Author: Trafficblast

PS5 exclusive and February PlayStation Plus game Destruction AllStars is a car combat game filled with several modes designed to let you cause as much destruction as possible. It’s also designed to let players get out of their cars, and run around on foot as one of a number of different hero characters. Keeping both types of gameplay fun, connected, and meaningful was a key component of Lucid Games’ development on AllStars, and it’s something that’s been core to the new game since its earliest days.

“The characters were in from month one of development,” Game Director Colin Berry told IGN in an interview ahead of AllStars’ launch.

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And to create those heroes, who were most recently highlighted in AllStars’ State of Play presentation, Lucid and Sony XDEV actually wanted to make these characters from around the world respectful and authentic to where they were based.

“We contacted a bunch of artists from around the world who don’t work in video games, [people who work in] comic book, graphic novels, and so on. And we gave them a really simple brief of the game and what we thought these characters would be like in terms of personality,” Sony XDEV Senior Producer John MacLaughlin told IGN. “We contacted so many different people from around the world; South America, Africa, Japan, the Middle East, Russia, Eastern Europe, and we got this wild, eclectic bunch of art through with these characters.”

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And those concepts found their way into the game thanks to the many diverse artists – key aspects of character designs like Genesis, who has blades instead of legs, came from the imagination of the artists rather than as mandates from the development team.

And while players will spend plenty of time behind the wheel as these characters, one of AllStars’ unique hooks is letting players jump out of their cars and run around on foot. Able to pull off unique hero moves, some impressive parkour, and more, playing as these characters is integral to the experience, and pretty much always was throughout development. Though it definitely took some tuning to get the on-foot gameplay right.

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“For quite a while in the project, we had a really good sense of what the play is like in a vehicle. We want the vehicles to be super agile, even the heavy ones are more agile than you’d see in a racing game,” Berry explained. “Now we’ve got characters [and] we can’t just have them vulnerable because then it’s going to be no fun. But we can’t have them too powerful. We’re not going to give them rocket launches because that’s a completely different game. So we need them to be these hyper-real athletic characters.”

And as the team discovered how to weave the character and vehicle gameplay together so they went hand-in-hand, it helped the team also understand how to build arenas that would suit both types of gameplay without ever letting one get too far away from the other in the multiplayer-focused experience.

[poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=%E2%80%9CWe%20didn’t%20want%20to%20separate%20the%20characters%20from%20the%20vehicle%20too%20much.%22″]“We didn’t want to separate the characters from the vehicle too much. We didn’t want skyscrapers, even though that could be cool to climb to the top of and dive into the arena, because while you’re climbing a skyscraper, climbing’s quite solitary,” Berry explained. “If you’ve got 16 characters and four of them are out of the vehicles and they’re climbing up a skyscraper, they’re not really involved in a multiplayer game at that stage.”

Berry explained how, while the early test versions of levels could be quite large and quite tall, Lucid did work to scale the arenas into more focused combat zones to keep players, both in and out of vehicles, as connected to the combat at all times as possible.

Players can see this for themselves now, as Destruction AllStars is available on PS5 and is included in this month’s PS Plus lineup. For more on the new PS5 exclusive, learn about why Destruction AllStars’ delay helped set it up for a PS Plus launch, and stay tuned to IGN for more on the new game.

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Jonathon Dornbush is IGN’s Senior News Editor, host of Podcast Beyond!, and PlayStation lead. Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush.

In the Heights and Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu is set to direct the film adaptation of Wicked, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Chu is replacing Stephen Daldry (director on The Crown, Billy Elliot), who exited the project back in October after scheduling changes conflicted with Daldry’s commitments.

Chu departed from his role as director on Disney Plus’ Willow sequel series in early January.

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The Wicked film, based on the hugely popular Broadway musical that itself is a retelling of the Wizard of Oz from the point-of-view of the witches, was originally set to release on Dec 22, 2021. Universal has since delayed the movie to an indeterminate date due to ongoing COVID-19 closures for theaters and production sets.

