Author: Trafficblast

Popular mobile puzzle game Puzzle & Dragons is getting a fortnight-long crossover with Capcom’s Devil May Cry franchise, with the event live now and running until July 26. The crossover features DMC characters including Dante, Nero, Trish, Lady, and more, and they’ll help players navigate three all-new DMC-themed dungeons.

The crossover, similar to Puzzle & Dragon’s Monster Hunter crossover, will see DMC characters available from the Egg Machine, including five 6-star characters and five 5-star characters. All players who log in to the event will get a free pull from the DMC-themed Egg Machine, with additional pulls able to be earned by playing the Devil May Cry Challenge Dungeon. The other event-specific dungeons include the Special Dungeon with five difficulty levels and the 3-player Multiplayer Dungeon.

Some of DMC’s signature weapons will also be making an appearance, including Dante’s sword Rebellion and dual pistols Ebony and Ivory, which will be available as Assist Evolution weapons.

While it may not be the DMC and Bayonetta crossover we’ve always wanted, the event is still a chance for DMC fans to play with their favorite characters in between main games, since Devil May Cry 5 released early last year. You can download Puzzle & Dragons from the iOS App Store or the Google Play Store.

Death Squared, an indie co-op game that launched in 2017 and has had more success on Switch than on other systems, has gone on sale on the Switch Eshop several times since launch. In a new report by Nintendo Life, SMG Studios CEO Ashley Ringrose has discussed how discounts have impacted the games sales, and has drawn an unexpected correlation between the game’s availability on another system and its sales on Switch.

As you might expect, the game’s biggest sales came when the price was discounted by 90%, but big discounts weren’t the only sales driver. The game joined Xbox Game Pass in February 2020, and Ringrose attributes this with a rise in Switch sales.

Ringrose says that they’ve seen a slight increase since the game went to Xbox’s service, which he think is because, while not everyone has an Xbox, “many people have a friend who does,” and have likely discovered it while gaming with them. “You get more coverage and mentions organically now as more people have access to the game,” he says.

Death Squared is far from the only game to see an increase in sales thanks to Game Pass. Descenders, a mountain bike game, saw a huge spike in sales after going to Xbox Game Pass, which has continued ever since–and as such, the game will remain on the service for a long time.

The full article at Nintendo Life is full of great insight from Ringrose. The game has sold over 150,000 copies on Switch, and close to 300,000 overall; Ringrose says that the game will be made free if they reach 250,000 sales on Nintendo’s platform.

Earlier this year, SMG Studios released Moving Out for Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and PC. It’s also available on Xbox Game Pass.

Call Of Duty: Mobile has launched its new season, The Forge, with a heap of new rewards for both free and premium players. The brand new Juggernaut game mode is also live this week, along with the classic Highrise map from Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

The Forge Battle Pass operates the same as previous seasons, with a free and a premium stream. The free stream will unlock the brand new DR-H assault rifle at tier 21, as well as the new Shrapnel perk. The premium stream will unlock new characters including the Wrecker skin for Tank Dempsey at tier 1 and Krueger’s Reaper skin at tier 50.

The new game mode for COD: Mobile is Juggernaut–a 1v5 mode where a squad of soldiers faces off against the high-tech XS1 Goliath. The asymmetrical multiplayer mode sees one player take control of the overpowered Goliath fighting machine against five other players.

Coming to COD: Mobile for the first time is Modern Warfare 2’s Highrise map–you can find it in the Featured section of Multiplayer for both standard and ranked play.

The new Solstice Awakening event starts on Thursday July 16, continuing for two weeks until July 30. Similar to last season’s Radiated Sector, the new event lets players play games and collect in-game currency to trade in for more loot.

For more COD, check out what’s new in Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone this week.

The Last of Us Part II‘s lead animator, Jeremy Yates, has shared another neat behind-the-scenes video showcasing how Naughty Dog captured footage of real-world animals for the game.

In this newest video, Yates shows off a recording session for the horse sequences. Naughty Dog brought in real horses and built a special stage, featuring a lot of rubber mats, to have the horses run around on. In this video, we see one of the horses vaulting over an obstacle and another galloping through the stage. Take a look for yourself:

Another picture shows Ellie actress Ashley Johnson and Dina actress Shannon Woodward riding a horse-shaped rig for additional motion capture. The rig was set up to look like a unicorn.

Before this, Yates showed off some footage of very cute dogs wearing motion-capture suits for their own recording sessions for The Last of Us 2.

For more fun The Last of Us Part II content, check out Blink 182’s Mark Hoppus covering his own music in-game, and actor Troy Baker’s take on who could play Joel in a movie.

Former MythBusters and White Rabbit Project host Grant Imahara has died, aged 49. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Imahara died suddenly after a brain aneurysm.

