We’re less than a month away from the next generation with PS5 but you may be able to get your hands on some accessories ahead of the consoles November 12th release date.
Following the new date, some retailers such as Target have updated their listings and have begun informing customers who pre-ordered any PS5 accessories that the release dates have changed.
IGN received an email from Target early this morning saying, “Thanks for your preorder. We’re just dropping a line to let you know the release date has changed to Fri, Oct 30.”
While the release date has been officially updated by Sony, some retailers such as Best Buy, Amazon, GameStop, and Walmart are still showing the original November 12th release date. It’s unclear if these retailers will be shipping items out early at this time.
Just in time for Halloween, Crypt TV has announced its newest horror series coming to the Facebook Watch streaming platform, titled Kinderfanger, which will make its debut on Friday, October 30, 2020.
This ten-episode series will release weekly every Friday on Crypt’s Facebook Watch page. Here’s how the streamer describes the series: “A supernatural mystery drama following a deaf teacher who discovers she may hold the key to finding an ancient evil force that is assembling an army of troubled souls.”
IGN can exclusive reveal the creepy poster for Kinderfanger in the gallery below:
Kinderfanger stars Walking Dead alumna Angel Theory, who will portray Olivia, a deaf character who communicates through spoken dialogue and ASL. The series is written by Aaron Burgess and Matt Golad, with Jack Davis, Kate Krantz, and Darren Brandi serving as executive producers for Crypt TV.
In recent news, Crypt TV announced that it’s in pre-production for its first animated series, called Woman in the Book, starring Doom Patrol and Orange Is the New Black’s, Diane Guerrero. Per Crypt TV, “Woman in the Book is a multilingual (Spanish and English) dramatic horror animated series that follows the lives of three estranged siblings who reunite at an aging Mexican hacienda to wrestle for their inheritance, but inadvertently unleash a book-bound horror upon them that has plagued their family for generations.”
Marvel’s Avengers was the best-selling game of September, a bright spot for Crystal Dynamics as it works to refine the post-launch experience. Other best-sellers for the month include Super Mario 3D All-Stars and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2.
Just today, Crystal Dynamics announced it will delay the Kate Bishop DLC and next-gen upgrades for Marvel’s Avengers as it works on additional fixes. However, Marvel’s Avengers seems to have had a successful launch, becoming the second best-selling superhero game in U.S. history after Insomniac’s Spider-Man.
Super Mario 3D All-Stars was the second best-selling game in September and the 10th best-selling game of 2020. It generated the second-highest launch month for physical dollar sales of any 2020 release, behind only Animal Crossing: New Horizons. This was likely driven partially by the limited nature of the release, meant to celebrate Mario’s 35th anniversary.
Also on the top 10 sellers list is the Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2, which has the best launch month dollar sales of any Tony Hawk game in the franchise; and Crusader Kings 3 which is the best-selling release in the franchise history. Crusader Kings 2 also has the highest launch month dollar sales of any game published by Paradox Interactive.
In just a few week’s time, the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S will be available. We’re on the cusp of a new generation of gaming and it’s incredibly exciting. Unsurprisingly, both Sony and Microsoft are delivering new information about their hot new platforms almost daily, which means there’s plenty for the Generation Next crew to discuss.
This week, Lucy, Jordan, and Tamoor talk about the PlayStation 5 UI, which Sony finally unveiled. It’s a drastic difference from what we’ve become used to after years of gaming on the PlayStation 4. Crucially, it has been built with the gaming experience given the highest priority and focus.
Whether it’s the redesigned home screen, seamless integration of parties, messaging, and screen share, or the fascinating new control center and its activity cards, there’s a lot of interesting and exciting new features, as well as quality-of-life improvements, to chat about.
Microsoft, for its part, has been bolstering its efforts around messaging the impressive implementation of backwards compatibility on the Xbox Series X/S. It also pulled the curtain back on some of the other performance upgrades the powerful new hardware will enable.
GameSpot’s very own Michael Higham has published his comprehensive Xbox Series X preview, so the Generation Next crew comb through it and discuss his impressions. If you had questions about Quick Resume, how backwards compatibility might beef up the performance of older games, or how standard USB hard drives work with the console, we’ve got the answers.
