Author: Trafficblast

Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord is launching on Steam Early Access on March 30, a day earlier than expected. The sequel, developed by TaleWorlds Entertainment, has been eight years in the making.

On top of releasing a day early, Mount & Blade II will also be available for 10% off during the first two weeks of sale. Anyone who owns a previous title in the series will be eligible for an additional 10% off in select digital stores, too. The reason for this? The coronavirus, of course. “It might seem like a pretty ideal time to release a game (after all, everyone is at home right!?),” the studio said in a blog post. “But we know that the current situation has placed a lot of people in a difficult position when it comes to balancing their finances and risking their health,” so it decided to introduce some discounts.

TaleWorlds has recently been working on the game remotely, but that hasn’t slowed down development. “We have tried to make the best of a bad situation and thankfully, with the help of our IT team, have been able to continue work on the project from home. This has come with its own challenges of course, but we are still very grateful and lucky to work in an industry where it is possible to work remotely, which we know isn’t the case for many of you.”

As for what’s included in the Early Access release, there are Custom Battle and Campaign modes available in single player. The Campaign is a new addition for the series, introducing a more structured approach to the traditional Mount & Blade experience. It blends a storyline and key events with the more familiar sandbox gameplay, giving you clear goals and objectives to complete on the path to victory. You can always opt to ignore the campaign missions, though, and plot your own rise to power instead.

Character creation is still a key aspect as you build a backstory and venture out onto the continent of Calradia, hiring companions, raising warbands and armies, conquering towns and castles, progressing your character’s skills and equipment, and plenty more. In terms of multiplayer, there are four different game modes to play: Skirmish, Captain, Team Deathmatch, and Siege. TeamWorlds says it will continue to introduce new features, game modes, and other additional content to multiplayer throughout Mount & Blade II’s time in Early Access.

While there’s a lot of content to get stuck into right away, there will still be bugs and glitches, balancing issues, missing features, and placeholder content. If you want to see everything the game has to offer, TaleWorld’s suggests holding off on buying it until the full release. If you want an early taste and the opportunity to provide feedback, however, you can hop straight into Mount & Blade II’s battlefields next week.

Gearbox has been steadily raising overall power level of Borderlands 3 with events that offer more generous drops and level cap increases. Still, you may be missing out on some high-level gear, so the developer has made it easier than ever to get great loot for a limited time. Until April 2, you can just buy it.

A “Door Busters Mini Event” in the game adds legendary weapons and items to vending machines. That applies across all types of gear, so you can get legendary mods and shields from med vending machines, and legendary grenades from ammo vendors, in addition to legendary guns.

Some legendary items are one-of-a-kind collectibles with special properties, which you can usually tell if the name of the gear makes some kind of reference to another piece of Borderlands lore or even other video games. Others are just super-charged versions of epic or rare guns with stronger stats or more modifiers. Note that some special legendaries are locked to story missions, and as a result probably can’t be found in vending machines. As usual for vending machines, the gear offered will be roughly matched to your current level, so the higher your stats the better loot you can buy.

This comes just after the release of the latest DLC, which came with a level cap increase. That increased the level cap to 57, which allows you to unlock two capstone skills. Gearbox has said it expects this to significantly raise the overall power level of players who are making their way through endgame content like Mayhem levels. With this limited-time event, you’ll be able to get some shiny new guns to match.

All Chinese cinemas have reportedly been ordered to close their doors again, just a short while after some venues were permitted to resume trading after being suspended for months.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, China’s national film bureau issued a decree to exhibitors on Friday, ordering all cinemas to shutdown while offering no reason for the policy change or a timeframe for reopening. However, the outlet reports that “industry insiders instantly began speculating that the government was worried about a potential second wave of coronavirus infections.”

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Approximately 600 small venues out of the country’s 70,000 movie theatres reopened over the course of the past week after initially shutting all of their cinemas in January, as a lockdown measure to help prevent the further spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).

Earlier in the week, China Film Group unveiled a plan to attract customers and fill seats with a programme of blockbuster films, including the Avengers franchise, James Cameron’s Avatar, and Christopher Nolan’s Inception and Interstellar, making the reversal on the country’s decision to gradually reopen their complexes even more surprising to stakeholders.

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“This second closure will not be a one- or two-week issue,” an executive at a major exhibition company told the publication. “They are going to be even more cautious when they attempt to reopen again — and this will set us back a long time.”

Elsewhere, production and distribution executives reportedly expressed their concerns over the limited options available to studios, as regulators have apparently discouraged the sale of unreleased feature films to local streaming services in order to boost the country’s theatrical exhibition infrastructure with new titles once everything is back up and running.