Former Mythbusters co-host Adam Savage has expressed via Twitter he’s at a loss over the news.

“I’ve been part of two big families with Grant Imahara over the last 22 years,” wrote Savage. “Grant was a truly brilliant engineer, artist and performer, but also just such a generous, easygoing, and gentle person. Working with Grant was so much fun. I’ll miss my friend.”

I’m at a loss. No words. I’ve been part of two big families with Grant Imahara over the last 22 years. Grant was a truly brilliant engineer, artist and performer, but also just such a generous, easygoing, and gentle PERSON. Working with Grant was so much fun. I’ll miss my friend.

— Adam Savage (@donttrythis) July 14, 2020

Imahara’s Mythbusters and White Rabbit Project co-host Kari Byron has also responded, posting a picture of herself alongside Imahara and fellow Mythbusters alum Tory Belleci.

Somedays I wish I had a time machine. ⁦@ToryBelleci⁩ ⁦@grantimahara⁩ pic.twitter.com/o9FRE2l16W

— Kari Byron (@KariByron) July 13, 2020

Imahara was best-known for his work on MythBusters, which he joined in 2005 and appeared in over 200 episodes. Imahara left the show in 2014 alongside his on-screen “Build Team” partners Byron and Belleci and the trio went on to host the shortlived Netflix Original Series White Rabbit Project in 2016.

Prior to his work on MythBusters Imahara spent nearly a decade working in visual effects for Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light and Magic division. Imahara worked as a model maker on a host of high-profile films, including The Lost World, Terminator 3, Galaxy Quest, and all three films in the Star Wars prequel trilogy.

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Luke is Games Editor at IGN’s Sydney office.

Sky: Children Of The Light, the social mobile game by Journey developers Thatgamecompany, has announced reaching a new milestone of 20 million downloads across Android and iOS, almost exactly a year on from launch.

Sky launched first to iOS on July 18 last year, and picked up Apple’s iPhone Game of the Year award in its first six months. The game later came to Android in April 2020.

Thatgamecompany is marking a year of release with a week-long in-game anniversary celebration that started on July 13. The celebration opens up Sky’s secret area, The Office, to all players–a zone usually exclusive to players who own the TGC Founders cape or Beta cape.

The Office anniversary party includes a handful of bespoke interactive decorations, plus a new anniversary party hat that can be purchased for three hearts. The Office is accessible from a hidden room in the entrance of the Vault of Knowledge.

The event coincides with the first week of the new Season of Sanctuary, which is live now with a new area accessible from the Daylight Prairie’s Bird’s Nest area.

Thatgamecompany co-founder and creative director Jenova Chen issued a statement on the anniversary of Sky’s release, saying “Without a doubt, Sky has been one of the most exciting, challenging, rewarding and heartwarming chapters of thatgamecompany studio. We humbly launched Sky a year ago with the hope that it may emotionally evoke or touch people’s hearts… I don’t think we were ready for the players’ response or that over 20 million fans would get to play it.”

Sky: Children of the Light is free to play on iOS and Android devices, with a Nintendo Switch edition planned to launch next.

As part of ESPN’s drip-feed reveal of Madden NFL 21‘s player ratings, the sports network announced that Patrick Mahomes is the game’s first 99-rated player. But that’s not all. ESPN also released the list of the top 10 highest-rated quarterbacks in the game, and Mahomes is on top of that list as well.

Madden NFL 21 cover star Lamar Jackson lands at No. 3 overall with a 94 rating. You can check out the full list of the highest-rated QBs in Madden NFL 21 below.

Top 10 Highest-Rated QBs in Madden NFL 21

1. Patrick Mahomes — 99 OVR
2. Russell Wilson — 97 OVR
3. Lamar Jackson — 94 OVR
4. Drew Brees — 93 OVR
5. Tom Brady — 90 OVR
6. Aaron Rodgers — 89 OVR
7. Matt Ryan — 87 OVR
8. Deshaun Watson — 86 OVR
9. Dak Prescott — 84 OVR
10. Carson Wentz — 84 OVR

While Mahomes might be the highest-rated QB overall, Lamar Jackson is No. 1 when it comes to speed (96). Jackson is known for his rushing and speed–for his rookie season in 2019, Jackson racked up 1,206 rushing yards to break Michael Vick’s record for the most by a QB in a single season in NFL history.

The highest-rated rookie running backs have also been announced, with JK Dobbins leading the way with a 75 OVR rating. You can see the full list below.

Madden NFL 21 is coming on August 28 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One. It will also be coming to the next-gen PS5 and Xbox Series X, with free upgrades for current-gen owners through EA’s Dual Entitlement program. For more details check out our Madden NFL 21 pre-order guide.