Generation Next is GameSpot’s weekly video show all about the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. Each Friday, join PlayStation Pro Tamoor Hussain, Xbox Xpert Jordan Ramée, and Console Connoisseur Lucy James as they discuss the biggest stories about the new consoles.
Sports video games are going through a tough transition. It’s a down year in terms of overall quality – who knows how much of that has to do with to ongoing COVID-19 concerns, the real seasons for most sports being thrown off by the pandemic, next-gen efforts taking focus off the current-gen versions, or perhaps just a general malaise that comes at the end of a console generation. However, NHL 21 has more working against it than most others in that regard: The next “real” NHL season won’t start until January 2021 and there is not going to be a next-gen version of NHL 21 this year that can give it a second wind like we’re promised for FIFA 21, Madden NFL 21, and NBA 2K21. The effect is that almost immediately after I booted it up for the first time it already felt outdated, even though I know it’s supposed to act as the version that will coincide with the next real NHL season.
Some of this is out of EA’s control: The Tampa Bay Lightning just hoisted the Stanley Cup on September 28, so it barely feels like there has been a chance to breathe between seasons. On top of that, the NHL Draft and NHL offseason have either just concluded or are still going strong. This means the NHL 21 rosters are already out of date, the real NHL schedule isn’t even finalized for next year so franchise mode games don’t feel as authentic by default, and we won’t see any of the new batch of NHL rookies before January due to NHL Players’ Association licensing issues (which is why no rookies are usually ever in the EA NHL games before they take the ice for their real NHL teams).
But the bigger problems here are still the ones we’ve been complaining about since the series transitioned to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One with NHL 15. This starts with the general flow of most every game in NHL 21. As a fan of hockey, I understand there is more to the sport than the rush, but in NHL 21 it still feels mostly like I’m playing end-to-end hockey while taking turns with my opponent busting into the offensive zone. NHL hockey is a fast sport – and really only getting faster – but there’s an organization to that speed that doesn’t really exist in NHL 21 in most ways.
Now, I will say that the rush – the strength of the series on offense – is even better this year. There are not as many instances where the CPU will fail while attacking you and just idle around the red line, creating odd stalemates that kill the flow of action and just look unrealistic. I can usually see clear organization here as the AI tries to create proper passing lanes and outlets to sustain an attack. This applies to my own breakouts and teammates as well, and was especially noticeable in Be A Pro games where I was only controlling one player and had to rely more on my AI teammates to feed me the puck in stride.
However, smoother breakouts and improved forechecking to try to prevent those breakouts doesn’t excuse the chaos that reigns when you try to create after establishing yourself inside the blue line. It was still usually in my best interest to break into the zone and then make that critical pass or two before taking a shot – it’s not like I can’t set up in the zone and cycle the puck, but there’s no excitement to it. I can break into the zone the same way pretty much every time by either hustling down the sideboards or cutting into the middle of the ice. From there, I whip the puck behind the net, make a basic pass back to the point, or send a pass across the rink to a streaking teammate.
What it boils down to is that the movement away from the puck is not varied or unique enough to make me feel like I’m really reading and reacting moment to moment. I just fall into similar muscle memory patterns that I’ve built up over the years rather than thinking on my skates like real players have to. Plus, it’s just not usually very rewarding to cycle the puck – it usually ends up with a mess of bodies colliding before an unenjoyable puck battle plays out, or I slide out from my position along the half boards for a wrist shot in the slot or a one-timer attempt.
The same “ping-pong” passing we’ve all grown used to in this series also still exists. The AI is incredibly accurate when passing around the ice, and even if the passing does not happen at quite the same breakneck pace as prior years, it’s still unrealistic. In fact, everyone feels like an elite passer, so I don’t feel like I’m taking any risk when making passes with Nicklas Backstrom versus a random fourth-line center.
To some extent, these issues are minimized in things like online HUT Rivals games. I know what I am signing up for when I play a game online, and so I’m ready to race up and down the ice and use some of the really smart additions to the skill moves to beat the defense through the neutral zone. I am especially fond of the new self-pass off the boards and the slip deke to skirt around a defender trying to check me against the boards. On top of that, the self-pass behind the net (made famous in recent years by Sidney Crosby) does create some scoring opportunities that did not exist in prior versions of NHL. Likewise, I don’t think I’ll ever pull off the “Michigan” deke or use the “Kucherov” to score goals, but these are nice signature touches that I always welcome in sports games.