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Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/man behind the curtain for IGN.

The Dark Aether storyline may be a product of its predecessors, but in a new look at the upcoming Firebase Z map for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, the Zombies team explained how this part of the Call of Duty universe will be coming into its own.

Firebase Z, the map announced last year, is set in Vietnam, and players will be able to explore two separate areas. One is, of course, the firebase where scientists and soldiers carried out experiments and mined dark aether. The other is a village where the scientists slept and did their research. Because of all the scientific equipment lying around, players will be able to interact with some things mechanically, though we’ll have to wait until the map drops to see what all is possible.

The way you played the game’s previous Die Machine mode might not translate into how you take on Firebase Z. Lead level designer Anthony Saunders described the flow and level design of Firebase Z as similar to the Moon, in that you start in the village and eventually take a teleporter over to the firebase itself. Once you arrive at the outpost, there will be a hub of sorts with different paths you can choose from to navigate the area.

New rounds called Assault Rounds have also been added to Firebase Z’s gameplay loop. Assault Rounds will ask you to hold your ground and survive, while still requiring a bit of movement and fluidity. Managing your artillery and napalm strikes for crowd control will be key. But that’s not all you’ll have to worry about while taking on the base.

The Mimic is also making its debut in Zombies. It’s an ambush-style enemy that disguises itself as ordinary objects and then pounces when a potential victim comes close enough. With multiple tentacles and a nasty set of teeth, this creature will do a number on you if you come within its range. Beware high-level items and equipment that have gone unclaimed.

Don’t worry though, the Zombies team hasn’t left you defenseless. A new gun called the RAI-K84 is also coming to the game, and packs a wallop all its own. It’s composed of AK-74 parts and experimental technology, based on a Russian prototype weapon that never actually saw the light of day.

All of this is planned to culminate in an explosive expansion to the Dark Aether story, and to let players and writers really explore the character of Samantha Maxis. To see how the next installment of the Dark Aether storyline pans out, be sure to check out the free Zombies update dropping on February 4.

EA Sports has rolled out a new Instagram effect that allows fans to get involved with the drama and excitement of predicting a winner for this year’s Super Bowl.

The Madden Prediction effect created by EA Sports cycles through a series of scores for the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers before settling on a final score, with confetti raining down to cap it off. On my first try, I got a score of 56-3 in favor of the Chiefs. I think they have a good chance of winning the game, but that margin seems excessive. It’s just a silly game, after all, and you’ll probably get something different and potentially more believable.

The whole idea, anyway, is to get people to share their results and convince their friends to do the same to drum up interest for EA’s eventual official Madden Super Bowl LV prediction. That has yet to be released, but with the Super Bowl coming up very soon, it should happen any day.

Super Bowl LV takes place on Sunday, February 7, and there will be lots of advertisements, commercials, and trailers. Plenty of brands have already released their ads–watch them here.

In other news, Madden NFL 21 just got a big update on console and PC. It fixes a number of bugs and makes a series of gameplay changes–you can check out the full patch notes here.

The Madden series continues to expand as well, with Madden NFL 21 just recently launching on the Google Stadia streaming service. The game’s arrival is not impacted by Google’s recent announcement that it’s closing two Stadia studios.

Outside of the Madden series, EA also just recently announced that it’s reviving its college football series, but the NCAA is not involved so there will be no player names or likenesses.

In recent years, LEGO has released two gorgeous buildable sets based on Batman, the 1989 film by Tim Burton. The first set, released in 2019, was the Batmobile, and it’s still available to purchase. Then, last year, LEGO released a Batwing set, though it was initially only available to LEGO Store VIP members. The iconic flying vehicle has finally made its way to Amazon. You can grab it for yourself right now.

LEGO Batman 1989 Sets

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The LEGO Batwing is comprised of 2363 pieces. It has a removable canopy, with all kinds of details hidden in the interior. It also comes with three minifigures. The first is Batman, outfitted as he appeared in the suit worn by Michael Keaton. Next is an exclusive figure of Joker, clad in his mime outfit from the film. Last is another exclusive-to-this-set minifigure: Boombox Goon (aka Lawrence). Little-known fact: it was illegal to make a movie in the 1980s without someone holding a boombox.

