Author: Trafficblast

Ahead of its release, Wasteland 3 was briefly refused classification in Australia, effectively banning it from sale. At the time, the Australian Classification Board was vague on the reason why the game was banned, but after a small change was made, Wasteland 3 was re-classified with an R18+ rating and allowed to release.

Now, in the board’s annual report, as picked up on by Kotaku Australia, some further reasoning has been given for the game’s ban, and it all comes down to a drug that players were allowed to smoke in the original submission.

“During the game, characters are able to smoke a drug known as ‘Rocky Mountain Moosegrass’, which appears to be a strain of cannabis,” the report reads. “The drug is denoted by an icon of a cannabis cigarette or joint in the player’s inventory that is accompanied by captions that attest to the cannabis-like effects of the drug.”

As the report notes, the sound of a sparking lighter was heard when players used the Moosegrass, and players were given a “bouldered” effect, worth one ability point, after smoking.

Under Australian classification rules, games cannot depict the use of a drug with a real-life analog in a positive manner. The Australian Rating Board has a long history of refusing classification of games due to incentivized drug use, many of which have similarly been edited to enable release in the country. Such titles include The Bug Butcher, Paranautical Activity, Saints Row IV, State of Decay, and Fallout 3.

While the game did not directly call the Moosegrass marijuana, the signifiers made their intent clear. Just showing drug use won’t get your game banned, but tying it to incentives will. The game was re-submitted with the “interactive use” of the drug removed, and the game was accepted with an R18+ rating.

The R18+ rating was not implemented in Australia until 2013, and the first game to receive the rating was the PS Vita version of Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2. Wasteland 3 was the only game denied classification during the 12-month period covered by this report, out of 316 titles (most game releases are handled by a separate, self-guided rating system in Australia now).

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is adding something entirely unexpected–a whole new mode where players assemble card decks of famous Dragon Ball Z characters, and then use them for battle. Dragon Ball Card Warriors is completely different from Kakarot’s action-heavy gameplay, and it’s available October 27 as part of a free update.

The new mode will also be playable online, so you can challenge other Dragon Ball fans worldwide in casual or ranked matches, or in monthly tournaments. You can check out the trailer below.

To play Dragon Ball Card Warriors, you need to create two decks: a main 25-card deck, and a special deck of five “SP” cards. The regular deck is a mix of character and event cards, with characters forming your offensive force and event cards causing effects on the battle.

SP cards can only be activated once certain conditions have been triggered by event cards, but once they’re summoned they can turn the tide of battle. The whole system is surprisingly complex, with a lot of elements to track–check out the trailer for all the different mechanics.

It doesn’t look like there’s any single-player component to the game, so don’t expect a robust campaign or AI. But the update’s free for all Kakarot owners on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, so we can’t complain too much.

The game’s next paid DLC, A New Power Awakens – Part 2, is due before the end of 2020. It will let players take on Golden Frieza and achieve Super Saiyan Blue form.

Netflix has announced some scant new details about Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness, the previously-announced CGI series coming to the streaming service in 2021. The series, which will feature Resident Evil 2 heroes Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield, will be part of the “canon” of the game world, a tweet from Netflix confirms.

The tweet, from Netflix’s account for “all things geek,” confirms that the new series will exist within the established world of Resident Evil. As the series expands with numerous spin-offs, it’s not always clear what does or doesn’t fit within the wider canon of Resident Evil, but this confirms that this series will exist within it.

This means that the series will probably fit between Resident Evil 2 and 4, although that has not been confirmed. The tweet also showed off two screenshots from the series, showing the character renders for the two returning heroes.

The tweet’s synopsis doesn’t give us a whole lot of insight, either–although using the word “biohazards” instead of “zombies” could perhaps be unpacked. Biohazard is, of course, the original Japanese title for the Resident Evil series–but it’s also the subtitle for Resident Evil 7.

Netflix is also making a live-action Resident Evil series, which will be about Albert Wesker’s daughters. The first season will run for eight episodes, but a release date and casting news has not been announced yet.

It’s been a busy year for Halo Infinite, as Microsoft showed off the first look at the campaign mode in July before announcing in August that multiplayer element would be free. Another announcement came very recently when developer 343 Industries outlined the new “coatings” customization feature for the sci-fi shooter. But some part of the Halo playerbase was expecting to have seen and learned more about the game at this point.

Halo community manager John Junyszek has responded to a fan on Twitter who said Microsoft has been “turtling up” in regards to Halo Infinite. Junyszek said the news that Microsoft has shared so far about Halo Infinite might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but he doesn’t accept the idea that Microsoft is hiding Halo Infinite away.

“I would disagree on the turtling comment,” Junyszek said. “We just explained what coatings are, showed off two new renders, and followed up with clarifications here on Twitter. Yes, this may be different news that you might have hoped for, but it certainly isn’t turtling.”

