Author: Trafficblast

Professional racing drivers are making a temporary jump to virtual racing as the motorsport world screeches to a halt while countries all over the globe attempt to limit the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. Pro NASCAR, IMSA Sportscar Championship, and Australian Supercars drivers will be competing in a host of different events via iRacing.

iRacing is a subscription-based PC racing simulator that has existing partnerships with a long list of real-world motorsport organisations and is favoured by professionals as the best in its class.

NASCAR has announced a new invitational series dubbed the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series. The series will feature competitors from the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series, as well as the truck series and other “NASCAR dignitaries.” NASCAR’s real events through until May 3 have currently been postponed.

“Until we have cars back on track, the entire NASCAR community has aligned to provide our passionate fans with a unique, fun, and competitive experience on race day,” said NASCAR vice president of racing development Ben Kennedy. “Our long-time partners at iRacing offer an incredible product and we are excited to see how many of our best drivers will stack up in the virtual domain of competitive racing.”

The series will feature Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Larson, and Christopher Bell and begins this Sunday, March 22 on the virtual version of Homestead-Miami Speedway. NASCAR notes the remaining race and broadcast details will be confirmed at a later date.

In addition, North America’s International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) has similarly announced that it will be hosting a virtual 90-minute, single-class iRacing shootout this weekend to mark the 12 Hours of Sebring. The real 12 Hours of Sebring was supposed be held this weekend but has been postponed until November.

“IMSA is committed to delivering a realistic racing experience to our fans, competitors, and partners this weekend,” said IMSA president John Doonan. “Most IMSA drivers use iRacing or other simulators on a regular basis to sharpen their skills and prepare for upcoming races. This weekend, they will do it in front of an audience. We are grateful to iRacing and many of our other partners for creating this opportunity to entertain our loyal IMSA fans.”

The entrants will include WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and Michelin Pilot Challenge drivers and the race will be streamed on iRacing’s Twitch channel and the iRacing eSports Network on YouTube.

Finally, Supercars Australia has revealed it too will run a virtual racing series to fill the gap for fans, also using iRacing (which was the platform for last year’s Supercars Eseries). The series will be broadcast live on Fox Sports, Kayo, and Supercars.com, as well as Supercars’ social media channels and Twitch.

The driver line-up is yet to be confirmed but Penrite Racing driver Anton De Pasquale is keen to get involved.

“I’ll definitely put my hand up and take part because it’s something I do a bit of now anyway,” De Pasquale told Supercars.com. “I’ve got a sim at home which I have a bit of fun on and hang out with some mates and do that kind of stuff, and then we have the one at Erebus too which we take a bit more seriously and use for development and training with myself.”

Supercars has pumped the brakes on the real series’ next three rounds (Tasmania, New Zealand, Western Australia) following the cancellation of last weekend’s Australian GP support races.

[ignvideo width=610 height=374 url=https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/07/04/f1-2019-review]

This isn’t the only virtual racing attracting real-life drivers, either. Last weekend’s ‘Not the AUS GP’ (hosted by Veloce Esports with Codemasters’ F1 2019) featured McLaren F1 driver Lando Norris and Mercedes Formula E driver Stoffel Vandoorne amongst others, and RaceRoom Racing Experience developer Sector3 also recently announced its upcoming online ‘VIP Race’. Sector3’s race will feature drivers from the World Touring Car Cup, the BTCC, the GT Masters, and the WEC. The race is being broadcast this Saturday via YouTube.

While the spread of COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on sports and resulted in a huge number of release delays and stalled productions, more importantly there are number of things you can do to stay safe during this pandemic.

[poilib element=”accentDivider”]

Luke is Games Editor at IGN’s Sydney office. You can find him on Twitter every few days @MrLukeReilly.

IOGear’s Kaliber Gaming sub-brand is at it again with the HVER Pro X gaming keyboard. This model continues the keyboard family’s legacy by delivering some premium keyboard features at a price well below the competition. In the case of the HVER Pro X it’s bringing optical-mechanical switches at just about $90, and it throws in a few other premium extras that make it fairly competitive. But, let’s see how it stacks up against the polish of the best gaming keyboards.

Design and Features

Optical-mechanical key switches are the key point of differentiation between the HVER Pro X and the Pro RGB, which uses standard mechanical Red- or Brown-style switches. While the actuation is handled by the optical switches, the design otherwise has a Brown-style mechanism, giving it a large but less pronounced tactile bump than a Blue-style switch.