The finished Batwing set is made to be displayed, so it comes with a mounting bracket you can use to hang it on your wall. It also includes an angled stand so you can set it on your desk or shelf, plus a nameplate that presents Batwing facts like wingspan, maximum speed, engines, and weapons.

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Those who want to pick up the LEGO Batmobile as well will get a great-looking pair of iconic vehicles from the first Burton Batman film. The Batmobile set is made up of 3,306 pieces and comes with minifigures of Batman, Joker, and Vicki Vale. It features a dual-minifigure cockpit with a slide-open cover, as well as two pop-up machine guns. It also comes with a buildable display stand, plus an informative nameplate.

Overall, these are two fantastic sets for Batman fans of a certain age (or any age, really). Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to hop off and listen to some Prince.

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Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert at IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.

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When examining why BioWare’s Mass Effect 2 is so beloved, it’s in large part due to its iconic cast. Almost every character in the game has a legion of fans, so the prospect of learning how they were conceptualized is incredibly exciting. And that’s exactly what the latest episode of Audio Logs does. Not only that: The episode digs into the characters who didn’t make it into the game.

In the video, Mac Walters, who has been working on the franchise from the very start and is responsible for creating and writing a number of characters, shows GameSpot never-seen-before documents which catalogue ideas that BioWare had for making up its Dirty Dozen cast. Outside of the developers who worked on the game, very few people have seen concepting documents and, even Walters himself hadn’t looked at them for a few years, so you’ll get the inside story on everything from the creation of Thane to how The Princess Bride influenced the team, and how certain characters are the amalgamation of multiple ideas.

On top of that, Walters explains the process of creating loyalty missions and, ultimately, crafting that ambitious final Suicide Mission that effectively was sending characters to die, if you didn’t play your cards right. This episode is a must-watch for fans of the Mass Effect franchise and the perfect way to get hyped for the upcoming release of Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, which releases in May. For more on that, check out our rundown on all the changes in Legendary Edition.

The Mass Effect franchise is brimming with memorable characters, but there are a few who didn’t make it into Shepard’s story but are fascinating in their own right. In a new episode of Audio Logs, BioWare’s Mac Walters talked about some of the ideas that didn’t make the cut, including a Techno-Hippie, among others.

Speaking to GameSpot, Walters said that, during development, BioWare took a “there are no bad ideas” stance for coming up with pitches. This, as a result, led to some interesting submissions.

“There’s a lot of really fun characters in here that eventually didn’t make it for one reason or another,” Walter said, referencing a never-seen-before character ideas document that was shown to GameSpot. “Although I’m sure now that they’re going to be out in the world, people will be clamoring for some of them, like the, you know, the crazy Quarian King.

“I honestly can’t remember whose idea that was,” he continued.. “It feels like it was probably Drew’s [Karpyshyn], but yeah, this idea of someone like the crazy Irishman from Braveheart, you know, kind of just a fun, wild, bombastic character … Oh. And, and of course we had a Techo Hippie at one point anyway.”

Although many characters didn’t make it into Mass Effect 2, aspects of them would be carried forward, according to Walters. The Mad Bomber, for example, was conceived as a demolitions expert and, although they weren’t in the final game, the concept morphed into the convict, who fans will know as Jack. Aspects of the Mad Bomber also informed the design of Zaeed, a mercenary with a penchant for abrupt violence.

Check out the full episode of Audio Logs to learn more about some other cut concepts. You’ll also get to see a bit of the internal documents used for character concepting, and hear how BioWare put together the Suicide Mission.

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition has been given a release date of May 14. The package brings together all three games in the series but updates them with improved visuals and controls, and–in the case of the first entry–even design improvements. You can read more in our rundown on the changes in Mass Effect: Legendary Edition.