On top of that, there was certainly some focus put into trying to change the online “meta” in some areas. For example, the one-handed deke on breakaways does not seem to be a “money” goal anymore, and goalies overall have certainly improved in how they read your skill moves. The puck does not feel as “sticky” anymore, so I don’t find myself just trying to build a team of hulking giants in Ultimate Team who can shrug off checks. Rather, I’m looking for more player diversity and trying to move the puck more.
The other aspect of playing in “non-traditional” modes in NHL 21 that I like is that I’m able to remove myself from even trying to find a “realistic” experience – which is especially important now, in a year where there’s no such thing. So whether that’s a HUT Rivals game with my Ultimate Team roster or playing the new HUT Rush 3-on-3 mode, I’m ready to just turn my brain off and go up and down the ice, dangling to my heart’s content.
I don’t want it to seem like I’m only praising some of these arcade modes in passing. I love goofing around in Ones while playing on the pond, and the new HUT Rush is a change of pace where you get to draft four players and then play with a unique ruleset like having a money puck that’s worth more than a normal goal that helps keep things fresh. Stuff like the EASHL has only improved as now there’s a practice mode where you can take your created player and squad up with your teammates to work on strategies before going into real games.
Speaking of created players, the Be A Pro mode is without question where most of the development focus went this year, as far as single-player gamers are concerned. BAP has been a weak spot for the NHL series in recent years – just about the worst Be A Pro-style mode in the entire sports genre, to be frank. This year is an improvement, to be sure, but the developers still did not create the same kind of linear, guided story like you would see with NBA 2K’s MyCareer or the “Longshot/QB1” story that’s in Madden. What’s here is more like Road to the Show from MLB The Show, or even those old MLB Power Pros games. My character’s not searching for a girlfriend like he might have in some of those, but you can buy property, build up relationships with teammates, hone your brand, and do a host of other things off the ice before stepping back onto it.
The overall structure takes the conversation system that was used a lot in last year’s upgraded franchise mode, and then infuses that with RPG elements that ask you to balance management, teammates, and your own brand while improving your overall rating. In essence, I tried to min/max my way up to the top rating in all three of those categories while also unlocking traits that serve as attribute boosts or ways to improve my conversational skills so I could get better results – think of any number of conversation systems in games like Fallout or The Outer Worlds where you can use upgraded conversation skills to get new dialogue options. I didn’t need more conversation skills to min/max my way the top levels, but the conversations themselves break up the flow of just going game to game. Even if it’s relatively uninteresting to haggle with a teammate over where we’re going to eat, being able to try and talk my way into not paying the bill is a fun little maneuver to try and pull off. And even if telling a coach I’m definitely going to score two goals next game was going to be my plan either way, having a clear goal for the next game still adds some weight to those next 60 minutes on the ice.
There is still some layer of a linear story season to season, but I was mostly creating my own story along the way. The first season is strictly based on your rookie player trying to win the Calder Trophy (awarded to the best rookie), and while I did win that trophy, the real thing I cared about was based on the fact that I’d lost the Memorial Cup Final (the equivalent of the Stanley Cup in the CHL) and wanted to win the Stanley Cup as a sort of redemption arc. I was drafted first overall by the New York Rangers (ironically, they won the video game lottery after winning the real NHL lottery this year), and I did end up redeeming myself in the end.
But again, that was all something I created for myself; the actual moment-to-moment story events that are written for you are not very interesting. I quickly understood the formula: speak to management/teammate/press and get a mission or make a “promise” to do something on the ice, and then go out and try to fulfill that mission or promise. However, that’s also the strength of this more non-linear style: While it doesn’t hit the highs that NBA 2K’s MyCareer mode can sometimes reach with its linear stories, being less concerned with that guided playthrough meant I could create my own.
