Author: Trafficblast

Following multiple sexual misconduct allegations against Ubisoft team members, the video game company has issued a statement committing to take “any and all appropriate disciplinary action” against those guilty of abuse.

The full statement from Ubisoft is as follows;

“Concerning recent allegations raised against certain Ubisoft team members: We want to start by apologizing to everyone affected by this – we are truly sorry. We are dedicated to creating an inclusive and safe environment for our teams, players, and communities. It is clear we have fallen short of this in the past. We must do better.”

“We have started by launching investigations into the allegations with the support of specialized external consultants. Based on the outcomes, we are fully committed to taking any and all appropriate disciplinary action. As these investigations are ongoing, we can’t comment further. We are also auditing our existing policies, processes, and systems to understand where these have broken down, and to ensure we can better prevent, detect, and punish inappropriate behavior.”

“We will be sharing additional measures that we are putting in place with our teams in the coming days. Our goal is to foster an environment that our employees, partners, and communities can be proud of –one that reflects our values and that is safe for everyone.”

There has already been at least one major change at Ubisoft, as creative director Ashraf Ismail has stepped down from his role on Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla following allegations of engaging in extramarital affairs.

Ubisoft product and brand manager Andrien Gbingie was also accused of manipulation, emotional abuse, and rape. Gbinigie has denied these allegations in a now removed post on Medium.com.

Ubisoft’s Stone Chin was said to use “his position within Ubisoft’s public relations team to prey on multiple women, with many claiming his behavior has been an ‘open secret’ for some time.”

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

As part of a Madden NFL 21 livestream broadcast, EA Sports announced that the new professional football game will include one of the biggest changes in years to how the game controls.

The ball-carrier controls are changing dramatically. There is now a greater variety of skill moves, which you can access from the right stick exclusively. As you can see in the controller map below, pushing the right stick up now performs a hurdle–in the past, this performed a truck move. Pushing down on the right now creates the new dead leg move. Moving the right stick to either side performs a juke, while a spin move is controlled by rotating the right stick.

The “power” running moves are now on the face buttons. As you can see, truck is now performed with the Y button on Xbox One. You can see the full controller map below.

The developers said they are making these changes–which might not stick–to help players chain moves together more easily and fluidly to play with style and flair. Players who are accepted into the Madden NFL 21 closed beta can test out these new controls. And producer Clint Oldenburg said their feedback will be instrumental–he also said EA may choose to scrap these changes based on feedback.

For lots more on Madden NFL 21, you can read the ridiculously in-depth “Gridiron Notes” here that explain what’s new in this year’s game.

Madden NFL 21 launches in August for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. It’s also coming to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X when those consoles release this holiday season.

We all know now isn’t the best time to venture out and do things in public. It’s safer to stay home and find your fun around the house. With that in mind, it’s good to see that two Nintendo Labo kits are on sale for $19.99 each with Best Buy’s Deal of the Day. You can get the VR Kit Starter Set and Blaster or the Vehicle Kit. Up to you.

Nintendo Labo Vehicle Kit is 70% Off

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• Get it at Best Buy – $19.99 (save $50)

Nintendo’s Labo kits are basically DIY construction sets that also come with games. The Vehicle Kit has you build a foot pedal, car steering wheel, plane joystick, and submarine controls. Then you use those items as input devices to steer those vehicles in the game, which is filled with gorgeous, colorful environments.

Nintendo Labo VR Kit Starter Set + Blaster is 50% Off

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• Get it at Best Buy – $19.99 (save $20)

The VR Kit starter set includes a game cartridge that has VR games, plus step-by-step instructions you’ll need to build the kits. Also included are all the materials you need to build a pair of cardboard-and-plastic VR googles and a blaster. Once you build the goggles, you can insert the screen part of your Switch into the contraption and put the googles up to your face to play the VR game included on the cartridge.

The VR goggles also let you play the VR modes in Super Mario Odyssey, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Smash Bros Ultimate, and Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, if you happen to have those games.

In addition to the goggles, this kit includes all the materials you need to build a blaster. The blaster is a fairly large build you can connect the goggles to in order to play the included games.

Note: Because you have to disconnect the Joy-Cons to use it, these kits are only compatible with the standard Nintendo Switch, not Switch Lite.

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Chris Reed is IGN’s shopping and commerce editor. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.

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There will be a closed beta for Madden NFL 21, developer EA Sports announced during a livestream for the game. This beta was scheduled to start on June 26, but EA had to delay it to sometime in the “coming weeks,” the studio said during the presentation.

EA also confirmed that while it is not able to conduct an open beta for Madden NFL 21, it hopes to invite as many players as possible into the closed test. You can register here for a chance to get selected.

Additionally, EA said it will invite “heavy engagers” to the Madden NFL 21 beta test. So if you play a lot of Madden NFL 20 and its Ultimate Team mode, you might find an invitation in your inbox soon.

EA also clarified that those who are accepted into the Madden NFL 21 beta will be forbidden from sharing their gameplay capture. Those who do will get kicked out.

EA will be using the Madden NFL 21 beta to test the game’s dramatically different controls, among other things.

Madden NFL 21 launches on August 28 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC, but you can play early through the MVP Edition. Additionally, everyone who buys Madden NFL 21 on PS4 or Xbox One can redeem a free upgrade to PS5 or Xbox Series X until the release of Madden NFL 22 in 2021.

