Author: Trafficblast

Call Of Duty League Championship Will Be Held Online

Activision has announced that the upcoming Call of Duty League post-season schedule–including the Championship–will be held as a virtual tournament, not an in-person LAN event as has been the case in the past. The announcement is not a big surprise, as the regular season took place online due to the COVID-19 crisis. With the pandemic still gripping the USA and other parts of the world, this year’s event has moved to an online-only setup.

“Due to continuing health risks associated with COVID-19 and our collective priority focus on protecting the safety of our teams, players, league staff, and partner personnel, the remainder of the season will be held online,” Activision said in a news release. “This decision was made with great care, communication, and consideration over the course of many discussions.”

To support this change, the League is giving all competitors a “universal camera setup” that will be switched on for the entirety of matches. This will give League officials the ability to ensure players are not keeping things above the line. “The cameras will provide visibility for league officials to view and check each competitor’s console, controller, and monitor as needed,” Activision said. “Once a match reaches an official ready check status, players will need to be seated and on camera.”

Since the start of the online-only tournament this year, teams have had the ability to veto servers if they don’t feel comfortable playing on them. For the post-season, teams will be able to veto a server five times for each match, which is more than during the regular season. “By adding more options, we have increased the probability of getting the best possible server for both teams,” Activision said. “Additionally, with more servers in play for each match, there will also be more fallback options if there’s an unexpected issue.”

Finally, Activision said it is beefing up its production, technical, and officiating teams to try to be better prepared “to handle any and all issues that might crop up in an online competition environment.”

More details on this new online setup for the Call of Duty League championships will be announced soon.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone remain very popular, with the battle royale game just recently releasing its big Season 4 Reloaded update. A new Call of Duty game is coming this year, and it’s rumored to be a Black Ops title, but Activision has yet to announce it. That’s notable because this is the first time in more than a decade that Activision has not announced the year’s new Call of Duty game in May or June.

Now Playing: COD: Warzone Bunker Locations And How To Open Them

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

Lord Of The Rings Show And Other New Zealand Projects Cleared To Start Filming Again

The New Zealand government has given the green light for entertainment projects to begin filming again in the country, and this includes Amazon’s big-budget Lord of the Rings TV show.

Variety reports that The Lord of the Rings show, in addition to Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop and other shows and movies, have been cleared to start or resume production in the country after COVID-19 shutdowns in March.

The New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment made the announcement recently. It comes after the local government already cleared James Cameron’s Avatar sequels to return to work. The TV show Power Rangers Beast Morphers and the movies The Greatest Beer Run Ever and Sweet Tooth are getting back to work in New Zealand, too.

In its announcement about resuming Hollywood productions in New Zealand, the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment said more than 3,000 jobs will be created and $400 million will be injected in the economy.

For the Lord of the Rings show, the report states that filming itself has not yet begun again, but pre-production has ramped back up.

New Zealand reported three new cases of COVID-19 on July 5, but none of them were locally transmitted. In total, New Zealand has reported 1,183 cases of coronavirus, which compares to nearly 3 million cases in the USA.

Now Playing: Free PS4 PlayStation Plus Games For July 2020 Revealed

Top New Video Games Releasing On Switch, PS4, Xbox One, And PC This Week — July 5-11, 2020

New Releases highlights some of the hottest video games launching each week. This episode is bringing some dark and mysterious sequels, with Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise and Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2. There’s also a double dose of racing thanks to F1 2020 and NASCAR Heat 5. Finally, console gamers can get their hands on CrossCode.

CrossCode — July 9

Available on: PS4, Xbox One, Switch

CrossCode got its PC release some time ago, but now console gamers can try out this 16-bit action-RPG. It’s got more than 120 enemies to battle, 30-plus bosses to beat, seven unique dungeons to explore, and over 100 quests to complete. What’s more, Xbox Game Pass members can jump in on day one.