There are also dynamic goals that come up, but those mostly boil down to simple things you were going to do anyway like protect the lead, make a comeback, or stop doing something dumb like taking penalties for the rest of the game. The element that actually helped push me forward more than buying cars or completing dynamic goals were the radio updates from James Cybulski and Ray Ferraro. That duo also does the in-game commentary, but the radio updates are a nice touch that center around discussing my latest exploits or the next challenge I would soon be facing. These updates provided the right kind of background noise that helped fill that airtime while I was unlocking my latest attribute upgrades or looking at my player stats in comparison to others around the league.
Unlike Madden, NHL’s franchise mode actually received a large number of updates last year, so it’s more understandable that not as much was done with NHL 21. The “fog of war” elements continue to make scouting matter in a way that does not exist in most other sports games. In addition, the trade deadline was blown out this year and feels like the truly chaotic event it is in real life. You can go in looking to be a seller or buyer, and throughout the day players can go up or down in value based on other trades taking place. So, in essence, there is a risk-reward factor that goes into when you decide to trade for someone or not. The deadline also occurs in real time, so you have to make these decisions or search for trades as the clock ticks down. It’s a blueprint for how every other trade deadline should feel in sports games.
The big problems with franchise mode, once again, are legacy issues. First and foremost on my list is that there is still no ability to share your roster of created/edited characters in NHL 21, so you won’t be able to rely on the MVPs in the community who create all the rookies not currently available or update the rosters after all the offseason moves take place.
This also ties into the player ratings, which are a problem on and off the ice. Because NHL 21 includes juniors, international leagues, and various levels of talent overall, the NHL player pool has a narrow range for its player ratings. Most of the league fits into this 65-85 overall area. What this leads to is most players feeling pretty much the same on the ice. While it’s noticeable when I play with the Connor McDavids of the world, most third-line centers are indistinguishable beyond height and weight differentials. If there were custom rosters that could be shared, I’m sure some hardcore folks out there would put in the time to re-rate a lot of players and try to widen that skill gap between various NHL players. But without any way to share these things, the rest of us are stuck with the flat-feeling default roster.
Quirky developer Double Fine Productions has announced that its classic LucasArts adventure games–Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, and Grim Fandango–hit Xbox Game Pass on October 29. This is the first time these games launch on Xbox consoles.
The studio took to Twitter to deliver the news. All three adventure games will be available to all Xbox Game Pass members. Double Fine confirmed in a follow-up tweet that each game will be playable on Android devices, Windows 10 PCs, and Xbox consoles (likely meaning the Xbox One and the forthcoming Xbox Series X/S).
It’s official! Our classic LucasArts adventure game remasters of Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, and Grim Fandango are coming October 29 to Xbox Game Pass members! Travel through time, cruise the open road, or solve mysteries in the Land of the Dead. All on Game Pass! pic.twitter.com/C0VyvE9Dvu
The studio has since released remasters of them. Grim Fandango dropped in 2015, Day of the Tentacle launched in 2016, and Full Throttle came out in 2017. All three games are available on a variety of platforms, including iOS, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita. They now make their debut on Xbox.
Both the Xbox Series S and Series X launch on November 10 for $300 and $500, respectively. Check out our Xbox Series X/S preorder guide to learn which system is right for you, as well as which stores may have stock on launch day.
Top New Game Releases On Switch, PS4, Xbox One, And PC This Week — October 18-14, 2020
Live in
Now Playing: Top New Game Releases On Switch, PS4, Xbox One, And PC This Week — October 18-14, 2020
Maybe it’s because a teraflop sounds like something you’d use to satisfyingly slap a person’s cheek – like a wet fish – but we really like to fight over our consoles’ specs. Much has been said about the technical abilities of the PS5 and the Xbox Series X, but it’s the value of the cheaper machines – and the services they offer – that for many is more important than size or horse-power.
Wealth isn’t a topic that we talk about enough in gaming, yet it’s one of the core questions our head asks our heart when buying a console – “can I afford this?” For those who might have sighed and answered “no,” the Xbox Series S opens a route into this new generation of play and takes a step towards a larger pool of game-makers who will help shape what comes after.
To recap: The Xbox Series S retails for $299. It has reduced specs, but while you won’t be able to run games at 4K, you can play next-generation games for $100 less than Sony’s cheapest offering. That’s huge.
