Author: Trafficblast

Professor Layton and the Unwound Future (known as Professor Layton and the Lost Future in some territories) has been announced for mobile devices, bringing the now 10-year-old puzzle game to a wider audience. The game, which originally launched on the Nintendo DS, will be updated with HD visuals for mobile devices.

The Professor Layton Twitter account announced the game’s impending release, and it’s not far off at all. It’s due to release on July 13, and the game’s name will depend on your region. It’s coming to both iOS and mobile, and a new site details the game’s improved graphics and beloved story.

The game follows Professor Layton and Luke in a time-travelling adventure, in which the two team up with an older Luke from the future to prevent something terrible from occurring. It was well-received at launch, and is regarded by many as the best game in the series.

The first two Layton games are available on mobile, as well as Layton’s Mystery Journey, starring Professor Layton’s daughter Katrielle Layton. That game debuted on mobile before making its way to the 3DS and Switch. Spin-off Layton Brothers Mystery Room, meanwhile, remains a mobile exclusive.

A price has not been announced, but previous games in the series have generally launched at $16 on the App Store.

GameSpot gave the game an 8.5/10 on DS back in 2010. “Whether you fancy obliterating the many brainteasers or just getting by with the minimum, one truth will remain clear: The gentleman’s sport of solving a puzzle will never go out of style,” wrote reviewer Bethany Massimilla–and that certainly remains the case.

The mobile version of the free-to-play battle royale game PUBG has crossed a new sales milestone. Research firm Sensor Tower reports that the Tencent-developed battle royale game has passed $3 billion in lifetime revenue.

PUBG Mobile has brought in an estimated $1.3 billion so far in 2020–March 2020 was the highest month on record with $270 million alone. This uptick in microtransaction sales is thought to be fueled in part by the COVID-19 pandemic, which is keeping people at home playing more games.

The $3 billion in lifetime microtransaction revenue for PUBG Mobile includes the western game, which is called PUBG Mobile, and the Chinese edition that is called Game For Peace.

Game For Peace is PUBG’s biggest edition as it relates to microtransaction sales. The game has generated $1.6 billion in lifetime microtransaction revenue, which is 52 percent of its total. The US is the second biggest single market for PUBG Mobile, followed by Japan.

The iOS edition is the biggest for microtransaction sales, making up 79 percent of total spending, compared to 21 percent on Google Play. More people have the game on Google’s store, however, as 65 percent of the 734 million global downloads are on Android compared to 35 percent on iOS.

PUBG Mobile is far and away the biggest mobile game on the planet as it relates to microtransactions. Its $1.2 billion for the first half of 2020 is more that 4X the amount of money that Garena Free Fire made this year ($300 million), and significantly ahead of the game Knives Out ($260 million so far in 2020) and Call of Duty: Mobile ($220 million so far in 2020).

Revenue numbers for Fortnite‘s mobile edition were not mentioned in Sensor Tower’s report.

Sleeping Dogs looks to be moving ahead with its film adaptation, which was announced back in 2017 but has not started production yet. The film, based on the 2012 game by United Front Games and Square Enix London Studios, might begin shooting soon.

The movie, which we’ve heard little about since 2018, will star Donnie Yen (Ip Man, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) as Wei Shen, the game’s protagonist. Yen has posted an update to his Weibo account, which was picked up on by Niko Partners senior analyst Daniel Ahmad on Twitter. In it, he teases that he is working on a new movie, and he uses the hashtag “#sleepingdog”.

Unless this is, by some huge coincidence, a relevant term to another movie he’s attached to, he’s likely referring to this video game adaptation.

The Sleeping Dogs franchise never really took off, despite the first game being well-received. A spin-off, Triad Wars, was cancelled during its beta, and United Front Games shut down in 2016. The game received a re-release on PS4 and Xbox One, but never got a sequel.

The movie could still be a while away, with no director, or cast aside from Donnie Yen, announced yet.

While many films have delayed production or release due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s at least one more major video game adaptation due in cinemas in 2020, with Paul WS Anderson’s Monster Hunter due September 3.

GameStop has been hosting a bunch of sales over the past couple of months, but most of them have centered on PS4 and Xbox One games. That changes with the Game Days Sale, a week-long event running through July 11 that features rare discounts on Nintendo Switch exclusives, including Super Mario Maker 2 and Yoshi’s Crafted World. PS4 and Xbox One games are prominently featured as well, though, making Game Days one of the most comprehensive GameStop sales of the year so far.