Because the keyboard uses these optical switches instead of metal electrical contacts, IOGear claims the keyboard is spill resistant. That doesn’t mean you want to get liquids on it though. It may be spill resistant from an electrical standpoint, but after taking a close look around the keyboard, I see plenty of ways for spilled liquids to get into the chassis and very few ways for them to get back out. You don’t want to leave your keyboard full of water or any other liquid.

Aside from these changes, the HVER Pro X is very much the same as its mechanical counterpart, the HVER Pro RGB. It has an aluminum backplate for praiseworthy structural rigidity, double-injection keycaps to let the per-key RGB lighting shine through, and a plastic base with some rubber grips, two legs for adjusting the angle, and an attached keycap puller.

Much of the Pro X’s features sound better on paper than they are in person. The RGB lighting is dim even at its brightest setting. The fonts used on the keycaps, particularly in the number row, look like they’re not quite finished (8 looks more like a curvy H, and 0 looks like a pair of parentheses) – just as they were on the HVER Pro RGB.

The special functions like lighting and media controls on the keycaps are just printed on, dragging down the sense of quality.

The style itself gives the feeling of trying to be gamery without much consideration for how. The aluminum base plate extends past the keys and has some odd bends and little cutouts. It could have been a more compelling design if that extra metal was just folded down and out of the way. All the same, the keyboard does a good job not taking up much more space than it needs to.

Software

IOGear hasn’t stepped up its software game from the HVER Pro RGB. It’s still a very basic program for changing the lighting, setting up per-key lights, creating macros, and saving profiles. The software only offers three profiles, with no per-game profiles to let you set up macros specific to individual titles. Customizing the lighting is also tedious, and took me a little time to figure out despite having used this software before for the exact same thing.

Performance and Gaming

The HVER Pro X claims to have superior gaming performance thanks to its optical-mechanical switches. Because the keyboard can more accurately detect when a key is pressed or released, as there’s no debouncing involved, IOGear claims it can offer “25% faster key response actuation.”

Just how responsive it is, down to the millisecond, is beyond me. But, in my experience playing Rainbow Six Siege and Metal Gear Solid V with the keyboard, it felt perfectly dependenable. I didn’t notice any delay between my keypresses and in-game actions while playing Siege at 144fps. Quick taps to peek around corners for enemies worked out just like I’d hope, even if my ability to shoot the enemy before they shoot me is not always as consistent.

The HVER Pro X is every bit as dependable gaming as the Pro RGB in my experience. It maintains the 1,000Hz polling rate, anti-ghosting, and full N-Key rollover. But, for any advantages it may have in gaming, it falls apart outside of gaming.

The HVER Pro X may go for the same Brown-style key switch feel as the Pro RGB, but it’s not as consistent. It has the large tactile bump, which feels more like a big lump (think speed bump vs. speed hump). The kind of heavy presses I use in games work perfectly well, but lighter taps don’t always depress the key all the way over that lump. In game, that’s only really an issue in button-mashing quick-time events or in looting sprees when hammering away at E to pick up every item around.

Outside of games, the key switches feel awful to type on. It’s partly because the light taps aren’t always enough to actuate, but there’s a bigger issue at play. Missing a keypress because I stopped partway through the tactile bump is my fault, but I found I could press keys past the bump and still not actuate them. They took just a little more to actuate – so much for muscle memory. Then there’s the matter of consistency. It’s one thing for the space key to feel different from a letter key, but the bump felt different even among keys of the same size. Pressing the edges of keys also led to a different feel than pressing down in their center.

Those differences manifest themselves painfully in typing, as I often found myself failing to double-press a key or managing to press one letter before another. I’m not a perfect typist, but I can feel the HVER Pro X dramatically increasing the frequency of my typing errors. This is an issue the HVER Pro RGB didn’t have, as I found its mechanical switches surprisingly pleasant and consistent. Even the SteelSeries Apex 5 (a membrane keyboard!) felt more consistent in my testing.

Purchasing Guide

The IOGear HVER Pro X is available direct from IOGear with an MSRP of $89.

Square Enix has become the latest publisher to comment on the impact of COVID-19 (coronavirus). In a blog post, Square Enix Americas and Europe CEO Phil Rogers started off by saying the teams at Square Enix are supporting each other and their families and friends, as well as the gaming community at large, during this stressful time.

Rogers said Square Enix has been following the health and safety guidelines that local governments have put forward recently. In February, Square Enix stopped allowing domestic and international business travel for its employees, in addition to limiting the number of people who visit its offices.