While it’s impossible to resell the One S’s digital-only games, there’s Xbox Game Pass, which lets you play over 100 games (including new games on launch day from studios like Bethesda) for just $9.99 a month. That’s cheaper than most phone contracts. Throw in Xbox Access, which enables players to spread the cost of their new Xbox with monthly payments that grant access to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, and you have incredible value-for-money.
If you’re a student, single parent, or anyone else with a more limited income, Xbox has opened a door for you to experience cutting edge console gaming where you otherwise might have been shut out. Step through that portal, and those hours spent exploring worlds carved from code might set your mind sketching the blueprints of a game of your own. Level Designer at Cardboard Sword Erin Harrison, who grew up in a working-class household, tells IGN, “My limited access to games consoles meant that it didn’t click for me until very later on that the games industry was a viable career path.” It was only by watching free Let’s Play content on YouTube that Harrison was finally introduced to the fact that gaming is capable of “blockbuster” stories beyond mobile and free-to-play games, and that meant a job existed somewhere writing them.
The notion that the games industry has few working-class developers isn’t just conjecture, the research backs it up. Our talent funnel feeding the gaming workforce has many roots that start in childhood, and data proves that a higher-than-usual proportion of game developers come from wealthier families. The UK’s games trade association, UKIE, surveyed British studios this year and found that 12% of the industry workforce attended a private school, which is nearly double the national average for employees in a given field.
The census went further, revealing that 62% of video game professionals grew up in households where the main earner worked in a middle-class managerial role. That’s higher than nearly every other creative sector – including film and TV – and eclipsed only by those working in professions like medicine and law.
There’s no denying that gaming has traditionally been an expensive hobby, and it seems that those who had parents who could fund their fun are the ones turning a hobby into a career. Technology access has a huge impact on teenagers choosing where or whether to pursue higher education. A seventeen-year-old from a low-income family who’s never owned a games console will have less information to decide whether to study game design than a child who’s grown up with an Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and/or a powerful family PC. The trouble is, according to the data, that degree is needed to carve a path into the industry. 81% of the workforce holds at least an undergraduate degree, rising to 88% for core games production roles in art or programming (as opposed to fields like marketing or QA). This is considerably above the 57% average for other creative industries. Of course, it’s possible to get into gaming as a career well into your 30s or 40s, but with such a high proportion of development jobs requiring a degree, the choice facing 17-year-olds around the world of whether to go to university is heavily weighted – and heavily influenced by their families’ circumstances.
One small step to fixing these skewed scales, then, is to have consoles that even families on a budget can splash out on. Harrison says that “affordable, accessible consoles will widen the pool of who aspires to be a game developer, and in turn, will boost the diversity on our teams, and the narratives we choose to develop and shape for players.”
Of course, solutions like the Xbox One S are just a small tweak to the industry. There are many other deeply-ingrained reasons why, if you’re from the working-class or low-income area you’re unlikely to make video games for a living. Starting wages in studios are often low, making it difficult to pay back the student debts required to get the necessary degrees. Early work experience and internships are not always paid – especially at smaller studios under less public scrutiny – yet many games companies are based in cities where affordable housing is scarcer and living costs are higher. Here, those who have access to a parental bank account stand a much greater chance of staying afloat.
Then there’s the fact that before even getting to a studio, sparking a new generation of game developers requires tools. In some ways, it’s like a teenage Jimi Hendrix being able to pluck away at a guitar in his teenage bedroom and hone the skills that would place him on global stages. Chella Ramanan is a narrative designer at Massive Entertainment, the makers of Tom Clancy’s The Division, and points to the importance of having technology like Raspberry Pi in low-income schools. She argues that free Unity, Twine, and Unreal engine tools allow more people to experiment and make their own games at an early age.
“There’s a disconnect between playing games and understanding it as an industry with a viable career path,” she says. “That’s something we need to be better about communicating as an industry by working with schools and educators.”
Both Ramanan and Harrison agree that making PC gaming more affordable would mark a significant step in closing the wealth gap, even more so than cheaper game consoles would. “Why? Necessity,” says Harrison. “Every family needs a good PC, but every family does not need a games console.