On Nintendo Switch, five first-party exclusives that normally go for $60 are discounted to $40: Super Mario Maker 2, New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, Yoshi’s Crafted World, Splatoon 2, and Mario Tennis Aces.

Select third-party Switch games are also on sale. Ubisoft’s Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle is down to $20, Team Sonic Racing is $30, and Just Dance 2020 is $20. You can snag the Assassin’s Creed: The Rebel Collection for $20 and Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath Collection for $40 (available on PS4/Xbox One, too). The Witcher 3’s Complete edition is down to $50 on Switch. Though that’s only a $10 savings, we rarely see it for less than full price. Meanwhile, Metro Redux, which released on Switch earlier this year, is on sale for $35.

A couple of PS4 exclusives are on sale for stellar prices as well, with Persona 5 Royal and The Yakuza Remastered Collection discounted to $40. The former released earlier this year and earned a 10/10 in GameSpot’s Persona 5 Royal review, while the latter contains three great Yakuza games.

There are plenty of multi-platform PS4 and Xbox One games in the Game Days sale, too. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is down to $30, Red Dead Redemption 2 is $40, and Borderlands 3 is $20. You can also pick up Borderlands: The Handsome Collection and Borderlands: Game of the Year edition for $15 each to round out your Borderlands library. A few games released this year are going for less than usual, including Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot for $40 and the open-world shark attack game Maneater for $30.

While the sale focuses on games, you can also save on GameStop’s huge assortment of collectibles. Select Nintendo, Pokemon, Fortnite, and Minecraft collectibles are 20% off. All Funko Pops are buy three, get one free, and T-shirts are buy one, get one free.

You can check out the full Game Days sale at GameStop and see some of the best game deals below.

Best deals in GameStop’s Game Days sale

• Assassin’s Creed: The Rebel Collection — $20 ($40) | Switch
• BioShock: The Collection — $15 ($20) | PS4, Xbox One
• Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition — $15 ($20) | PS4, Xbox One
• Borderlands: The Handsome Collection — $15 ($20) | PS4, Xbox One
• Borderlands 3 — $20 ($40) | PS4, Xbox One
• Darksiders 3 — $5 ($20) | PS4, Xbox One
• Darksiders Genesis — $20 ($40) | PS4, Xbox One, Switch
• Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot — $40 ($60) | PS4, Xbox One
• Just Dance 2020 — $20 ($40) | Switch
• Maneater — $30 ($40) | PS4, Xbox One
• Mario Tennis Aces — $40 ($60) | Switch
• Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle — $20 ($60) | Switch
• Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 — $40 ($60) | Switch
• Metro Redux — $35 ($50) | Switch
• Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath Kollection — $40 ($60) | PS4, Xbox One, Switch
• Need for Speed Heat — $30 ($60) | PS4, Xbox One
• New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe — $40 ($60) | Switch
• Persona 5 Royal — $40 ($60) | PS4
• Rainbow Six Siege — $15 ($30) | PS4, Xbox One
• Red Dead Redemption 2 — $40 ($60) | PS4, Xbox One
• Saints Row IV Re-Elected — $25 ($40) | Switch
• Splatoon 2 — $40 ($60) | Switch
• Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order — $30 ($60) | PS4, Xbox One
• Super Mario Maker 2 — $40 ($60) | Switch
• Team Sonic Racing — $30 ($40) | Switch
• The Witcher 3: Complete edition — $50 ($60) | Switch
• The Yakuza Remastered Collection — $40 ($60) | PS4
• Yoshi’s Crafted World — $40 ($60) | Switch

“We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight!”

Actor Bill Pullman, famous for playing the president who helped kick alien butt in 1996’s Independence Day, was part of a pro-mask public service announcement from theater chain Alamo Drafthouse that dropped over the weekend, where he urged Americans to wear “freedom masks” for the safety of others.

Why “freedom mask?” Because, as Pullman puts it, the more everyone wears masks out in public places, the closer we all get to having the freedom to go out to public places like bars, restaurants, schools, and (most importantly, he jokes) movie theaters. Take a look…

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Pullman has starred in movies like Spaceballs, Sleepless in Seattle, The Last Seduction, and Lost Highway – and can be seen these days as the star of USA’s Jessica Biel-produced mystery series, The Sinner.