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While more and more movie theatres have been forced to temporarily shutdown as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, streaming services have moved even further into the spotlight, as consumers have been looking for alternative ways to connect with their friends without having to leave the comfort of their sofas.

Some have turned to Netflix Party, a Google Chrome extension that allows multiple users to stream a Netflix show or movie together at the same time, however, a recent surge in online traffic has presented new concerns over bandwidth strain. As a result, Netflix and YouTube have committed to defaulting streaming quality to standard definition across Europe.

For a list of recommendations on how best to help, and stay safe, during the Coronavirus pandemic, please read our resource guide.

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

Pokemon Go developer Niantic has had to cancel a number of this month’s events due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but the Psychic Spectacular is going on as planned. The event is now underway, and it makes it easier to find Psychic Pokemon–and a new Shiny–for a limited time.

Until 10 PM local time on March 30, Psychic-type monsters such as Wobbuffet, Girafarig, Bronzor, and others will appear more frequently in the wild. You’ll also have your first chance to find a Shiny Baltoy, as well as two new Gen 5 Psychic Pokemon: Solosis and Gothita. The former will be more common during the day, while the latter will appear at night.

In addition to the increased wild spawn rates, you’ll be able to get special event-related Field Research tasks from PokeStops. You’re also more likely to hatch the following Psychic Pokemon from 2 km eggs throughout the event:

• Abra
• Drowzee
• Ralts
• Spoink
• Baltoy
• Wynaut
• Beldum
• Gothita

In other Pokemon Go news, Niantic is soon rolling out a handy new feature for the game called Today View. This tab will be located in the same menu as your Field Research and Special Research tasks, and it will display ongoing and upcoming in-game events and personal stats such as your daily streaks, making it easier to keep track of everything that’s happening in the game.

Landorus, the third and final member of the Forces of Nature trio, is also coming to the game soon. The Legendary Pokemon is slated to invade Raids beginning March 31, although it remains to be seen if the COVID-19 pandemic will affect Niantic’s plans. Another Legendary, Lugia, was supposed to return to the game for a special Raid event earlier this month, but Niantic had to cancel that. Instead, Cobalion will remain in the game a little longer as a Go Battle League reward.

Bandai Namco’s team-based competitive action game Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker has added a brand-new DLC character on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One–and it’s available right now.

Hokage Naruto from the Boruto series is Shinobi Striker’s 20th add-on character and the ninth piece of content in the game’s Season Pass 2. This grown-up version of Naruto can be acquired as an individual purchase for $4 USD or by picking up Shinobi Striker’s second Season Pass, which retails for $30 USD on all digital storefronts. You can check out Hokage Naruto’s reveal trailer below.

Hokage Naruto isn’t the only DLC character you get for grabbing Shinobi Striker’s Season Pass 2. In addition to him, the second Season Pass comes bundled with eight more characters, including Zabuza Momochi, Eight Tails Jinchuriki Killer Bee, grown-up Sasuke Uchiha from Boruto, Might Guy, and more. Of course, each character can be purchased individually for $4 USD.

Capcom has announced the Resident Evil Resistance beta has been postponed on PlayStation 4 and Steam due to technical issues. However, the Xbox One version is unaffected and currently available for download.

Announced on Twitter, Capcom did not offer any kind of timetable for when the Resistance beta would be available. With the Resident Evil 3 Remake set to release on April 3, hopefully it won’t be too long.

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Resident Evil Resistance is a multiplayer horror survival mode, where four players face off against a Mastermind. The four players’ goal is simple – survive – while the Mastermind is responsible for setting a variety of obstacles and traps to try and prevent survival.

Thus far, there are four confirmed Masterminds for Resistance – Daniel Fabron, Annette Birkin, Alex Wesker, and Ozwell E. Spencer. Each Mastermind will have their own unique set of abilities, giving some variety to the role. Additionally, Capcom has confirmed there will be both a prison and casino themed map available at launch.

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Resistance is part of the Resident Evil 3 Remake which was announced in December. The game will feature protagonist Jill Valentine and the infamous antagonist Nemesis. Not only will he be scarier than ever, but he is trying to eliminate members of the Special Tactics And Rescue Service team, more commonly referred to as STARS.

A demo of the Resident Evil 3 Remake released on March 17 and is currently available for download in your platform’s store. In the meantime, be sure to check out everything we know about the Resident Evil 3 Remake guide for a full rundown ahead of its April release. However, Capcom has issued a warning to European players that the physical edition may receive a slight delay.

Andrew Smith is a freelance contributor with IGN. Follow him on Twitter @_andrewtsmith.

The inclusion of early microtransactions in video games seemed, at first, to teach players to regret spending money, according to Valve’s Robin Walker. But it doesn’t need to be that way.