South Park is now on HBO Max in its entirety… almost. The lineup on the new streaming service does not include five of the most controversial South Park episodes – as noted by THR, all five episodes include the depiction of religious figures, including the Prophet Muhammad.

The revelation shouldn’t be news to fans of the long-running animated comedy; all the South Park episodes featuring depictions of Muhammad have been unavailable to stream on services like Netflix, iTunes, Hulu, South Park Studios, Comedy Central, and Amazon Prime Video in the years following their broadcasts.

5 South Park episodes you can’t stream on HBO Max:

• “Super Best Friends” (Season 5)
• “Cartoon Wars” Part I (Season 10)
• “Cartoon Wars” Part II (Season 10)
• “200” (Season 14)
• “201” (Season 14)

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“Super Best Friends” portrayed a superhero team made up of religious figures such as Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Krishna, and Muhammad, the latter being strictly prohibited from being figuratively depicted in Islam. Even so, the episode aired without much controversy in 2005 and was only censored in later years.

In IGN’s “Super Best Friends” review, we said, “While this isn’t one of South Park’s best episodes of all time, it stands out because of the sheer audacity of incorporating just about all of the world’s major religions in one silly joke.”

South Park then explored, in its own very meta way, the furor over depicting the prophet in the two-parter “Cartoon Wars,” which chronicled the uproar over a cartoon’s (in this case, Family Guy) attempt to broadcast an uncensored version of the Prophet Muhammad. The episodes explored the themes of censorship, free speech, and fear, but were also censored by Comedy Central to remove any on-screen depictions or mentions of Muhammad.

These episodes were produced following the protests and violence sparked by Danish newspaper cartoon depictions of Muhammad, as well as the assassination of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh by a Muslim man who objected to van Gogh’s short film Submission: Part 1.

Series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone revisited the subject of censorship in episodes “200” and “201,” the latter being deemed particularly incendiary and which saw Comedy Central beefing up security around their offices. Parker and Stone reportedly received death threats in response to the episodes.

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Comedy Central also censored “201,” which at the time prompted Parker and Stone to slam the network: “In the 14 years we’ve been doing South Park we have never done a show that we couldn’t stand behind. We delivered our version of the show to Comedy Central and they made a determination to alter the episode. It wasn’t some meta-joke on our part. Comedy Central added the bleeps. In fact, Kyle‘s customary final speech was about intimidation and fear. It didn’t mention Muhammad at all but it got bleeped too.”

PureArts, the premium video game figurine company, has revealed a teaser for its next figurine project: Eivor from the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Max and Brian revealed the tease and unboxed PureArts’ Tekken Devil Jin sculpture today in Up at Noon.

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PureArts is a Montreal-based figurine company has already worked with Ubisoft in the past to create figures for Assassin’s Creed, Watch Dogs, and Ghost Recon. You can find sculptures for past Assassins like Bayek, Altair, and Ezio. Now the studio will make a sculpture for the newest assassin Eivor.

Here’s a small teaser from Up at Noon.

PureArts has other partnerships with game studios like Bandai Namco and CD Projekt Red. The limited-edition Devil Jin statue was shown off today during the show as well as the Yaiba Kusanagi Sportbike for PureArts’ previously announced V figures. The Cyberpunk 2077 bikes are available for pre-order now.

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No release date or price was announced for the Eivor statue, but PureArts figures usually come with a premium price tag. Check out IGN’s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla preview for more coverage on Ubisoft’s upcoming Assassins game set during the Viking conquest-era. Also check out our Cyberpunk 2077 preview after 4-hours of hands-on time.

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Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN.

This year we’re celebrating #QuakeCon @ Home! Join us for a global online event taking place August 7-9, including livestreams, tournaments, charity fundraising, and a few fun secrets.
Stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks! pic.twitter.com/fGs5JF3k8c

— QuakeCon (@QuakeCon) June 25, 2020

Biomutant, the third-person action game initially revealed in 2017, hasn’t been show much recently, with out last real look at the game dating back to Gamescom 2018. But in an extended gameplay trailer for the game, its initial charm hasn’t faded, and we get a look at its vibrant open world.

There’s a lot going on in the nine-minute trailer below. You get to see the game’s action again, spread across various weapons. Combat is centered on switching up between ranged gunplay and close-quarters melee action, with quick dashes and slow-motion dodges making it look very fast and exciting.

Biomutant is home to numerous monstrous foes you’ll need to fight, spread out in a world that looks as large as it is colorful. In one highlight you see the player-character scampering up a mountain before leaping off and using a back-mounted glider to soar across the map. It’s reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in a way, but it’s unclear yet how large this space really is.

It also seems like you’ll be clearing out outposts around the map, with one snippet of gameplay showing a fight concluding with an enemy outpost being captured. Elsewhere you can see traversal using steampunk-like airships and submarines, as well as combat featuring a mech and an extremely large monster. Without much context, it’s hard to imagine how all of this meshes together, but it does give a sense of Biomutant’s scope.

The trailer doesn’t feature a release date for the THQ-published game, simply teasing that it’ll come out when it’s ready., which might be soon according to one developer.

GameSpot has officially kicked off Play For All–a celebration of all things gaming. Join us as we bring you the summer’s hottest news, previews, interviews, features, and videos, as well as raise money for COVID-19 relief efforts and Black Lives Matter with the help of our friends from around the gaming world. Check out the Play For All schedule for more.