In other movie news, Tessa Thompson spoke about Marvel embracing diversity in the MCU’s Phase 4, Danny Glover gave up a few clues about the plot of the Lethal Weapon revival, and Sylvester Stallone confirmed that he’s working on a Director’s Cut of Rocky IV.

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Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

Souls-like action game Mortal Shell was designed to punish players with its deliberate and challenging combat, and if you can’t wait to play the full game, you can try out a slice with the beta on Epic Games Store right now. If you’re skilled, you can get through it in an hour, but Cold Symmetry and publisher Playstack warn that it can take much longer for everyone else.

The big hook in Mortal Shell are the titular shells, which are bodies you can possess in order to gain their powers and arsenal. The beta contains two shells called Harros and Tiel, giving you a chance to shake up the combat to best serve your situation. We also discovered two shells during our time previewing the game.

The beta is spoiler-free and you can only access a small portion of the Fallgrim area in order to stop you from getting too far off-track. The deliberate and brutal battles should keep you plenty busy anyway, and if you’re struggling, you’ll want to carefully learn enemies’ attacks in order to create your own strategy. You can also use a “harden” ability mid-fight in order to take a non-damaging attack.

Mortal Shell is planned to release on Epic Games Store, PS4, and Xbox One later this year with a Steam release to follow in 2021. It was developed by a tiny team at Cold Symmetry but it looks to be a worthwhile addition to the genre.

Ubisoft’s vice president of editorial Maxime Béland has resigned following abuse and misconduct allegations made against the previous creative director on Splinter Cell Conviction and Splinter Cell Blacklist.

As reported by Gamasutra, Ubisoft also announced that Ubisoft vice president of editorial Tommy François was “placed on disciplinary leave pending the outcome of an investigation.”

Béland and François, who both worked out of the Ubisoft Toronto office, were both placed on administrative leave last week alongside several other employees.

Ubisoft also confirmed that another unnamed individual from its Toronto office was fired for “engaging in behaviours that do not align with what is expected of Ubisoft employees.”

The full statement from Ubisoft to Gamasutra is as follows;

Hi – I’m providing an update following the internal letter sent by Yves Guillemot yesterday, which outlined a series of initiatives aimed at improving the way in which Ubisoft operates.

Maxime Beland, Vice President Editorial, has resigned from his role at Ubisoft, effective immediately. Despite his resignation, we continue to investigate the allegations made against him. Additionally, effective as of yesterday, Tommy François, Vice President Editorial & Creative Services, has been placed on disciplinary leave pending the outcome of an investigation. One other individual in our Toronto studio has been terminated for engaging in behaviors that do not align with what is expected of Ubisoft employees. Other investigations are ongoing and will be conducted rigorously.

Ubisoft will not tolerate workplace misconduct and will continue taking disciplinary actions against anyone who engages in harassment, discrimination and other behaviors that infringe on our Code of Fair Conduct.

These moves follow Ubisoft’s CEO Yves Guillemot comments and promises that he would “personally follow” each of these recent reports of sexual misconduct at the company.

Change had already begun at Ubisoft, as Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s creative director Ashraf Ismail stepped down in late June following impropriety allegations.

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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. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

July is here, and it’s shaping up to be another busy month for Pokemon Go. On top of all the in-game events Niantic has lined up over the next few weeks, a new batch of Field Research tasks is now live, and if you complete enough of them, you’ll earn a new Research Breakthrough reward: Larvitar.

Each time you achieve a Research Breakthrough in July, your reward will be an encounter with Larvitar, the base form of the powerful Tyranitar. There’s also a chance that the Larvitar you encounter will be Shiny, so there’s a good incentive to complete as much Field Research as you can this month.

As a refresher, Field Research tasks are distributed via Poke Stops. The first one you complete each day will net you a stamp, and collecting seven stamps will lead to a Research Breakthrough. You can see the full list of July’s Field Research tasks, as compiled by The Silph Road, below.

There’s a lot going on in Pokemon Go this month. Pokemon Go Fest 2020 takes place on July 25 and 26, and before then, Niantic is holding a series of weekly challenges that players can complete to unlock additional Pokemon during Go Fest weekend. The Legendary Kyurem is also making its debut in Pokemon Go this month, and Gastly is headlining July’s Community Day.