In this month’s episode of IGN Unfiltered, Ryan McCaffrey sat down with Chris Remo and Robin Walker from Valve to talk about microtransactions, Team Fortress 2, Half-Life: Alyx, the mystique of Valve, and much more.

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Since it first released, Team Fortress 2 has undergone massive changes, especially from a monetization standpoint. When asked about Team Fortress 2, the current state of microtransactions in the video game industry, and where things are headed, Walker said, “Team Fortress [was], in a lot of ways, our learning tool… It seemed like microtransactions should be a customer-positive thing… if we’re saying, ‘How about, instead of you giving us the money up-front, before you know [if] the game’s any good, how about you play it and, if you like it, you can give us some money?’

“We were also hitting a point in Team Fortress where, bizarrely, we would get emails from fans saying, ‘I’ve been playing this game for four years… Do you have a donation tip-jar or something?’ At the point where fans are mailing our corporation asking if we have a donation tip-jar because they want to give us extra money… it’s a strange thing.”

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These sorts of letters seemingly run counter to the perception of customers, Walker says. “I think people have this really, weirdly adversarial relationship with customers, where they think customers fundamentally don’t want to give, don’t want to spend money, they just want everything for free, whereas we always think of it as; people want to spend their money on the things they like…

“I, personally, really enjoy spending money on the bands, and the artists, and the movie-makers and so-on, who build things that I love. I wish I could give them more if it meant that they’d make more.

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“So, to us, Team Fortress was the place where we tried to figure out how to do that. We know we’ve got a bunch of people who are enjoying this, and they’re mailing us and telling us that they’re enjoying it… it seems like they would prefer spending their money on this than another game and so we were trying to figure out, ‘What is it that they like? What would they want?'”

As for the industry at large, Walker was surprised opinions solidified on microtransactions so quickly. “I think it took us years, and we’re still learning an enormous amount… I think that was the other thing that was… shocking to us at the time: the industry seemed to have already decided it understood how microtransactions worked.

“This was… 2011 or something. There was microtransaction stuff going on in web games and stuff like that. There was all this stuff written about how you’ve got to add friction to your game, and then people can pay to take it away… there was all this sort of stuff and it seemed really unlikely to us, given how young microtransactions were at that time, or even just service games in general… that the industry had already figured out the ‘optimal’ way.

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“We felt like everything that was being done then was, basically, teaching players to regret every bit of a dollar they spent. You would play a game and just regret it. So… we thought, ‘There’s got to be a way to do this. We’ve got to be able to figure out a way to do this where this is an addition that people enjoy and want. That came with a set of things around… making sure that… there was an enormous amount of the game that you still got for free or… with Dota… it’s entirely cosmetic, none of it affects the core game, itself.”

Walker wrapped up the topic by saying that the progress Valve has made in making microtransactions something people want to engage in, instead of something they feel they are forced to engage in, has allowed the company to make games like Counter-Strike and Dota 2 completely free.

Catch up on every single episode of IGN Unfiltered here so you can hear from the best and brightest minds in the video game industry, such as Hugo Martin and Marty Stratton (id), Stig Asmussen (Respawn), Sam Lake (Remedy), Bonnie Ross (343 Industries), Ted Price (Insomniac), and a whole lot more.

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Brian Barnett writes news, features, wiki guides, deals posts, and much more for IGN. You can get your fix of Brian’s antics on Twitter and Instagram (@Ribnax).

Over the past couple of weeks, a bunch of publishers have been giving away free games to help keep people occupied while social distancing. While most of the current freebies are for PC, there are a handful of great mobile games up for grabs, too, including one of the very best puzzle games in recent years: Monument Valley 2. Normally selling for $5, Monument Valley 2 is completely free right now on iOS and Android. Developer Ustwo Games announced the promotion with an adorable video clip and message to fans on Twitter.

A sequel to the 2014 breakout hit, Monument Valley 2 has a wealth of excellent maze puzzles that play with your senses thanks to optical illusions and seemingly insurmountable obstacles. It also has a greater emphasis on narrative than its predecessor. In Monument Valley 2, you control Ro and her young child on a journey about personal growth and the sacred bond between mother and daughter.

You don’t need to play the first game to enjoy and appreciate Monument Valley 2. Though the subtle ways the two games connect are more poignant if you have knowledge of the original, the maze puzzles themselves are enough to recommend Monument Valley 2. Plus, you can’t beat free.

Monument Valley 2 is just one of a handful of iOS and Android games that are currently free right now. Strategy fans will definitely want to pick up Lara Croft Go, the turn-based puzzle game from Square Enix that is also free for a limited time on iOS and Android. If you’re looking for more free games to the pass the time this weekend, we’ve rounded up every free game across all platforms.