More Coverage:

Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing In Disguise — July 10

Available on: Switch

Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise
Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise

Deadly Premonition 2 is considered both a sequel and a prequel, which fits right in with the game’s Twin Peaks-esque zaniness. Agent York will be traveling around via skateboard, which you can customize. Expect a good helping of mini-games as you solve mysteries around town too.

More Coverage:

Bloodstained: Curse Of The Moon 2 — July 10

Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Switch

Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2
Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2

The surprise sequel was only recently announced, but Curse of the Moon fans will be able to take control of swordsman Zangetsu again this week. He’s joined by three new playable characters: Hachi, Robert, and Dominique from Ritual of the Night. They all have unique abilities you can use to access secret areas in each level.

F1 2020 — July 10

Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Stadia

F1 2020

Real-life F1 events have been canceled or postponed this year, but you can race on all 22 of those tracks in this game. There’s no story mode, but you can race through various series of different lengths. Of course, you can race against others online too.

More Coverage:

NASCAR Heat 5 — July 10

Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC

NASCAR Heat 5

The most notable change from NASCAR Heat 4 is the addition of single-car races, letting you test out tracks and set record times. Heat 5 also includes improvements to the pit stop, paint booth, and did-not-finish mechanics. And in case you’re wondering, driver Tony Stewart is featured on the game’s box art.

July is only just getting started, and the next episode of New Releases has a whole bunch more games to talk about. We’ll be taking a look at the PC port of Death Stranding, the reimagined Story of Season: Friends of Mineral Town, and more. GameSpot’s Play For All charity event will also continue this month.

Now Playing: Top New Video Games Out On Switch, PS4, Xbox One, And PC This Week — July 5-11, 2020

Mission: Impossible 7 And Other Films Will Resume Production In The UK Very Soon

Mission: Impossible 7 and other films with plans to shoot in the UK. As noted by The Hollywood Reporter, the UK government is making an exemption for some international blockbuster films with plans to shoot in the country, as long as individuals travelling to the country stay within “bubbled” work environments and do not interact outside of them.

Film productions around the world are currently closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. New Zealand has now allowed film productions to resume as the country continues to report no new cases a day, and while the UK is still seeing many new cases, precautions are being taken.

Oliver Dowden, the UK’s secretary of state for digital, culture, media, and sport, says that he has discussed plans directly with Mission: Impossible star and producer Tom Cruise, and plans are underway to ensure that filming can begin again soon, although cast and crew coming into the country will need to self-isolate before filming can start.

Mission: Impossible 7 has been delayed until November 2021 following these production issues. The film is set to bring back Eugene Kittridge, a character played by actor Henry Czerny in the very first Mission: Impossible film. The film and Mission: Impossible 8 are set to shoot back-to-back, but this could depend on what is possible going forward.

Jurassic Park: Dominion is also currently in the process of resuming filming, with producers having taken many steps to ensure the safety of cast and crew. Other filmmakers have not been so careful–the Michael Bay-produced Songbird has been blocked from filming by SAG-AFTRA.

This exemption will likely see The Batman return to production too, after shutting down in March.

Now Playing: Mission Impossible – Tom Cruise’s 10 Craziest Stunts From The Series

Sony Uses Many Robots To Make A New PS4 Every 30 Seconds

A new report from Nikkei’s Asian Review offers a behind-the-scenes look at Sony’s PlayStation manufacturing plant in Japan. One of the most notable takeaways is that the process of making a PlayStation console is now largely automated–that’s right, robots are building game consoles.

The report says this advanced automation allows the PlayStation manufacturing plant in Kisarazu to assemble one PlayStation 4 console every 30 seconds.

There are humans involved in the process in a limited capacity–two humans put bare motherboards on the assembly line, and two others package the final consoles once they’re made.

Sony uses Mitsubishi Electric’s robots for the actual assembly of the PS4 consoles. A total of 26 robots are assigned to making PlayStation consoles at the plant, and some processes involve two robots working together to complete tasks. One example is that one robot will hold a cable, while another will twist it.

The new, robot-heavy assembly line in Kisarazu was completed in 2018. This will presumably be the same manufacturing line that creates the PlayStation 5 consoles that are due for release later this year.