Additionally, Square Enix is now allowing its developers to work from home, similar to countless other developers, including Bungie and Rockstar Games.

For those who cannot work from home, Square Enix has put measures in place to “reduce office density” by staggering work hours.

Rogers also stressed that Square Enix’s teams will continue to support its live service games, while work on upcoming titles will continue. While Square Enix won’t have an E3 presence–because that show has been canceled–the company is planning to host a “digital showcase” for some of its upcoming games. Square Enix has a number of marquee games coming up this year, including the much-anticipated Avengers game.

Also in the blog post, Rogers reiterated that Final Fantasy VII Remake is on track to launch on April 10 as scheduled, but he noted that deliveries of the game’s physical copies may be delayed due to disruptions to the supply chain and the closure of some physical stores.

“There is no question that these are uncertain times,” Rogers said. “While we don’t know how long these measures will remain in effect, we want to reassure gamers that we will do everything in our power to keep you entertained and connected with your friends across the globe as we work through these challenging times together.”

Free Comic Book Day 2020 has been postponed to an unspecified date later in the summer due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Diamond Comic Distributors made the announcement on their website on Thursday. The event was originally scheduled for Saturday, May 2.

“The severity and timing of the impact of the COVID-19 virus can’t be predicted with any certainty, but the safety of our retailer partners and comic book fans is too important to risk,” Diamond Founder and CEO Steve Geppi said in a statement. “As always, we appreciate your enthusiasm for and support of the comic industry’s best event and look forward to celebrating with you later in the Summer.”

[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”albumSlug=20-most-anticipated-comics-of-2020&captions=true”]

47 different comics have been announced for Free Comic Book Day. The Free Comic Book Day website lists comics featuring X-Men, Spider-Man, Donald Duck, Riverdale, Street Fighter, My Little Pony, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and Bloodshot, with even more available on the day.

Marvel is planning to launch new storylines for X-Men and Spider-Man on Free Comic Book Day. X-Men #1 comes from House of X writer Jonathan Hickman and artist Pepe Larraz. A press release from February said it “will lead into a game-changing summer for all of X.”

As for DC, they were planning a big event for the Flash on Free Comic Book Day that would followup the Flash Forward miniseries. DC says the comic “lays the foundation for even more seismic-level changes in the DC Universe.” Marvel and DC haven’t announced any release changes due to Free Comic Book Day’s delay at this time.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/10/09/marvels-x-men-now-have-a-bold-new-status-quo-ign-now”]

Check out IGN’s list of the 20 most anticipated comics of 2020 and be sure to read these 25 issues while binging Comixology Unlimited.

While it’s always great to support local comic book stores, now is the best time to stay at home and go through some comics digitally. IGN has rounded up links to various charities and tips on how to stay safe during these times.

[poilib element=”accentDivider”]

Petey Oneto is a freelance writer for IGN who will be ready to support local comic book stores when everything’s back up and ready.

March has brought a ton of Legendary Pokemon to Pokemon Go, and now one more is set to arrive before the month officially wraps up. Niantic has announced that Landorus, the third and final member of the Forces of Nature trio from Pokemon Black and White, will appear in Pokemon Go beginning March 31.

Until April 21, you’ll be able to encounter Landorus around the world in five-star Raids. That isn’t the only way you’ll be able to catch the Legendary, however; Landorus will also be available as a Go Battle League reward for a limited time. You can read more about the Legendary on the official Pokemon Go website.

In the meantime, another Gen 5 Legendary, Cobalion, is available in Go again as part of a limited-time Raid event, which is set to end March 23. The Legendary Lugia will also return for its own Raid event from March 24-31. Each of those two Pokemon has a special event-exclusive move this time around, and you may encounter their Shiny forms.

Genesect is also making its debut in Pokemon Go this month. The Mythical Pokemon will be available through a Special Research story event called A Drive to Investigate. You need to purchase a virtual ticket to participate in this event, but you’ll also have a chance to encounter Genesect in EX Raids beginning in April.

Pokemon Go’s Cobalion and Lugia Raid events have been extended, but a few other events planned for this month–including March’s Community Day and the Safari Zone events in St. Louis, Liverpool, and Philadelphia–have been postponed indefinitely due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Those who purchased Safari Zone tickets can request refunds, but if you decide to keep them, you’ll still be able to encounter special Pokemon and Field Research tasks during the originally scheduled event hours.

Rian Johnson wanted to test Star Wars: The Last Jedi while he was making the movie, but the secrecy surrounding the franchise made that impossible.

