ghosts to life. At the time of writing around $46,000 has been pledged, with 29 days to go.

Ghosts is targeting a release date of February 22 in 2022 on PlayStation consoles, Nintendo Switch, and PC, but the campaign says the release date could change depending on how the fundraising goes.

Dontnod is embracing a new direction: it’s amping up its publishing arm so it can publish games made by other studios, beginning with a new title from PortaPlay.

Today, the Life is Strange developer announced it would be publishing a brand new game from the developer of drunken zombie fighting game Broken Lines. Details about what this new game is have yet to be revealed, though PortaPlay head of development Hans von Knut Skovfoged said in a statement that the studio felt “called to work on games with meaning” with a focus on storytelling “about individuals in crisis situations tackling moral dilemmas.” A bio sent with the announcement press release describes PortaPlay as a studio that makes games about “war and conflicts, told from the perspectives of the men and women enduring them.”

This announcement comes after statements last year from Dontnod CEO Oskar Guilbert, who said then that the developer was building a publishing and marketing arm to self-publish its own games, intending to be “as independent as possible” in the future.

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In a statement, Dontnod head of publishing Xavier Spinat indicated that this was by no means the end to internal development at Dontnod:

“As a publisher, we want to offer players experiences that are both accessible to the wider audience, while setting the bar high regarding themes and quality of design,” he said. “From our first discussions with PortaPlay, it became clear to us that co-producing and publishing this original creation would allow us to expand our portfolio with a game complementary to our in-house productions, while remaining true to our DNA.”

Dontnod most recently released two of its own games last year: Twin Mirror and Tell Me Why. Our review called the former a “frustratingly uneven adventure,” but Tell Me Why told “a good story in a charming world” and received praised for its main character Tyler, the first playable transgender video game hero from a major studio.

It is unknown what Dontnod might be working on next itself. Earlier this year, Tencent purchased a minority stake in the studio to help it create a new IP, and at least for now Dontnod’s acclaimed Life is Strange series appears to be in the hands of Deck Nine for the next entry, True Colors.

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

Of the many military sims that are available to gamers, the Arma series probably takes its source material most seriously. Now, a third-party developer is using the game’s suite of tools to create S.O.G. Prairie Fire, a serious and realistic recreation of the Vietnam war.

The expansion is being built by developers Savage Game Design within Arma 3, as reported by Kotaku, and is basically its own complete game. The DLC will launch complete with a narrated single-player campaign, new single-player and multiplayer scenarios, and a multiplayer co-op campaign.

The crowning glory of S.O.G. Prairie Fire is the Cam Lao Nam Terrain, a 300 km² open-world battlefield designed to represent the Vietnam War’s entire Area of Operations. The game will also seek to recreate the unique weapons, uniforms, and other equipment of the various combatants involved in the Vietnam war.

Developer Savage Game Design says it developed the game in collaboration with veterans of the United States Special Forces’ Military Assistance Command, Vietnam: Studies and Observations Group, or MACV-SOG, after which the DLC was named. It also says it has consulted with Vietnamese advisors in developing S.O.G. Prairie Fire.

S.O.G. Prairie Fire will be available for $22.99 as a Creator DLC, which is ArmA’s name for projects developed by third-party studios and published by Bohemia Interactive. It’ll be available in Q2 2021, and can be wishlisted now on Steam.

The Sanrio Characters Collection is back in Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp for 2021, and the latest announcement is a suite of outfits, wigs and plushies themed after some of Sanrio’s most popular characters.

The Animal Crossing mobile game has seen Sanrio crossovers since 2019, often drawing the ire of players of the main series games, whose recent Sanrio rollout was a bit of a mess. Already released in Pocket Camp’s Sanrio Characters Collection for 2021 are themed character t-shirts, uchiwa fans, and even a Sanrio carousel.

The latest suite of items include a set of lolita-style outfits themed after the Sanrio characters Hello Kitty, Cinnamoroll, Pompompurin, Little Twin Stars, Kerokerokeroppi, Pochacco, My Melody, and Kuromi. The collection also includes a small plush for each of the featured characters, as well as matching accessories.

The new items arrive in Pocket Camp on April 9, with the Sanrio Characters Collection event continuing all the way until May 9. Players can expect even more cute Sanrio-themed items to be announced before the event finishes up, including both returning items from previous Sanrio events, and new items for 2021.

Announced along with the Season 2 Reloaded update for Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Warzone, the ZRG 20mm sniper is now available in-game. The bolt-action sniper rifle is powerful enough to score a one-shot kill for hits to the head, stomach, shoulders, or torso, as well as dealing significant damage to vehicles, though its power is tempered by a slow rate-of-fire.

As with other Call Of Duty weapons, the ZRG 20mm sniper can either be earned through in-game challenges, or simply bought outright as part of a package in the store. The new package is called Jackpot Sniper and includes a weapon charm, emblem, and a sticker as well as the new weapon. It retails for 1200 Call Of Duty points, which comes to roughly $11.

If you don’t want to spend the money, you can earn the weapon by completing a sniper challenge. The challenge description reads: “using sniper rifles, earn two Longshot medals in 10 different matches.” Longshot medals are earned by completing kills at a distance, meaning you’ll need to get busy with your best sniper loadout. You have to play each of the 10 matches to completion too, so don’t just exit out as soon as you’ve completed the kills.

The challenge is much easier to complete in Black Ops Cold War than in Warframe’s battle royale, so playing the matches in Cold War is your best option if you own both games.

The 10% off code that works on several Dell and Alienware gaming monitors is still active for a little while longer. Like any proper gaming monitor, these feature low response times, high refresh rates, and G-SYNC compatibility. They’re good workstation monitors as well, since all of them boast either an IPS or VA panel for excellent image quality and wide viewing angles. If you’re for something even better, check out the 48″ LG CX OLED TV that’s also on sale. In my opinion, there’s no better monitor than that (provided your PC can drive 4K resolution).

Dell S3220DGF 32″ 2560×1440 Curved 4ms 165Hz VA Gaming Monitor

Use code: EXTRA10

This was one of the best selling gaming monitors during Black Friday for good reason (and it’s slightly less expensive today). The Dell S3220DGF is a huge 32″ display with a sharp 1440p resolution. It’s officially a FreeSync monitor but it has been confirmed to be G-SYNC compatible with RTX video cards. It also boasts HDR support and a blazing fast 165Hz refresh rate, perfect for gaming. The VA panel offers great image quality, better viewing angles and color fidelity than TN panels, and a lower response time than most IPS panels.

• Use code “EXTRA10” to get it at Dell for $377.99

Discounted Dell Gaming Monitors

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Eric Song is IGN’s deal curator and spends roughly 1/4 of his income on stuff he posts. Check out his latest Daily Deals Article and subscribe to his IGN Deals Newsletter.