In addition to the new PS5, Sony will continue to manufacture PS4 and PS4 Pro models, along with the digital-only PS5 edition. Robots will make this process faster and more efficient. No one quoted in the story is worried that the robots will become sentient and overtake the factory despite outnumbering their human production counterparts by a significant margin.

Now Playing: Unreal Engine 5 – PlayStation 5 Real-Time Demo

The Last of Us 2’s Laura Bailey and Neil Druckmann Respond to Online Threats

Naughty Dog, the studio behind The Last of Us Part 2, as well as Abby’s voice actor Laura Bailey and director Neil Druckmann, have responded to the online harassment and death threats they have received following the game’s release.

Laura Bailey took to Twitter on July 3 to share some of the horrible messages she has received since The Last of Us Part 2 was released on June 19, 2020.

Alongside images of some of the responses, Bailey said “Man. I try to only post positive stuff on here… but sometimes this just gets a little overwhelming. I blacked out some of the words cuz, ya know, spoilers. Side note. Thank you to all the people sending me positive messages to balance it out. It means more than I can say.”

The response was overwhelmingly positive, and rightfully so, with many around the industry and beyond showing support for Bailey. So much so, she responded by thanking all those who did.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/12/the-last-of-us-part-2-review”]

“Damn,” Bailey said. “The amount of encouraging responses to this… I’ve always believed that good people far outweigh the bad. Thanks for reminding me of that today.”

Earlier today, July 5, Naughty Dog took to Twitter to condemn “any form of harassment or threats directed towards our team and cast.”

“Although we welcome critical discussion, we condemn any form of harassment or threats directed towards our team and cast. Their safety is our top priority, but we must all work together to root out this type of behavior and maintain a constructive and compassionate discourse.”

An hour later, The Last of Us Part 2’s director Neil Druckmann shared some of the hate he has been getting.

“You can love or hate the game and share your thoughts about it,” Druckmann said. “Unfortunately too many of the messages I’ve been getting are vile, hateful, & violent. Here are just a handful of them (feel it’s important to expose.) Trigger Warning: transphobic, homophobic, anti-Semitic, etc.”

[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”albumSlug=the-best-reviewed-games-of-2020&captions=true”]

The shining light in all this darkness is the support from those around the internet that has drowned out all this hatred. There is simply no place for it.

Unfortunately for all the haters, The Last of Us Part 2, besides setting a new gold standard for accessibility in games, has become the fastest-selling PlayStation 4 exclusive ever.

In our review of The Last of Us Part 2, in which we gave it a 10/10, we said it “is a masterpiece that evolves the gameplay, cinematic storytelling, and rich world design of the original in nearly every way.”

[poilib element=”accentDivider”]

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 who wishes people would be better. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

The World Ends With You Anime Will Premiere Next Year, Here’s The First Trailer

The World Ends With You, the cult-classic Nintendo DS 2008 RPG that received an updated Switch port in 2018, is getting an anime, and now the first trailer is here to show off its fantastic art style. The trailer, released as part of Anime Expo Live, reveals that this is a pretty direct adaptation of the anime.

The trailer has launched alongside an updated website, which reveals the character designs and plot details–albeit in Japanese. The series is set to debut next year.

You can watch the trailer for The World Ends With You: The Animation below. Production is being handled by Domerica and Shin-El Animation.

The art style should be familiar to fans of the game.

A story synopsis is also available on the trailer’s YouTube page, and just like the game it’s about a seven-day “Reaper’s Game” in Shibuya, Tokyo. The main character, Neku, has to team up with teenage girl Shiki to defeat monsters and uncover the truth behind the mysterious alternate dimension the characters find themselves in.

We still don’t know several details about this anime, including whether a dub is planned and how many episodes we can expect.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

Doom Eternal Devs Promise A Switch Release Date Soon And A Polished Port

Doom Eternal launched earlier this year on PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Stadia, but the promised Switch port has not yet come out. Considering the quality of the first game’s Switch port, expectations are high for the sequel, but a release date still hasn’t been announced. According to the game’s producers, that’s set to change soon.