In the bonus features on the home release for Johnson’s latest movie, Knives Out, the filmmaker revealed the test screening for Knives Out went better than he could’ve imagined, sparking a wish that he could have done the same for The Last Jedi.

“[The Knives Out test] was like a party in the theater, it was really fun. It was like the first time I was like ‘Oh wow, this actually plays. This is good,'” Johnson said, according to Screen Rant. “Which is really nice and that’s something on Star Wars, you can’t test Star Wars movies for a lot of different reasons. I’ve always hated test screening, and when we were making Star Wars, at a certain point in the process you’re like ‘God, I would give my left arm to put this in front of 300 people in Burbank and just see how it plays.’”

[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”albumSlug=star-wars-force-powers-you-probably-didnt-know-about&captions=true”]

As Screen Rant points out, it’s anyone’s guess what the test audience response might have been, or what changes might have resulted in the final cut. Review aggregator Metacritic indicates a sharp divide between critics (with an average score of 85 out of 100) and general audiences (with an average score of 4.3 out of 10). Johnson also recently heaped praise on The Rise of Skywalker, a sequel that has also divided fans and is currently one of the lowest-scoring Star Wars movies on Rotten Tomatoes.

Johnson is now an Oscar and BAFTA nominee after Knives Out was nominated for Best Original Screenplay at both ceremonies. He lost both awards to Parasite. He is now set to work on a new trilogy of Star Wars movies that will move “beyond the legacy characters” but is planning a sequel to Knives Out first.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/20/rian-johnson-defends-the-last-jedis-luke-skywalker-ign-now”]

For more Star Wars news, find out the revelations contained in the Rise of Skywalker novelization and learn about the new era being explored in The High Republic.

[poilib element=”accentDivider”]

Petey Oneto is a freelance writer for IGN who is more excited for Knives Out 2 than anything Star Wars at this point.

Times are tough right now for everyone. Social distancing has people feeling isolated, and things are generally a bit scary. Luckily, there is a wonderfully wholesome remedy on the way in the form of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. And, well, dammit, I need it now. I’ve got virtual fruit to pick, fake mortgages to amass, and the fossilized remains of prehistoric creatures to collect, catalog, and enshrine. (Have you ever considered how cute Animal Crossing dinosaurs would be? Makes you think.)

It’s been a long, long wait for the game, whether you’re looking at how long it’s been since the last core entry (New Leaf in 2013) or even just when New Horizons itself was set to be released before its delay (sometime in 2019, which feels like an eternity ago). While many had hoped Nintendo would break its own release date and start selling it early–there was even a petition to that effect–that hasn’t happened.

That means we’re stuck counting down every last second until its unlock time on the Eshop, which we expect to be 9 PM PT on March 19 (12 AM ET on March 20) in the US. If you’re like us, that won’t stop you from refreshing the Eshop, repeatedly trying to open the preloaded game, restarting your system, and messing with the console’s date in the hopes that the game will shake loose like a dangling Snickers in a vending machine. It ain’t gonna work, so save yourself the heartache.

With that in mind, we’ve devised what we hope is a simple, straightforward method for determining whether or not Animal Crossing: New Horizons is, in fact, available. To figure out whether you can start playing, please consult the scientifically sound chart below. Stay tuned to this story for important updates.

Is Animal Crossing Available?

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic may cause some disruptions in Amazon’s shipments of Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Doom Eternal. Customers who have pre-ordered either title through the online retailer have been receiving emails notifying them that there may be a delay in their delivery, as the company will “temporarily” be prioritizing shipping out household and medical items.

“As COVID-19 has spread, we’ve recently seen an increase in people shopping online which has had an impact on how we serve our customers,” Amazon said in a statement shared with GameSpot. “So in the short term, we are temporarily prioritizing household staples, medical supplies, and other high demand products coming into our fulfillment centers so we can more quickly receive, restock, and ship these products to customers. As a result, customers who ordered Animal Crossing: New Horizon or Doom Eternal may experience a delay in the delivery of their items. We are very sorry for the inconvenience this may cause our customers.”

Doom and Animal Crossing certainly aren’t the only games that may be impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak. Square Enix recently shared a message informing fans that although Final Fantasy VII Remake is still scheduled to launch on April 10, the coronavirus outbreak may prevent some from being able to get the game on launch day.

Physical retailers across the country have similarly been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, with many either indefinitely closed or operating on shortened hours. GameStop, however, has issued memos to employees to remain open, even if that defies state policy.