“If you want the low-income players you’ve suddenly garnered to sustain their dream to be a game dev long term,” she says, “invest in supplying them with the tools to make games – PCs, laptops, a stable WIFI connection. Our luxury industry demands skills taught on luxury tools, yet we shake our shoulders at why the workforce isn’t diverse enough.”
In the UK, some steps are being taken to close that gap. The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (UKIE) is a non-profit organization running programs like Digital Schoolhouse, which offers children free creative computing workshops inside their primary school. It works to empower their teachers to deliver lessons on [subject examples] – even coming up with creative pen and paper workarounds if the school doesn’t have the finances for tech. There are currently 60,000 students being supported by the program.
Of course, one of the best ways of equipping the schools with the proper equipment needed to teach the specialised skills required for game development would be through donations. UKIE encourages UK games studios to give old computers to schools to help bridge the technology divide. Some schools only have a few ancient PCs available for the entire student body, but since game studios have to upgrade their development equipment to the latest models every couple of years, why not give the old units to students who could really use them?
Digital Schoolhouse’s Director, Shahneila Saeed, told us “Giving children access to devices they might not have at home in their schools is a great way to inspire children from disadvantaged backgrounds to think about a career in games. The industry is constantly upgrading devices. If we donate [the older units] to schools, then we can – even at a small level – play a role in overcoming the huge digital divide.”
Cheaper tech, programs like Digital Schoolhouse, and access to games are important because – at the end of the day – a video game is a cross between a theme park and a lifeboat. It’s a pastime and a reprieve: the funfair that lights up our skies when the nights are darkest. Unlike buying clothes, a car, or some nice spendy scatter cushions for the sofa, buying a game actually makes you a little bit richer. You ‘Press Start’ and become extraordinary: a titan, a superhero, or a raider of tombs. Better access to educational tools, services, and cheaper devices like the Xbox One S – or better yet, an affordable PC – means you’re not restrained by the money in your pocket. Instead, you’re unleashed into virtual worlds to chase the digital horizon – and that experience, that access, might lead you to build your own game along that curve.
Many of the issues facing low-income game designers are baked into systemic problems, like postcode poverty, that reach beyond the games industry itself. But while there’s a long way to go down the path to a deeper and more diverse pool of industry talent, we’re now a step closer thanks to programs like DS and consoles for almost every budget and consideration. Heading into this next console generation – particularly looking at the pricing options for these new machines – neither PlayStation nor Xbox are the winners here; players are.
[poilib element=”accentDivider”]
Alysia Judge is a freelance writer and presenter. Chat to her on Twitter @alysiajudge.
Atari is preparing to launch a new console this fall, but the hardware will come alongside another business venture: a new approach to cryptocurrency. The Atari VCS is aiming to hit in November, and will let players buy wares using new “Atari Tokens.”
Bloomberg reports that starting October 29, Bitcoin Exchange will sell $1 million in Atari Tokens for 25 cents apiece. Players will be able to use tokens to buy in-game purchases, and Atari foresees the possibility of using its Tokens currency as an industry standard. It’s also said to be working on a gaming stablecoin, which isn’t ready to launch yet.
Atari is much smaller than its former self, currently at only around 20 staffers. The console launch and cryptocurrency hook are aimed at bringing back the brand after it emerged from bankruptcy. The strategy will rely on players hungry for nostalgia, as the Atari VCS is looking to introduce reimagined versions of classic Atari games like Missile Command: Recharged. It may be a difficult sell, though, coming in at $390–roughly the price of the all-digital PS5.
The Atari VCS is scheduled to release to backers in November. It will sell a classic joystick design alongside a more modern controller design–both priced at $60 each. For more details, check out our Atari VCS pre-order guide.
Click To Unmute
Size:
Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?
Welcome back to Game Scoop!, IGN’s weekly video game talk show. This week your Omega Cops — Daemon Hatfield, Tina Amini, Sam Claiborn, and Justin Davis — continue the Game of the Year Watch 2020 discussion with Hades, The Last of Us Part 2, Ghost of Tsushima, Animal Crossing, and more. There’s also the PlayStation 5 UI to discuss, the Xbox Series launch lineup, D-pads, and more. This episode features music from Werewolf and Blaster Master on NES, and closes with a track from The Terminator on Sega Genesis. Watch the video above or hit the link below to your favorite podcast service.