Pokemon Go July 2020 Field Research Tasks

Catching Tasks

Field Research Task	Rewards
Catch 5 Pokemon with Weather boost	Poliwag or Vulpix encounter; 200 Stardust, 3 Razz Berries, 1 Pinap Berry, or 5 Poke Balls
Catch 10 Pokemon with Weather boost	500 Stardust, 6 Razz Berries, 2 Pinap Berries, or 5 Great Balls
Catch 5 different species of Pokemon	1 Rare Candy
Catch 3 Pokemon with Weather boost	Alolan Geodude encounter
Catch 3 Rock-type Pokemon	Graveler encounter
Catch 10 Pokemon	Magikarp encounter; 200 Stardust, 3 Razz Berries, 1 Pinap Berry, or 5 Poke Balls
Catch 10 Normal-type Pokemon	500 Stardust, 6 Razz Berries, 2 Pinap Berries, or 5 Great Balls
Use 5 Berries to help catch Pokemon	Nosepass encounter; 500 Stardust, 6 Razz Berries, 2 Pinap Berries, or 5 Great Balls
Catch a Dragon-type Pokemon	Dratini encounter; 1,500 Stardust, 3 Rare Candies, 2 Gold Razz Berries, or 10 Ultra Balls
Catch a Ditto	1,500 Stardust, 3 Rare Candies, 2 Gold Razz Berries, or 10 Ultra Balls

Battling Tasks

Field Research Tasks	Rewards
Win a Raid	Lileep encounter
Win 5 Raids	Aerodactyl encounter
Win a level 3 or higher Raid	Kabuto or Omanyte encounter
Win in the Go Battle League	Anorith encounter

Throwing Tasks

Field Research Task	Rewards
Make 3 Great throws	Gastly, Anorith, or Lileep encounter; 200 Stardust, 3 Razz Berries, 1 Pinap Berry, or 5 Poke Balls
Make 5 Nice throws	Voltorb encounter; 200 Stardust, 3 Razz Berries, 1 Pinap Berry, or 5 Poke Balls
Make 3 Nice throws in a row	500 Stardust, 2 Pinap Berries, 5 Great Balls, or 2 Ultra Balls
Make 3 Great throws in a row	Onix encounter; 1,000 Stardust, 1 Rare Candy, 9 Razz Berries, 3 Pinap Berries, 10 Poke Balls, or 5 Ultra Balls
Make 3 Great curveball throws	1,000 Stardust, 1 Rare Candy, 9 Razz Berries, 3 Pinap Berries, 10 Poke Balls, or 5 Ultra Balls
Make 3 Great curveball throws in a row	1,500 Stardust, 3 Rare Candies, 2 Gold Razz Berries, or 10 Ultra Balls
Make 5 Great curveball throws in a row	Spinda encounter
Make an Excellent throw	500 Stardust, 2 Pinap Berries, 5 Great Balls, or 2 Ultra Balls
Make 3 Excellent throws in a row	Larvitar encounter
Make 5 curveball throws in a row	500 Stardust, 6 Razz Berries, 2 Pinap Berries, or 5 Great Balls
Make 2 Nice curveball throws in a row	200 Stardust, 3 Razz Berries, 1 Pinap Berry, or 5 Poke Balls

Hatching Tasks

Field Research Task	Rewards
Hatch an Egg	Aerodactyl encounter

Misc. Tasks

Field Research Task	Rewards
Transfer 3 Pokemon	Aron encounter
Trade a Pokemon	Onix encounter
Evolve a Pokemon	Eevee or Rhydon encounter
Power up Pokemon 5 times	Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle encounter
Send 3 Gifts to friends	Dwebble encounter
Take a Snapshot of a Rock-type Pokemon	Shuckle encounter
Spin 10 PokeStops or Gyms	200 Stardust, 3 Razz Berries, 1 Pinap Berry, or 5 Poke Balls

Buddy Tasks

Field Research Task	Rewards
Earn 5 Hearts with your Buddy	2 Silver Pinap Berries
Give your Buddy 3 treats	Sudowoodo encounter
Earn 3 Candies walking with your Buddy	Stunfisk encounter