This is not the first time that Junyszek has addressed “turtling” in particular. In August, he said 343 would share more details on Halo Infinite when it could, adding that “the plan is definitely not to turtle.”

The newest announcement of the new “coating” system for weapon, armor, and player skins was met with criticism by some fans, including about the implications for microtransactions. The first of the new coatings have been announced as exclusives to GameStop shoppers and people who enjoy sugary snacks, and 343 has admitted that this is not ideal.

Given that it has been five years since Halo 5 was released in 2015, Halo fans are understandably eager to see and learn more about Halo Infinite, especially after the delay. Halo Infinite was lined up to be the Xbox Series X’s marquee launch title before Microsoft delayed it due in part to complications related to COVID-19.

The game currently has no release date in 2021, but Xbox Game Pass subscribers will get it at no extra cost on Xbox and PC. Additionally, the multiplayer element is free so everyone can try it. While Halo Infinite is releasing on Xbox Series X and S, it will also come to Xbox One as well.

While Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition will be enhanced in many ways on both Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, only the Series X will support ray tracing.

Announced by Capcom, both versions will still support high frame rates up to 120 fps, enhanced 3D audio, reduced loading times, the Legendary Dark Knight difficulty, Turbo Mode, and a playable Vergil.

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Ray tracing, which is possible on the Xbox Series S, will be available for Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition on Xbox Series X as a downloadable title update, and even though it won’t be supported on Series S, Capcom did leave a bit of hope for the future, stating that it is “just now scratching the surface of what they can do” and that it is “eager to continue exploring the full capabilities of Xbox Series X/S in the future.”

So, while Devil May Cry 5: Special Edition will be the same in most cases on the next-gen consoles, only the Xbox Series X and the PlayStation 5 will support 4K and ray tracing.

Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition will be available at the launch of both Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5, and even though PS4 and Xbox One users won’t get many of these upgrades, they will still be able to play as Vergil via paid DLC.

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

Star Wars: Squadrons is also celebrating the launch of season 2 of The Mandalorian this week with some free DLC that includes a dashboard decoration of Baby Yoda/The Child.

Announced as part of Star Wars’ Mando Mondays, The Mandalorian Supply Drop will arrive on October 28 and also includes Razor Crest Gunship and Beskar Ingot Hanging Flair, IG-Series Assassin Droid Dashboard Flair, and Blurrg and Bounty Holograms.

The “Mysterious Creature,” as Star Wars: Squadrons calls The Child, can only be used by a New Republic starfighter, but both factions will receive one hologram, one decal, one dashboard flair, and one hanging flair, giving players a total of eight new cosmetics to unlock.

This welcome move is a bit of a surprising one following EA Motive’s previous statements about how, while also saying “never say never,” that there are no plans for more content for Star Wars: Squadrons.

However, that very well could mean we won’t see any substantial, paid DLC in the future, but fans may be surprised with new, free cosmetics like these.

The Mandalorian’s second season will premiere on October 30 on Disney+, and you can find out when each new episode arrives with our release schedule guide.

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For more on Mando Mondays, check out the Limited Edition Mandalorian Xbox Controller and Hasbro’s Mandalorian Retro Collection figures.

 

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Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

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

Ghost of Tsushima is one of the best-looking games on the PS4, thanks to both the developers’ full mastery of the PS4 and some absolutely beautiful art direction. Now, the game’s lead concept artist has given fans a breakdown of some of the art behind the game, and how the team at Sucker Punch realized some of these concepts in-game.

In a post on the PlayStation Blog, lead concept artist Ian Jun Wei Chiew has shared many of the images created during the development of Ghost of Tsushima, and talked through its inspirations and how it translated into the game. “We began by exposing ourselves to as much research and content as we could on the Kamakura era, Japanese culture, old samurai films and the Invasion of Tsushima, which led to the final designs of our characters, outfits, landscape, architecture, etc.,” he writes.

“A lot of the references we gathered were from museum exhibits and photos taken by teams that the studio sent out to Tsushima as well as the main island of JapanThe artist digs into the design processes around each character, too. For Jin, he writes, “we needed someone that can fulfill the fantasy of hiding in the shadows, but still having a look that feels like it was inspired by some of his samurai armor and aesthetic.”

The environments, meanwhile, are a mix of realistic and stylized: “we always had to think about what to keep historically accurate, and when to break away.”

We’ve rounded up some of our favorites from the blog below, but it’s worth reading over the full thing to see more and read Ian Jun Wei Chiew’s thoughts on each part of the process.

Gallery

An artbook for the game, The Art of Ghost of Tsushima, releases on December 1. You can preorder on Amazon.

Ghost of Tsushima recently received a major update, which added a co-op mode to the game. Sucker Punch is currently seeking writers with an interest in Japan, so it’s likely that we’ll see more from Tsushima.