In an interview with Gamereactor, picked up on by Nintendo Everything, Id Software’s Marty Stratton and Hugo Martin have promised that more news on the port, which is being handled by Switch port specialists Panic Button, will be revealed before too long. “We’ll be talking about the release date pretty soon,” Stratton said. “We haven’t announced that yet – I can’t do that now. It’s really made great progress.”

Stratton, who calls the other console versions of the game a “feather in the cap” of Id Software’s tech team, believes that the Switch version will be similarly impressive on Nintendo’s scaled-down hardware. “I think it’ll be every bit as good as Doom 2016 was, and I’m super excited for people to get it,” he says.

Stratton, who says that the first Doom port “felt a little bit like an experiment,” believes that the port of its sequel will hold up against other versions. “We’re really not watering it down at all,” he says. “People can expect the full experience.”

Doom remains one of the most impressive ports on Switch, and port studios are growing more confident. XCOM 2 Collection studio Virtuos recently said that just about any game from the current console generation can be made to work on the system.

Other AAA games to receive Switch ports recently include Catherine: Full Body, The Outer Worlds, Burnout Paradise Remastered, and BioShock: The Collection.

Now Playing: DOOM On Switch Video Review

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

BioShock Creator’s New Game Has “Some Weird Sh**” In It

Take-Two is reviving the BioShock franchise, but series creator, designer, and writer Ken Levine is not working on it. He’s instead working on a different, more experimental project within Take-Two. The project has been in the works for years, but it remains unannounced and largely a mystery.

Speaking at the GameLab 2020 event, Levine shared a few further teases about his new game, while he also offered a wider outlook on his thoughts on game design and production.

“I can’t really talk about the new game, but there’s some weird sh** in that game,” he said.

Also during the talk, Levine said he has come to his team with some “out-there” ideas. He’ll then workshop these ideas with the game’s producers to create something that’s more practically possible.

“If you don’t have people saying that sounds a little insane, you haven’t gone close enough to the edge,” Levine said. “The great stuff exists on the edge of over the top and just OK. So sometimes you gotta push past that point and make something outrageous and ridiculous, and then pull it back but if you don’t go to the outrageous and the ridiculous, you never know where that boundary is. You gotta sometimes go past it. You gotta go into the office and tell people things and they’re going to look at you like you’re insane. But then you sort of bring it back to something you can actually accomplish.”

Levine added: “I just want to keep the player going, going, going. I want to respect their time. I also don’t want to put things in front of them because if they find something, versus having it put in their face, they’re going to feel a lot more ownership over that moment.”

For Levine’s new game, which is in development at Ghost Story Games in the Boston area, Levine said he’s fortunate to be in a position where Take-Two isn’t forcing him to work on a strict schedule.

“Fortunately, I’m in a position now where … the kinds of deadlines I used to face when I was younger are different now. I’ve built up a little trust with Take-Two, and they sort of give me a little more leeway,” he said.

That being said, Levine stressed that he still worries about dates and timelines and budget issues. Deadlines and budgets are important because they can help a team hone in on a particular path, he said.

“I do worry about dates, and I do worry about times, because I do believe it’s important … If you get an infinite amount of time, infinite amounts of time and money, I think that can be a real problem for a creative director because that creates a kind of paralysis,” he said. “You want to have milestones you’re working towards, you want to have people around you who are reminding you of these things pointing out the tradeoffs. I never want to have a producer who says you can’t do that.”

As the president of Ghost Story Games, Levine is also responsible for the financial health of his company, and this is a further level of stress and concern, he said.

“If it’s not great it’s not worth it,” Levine explained. “You can save a lot of money by making not-great things, and then you’re not going to save a lot of money. You’re going to lose a lot of money. How you figure out that alchemy … that’s the job.”

Now Playing: Narrative Legos with Ken Levine – GDC 2014