Author: Trafficblast

It’s been less than a week since PlayStation announced it won’t be attending PAX East in Boston due to “increasing concerns” over COVID-19, otherwise known as the novel coronavirus. Now, the mayor of Boston has reached out to Sony to appeal to the company, urging them to make a decision based on “facts, not fear,” and urging PlayStation to not play into “harmful stereotypes” about Chinese people.

According to WCVB (via Eurogamer), Boston Mayor Marty Walsh has sent a letter to PlayStation CEO Kenichiro Yoshida, saying to the gaming company president that the risk of individuals contracting the COVID-19 in Boston and Massachusetts remains extremely low. Walsh also stated in the letter that anti-Chinese and anti-Asian sentiment and misinformation have played a role in the increasing fear of the COVID-19 in the United States.

“These fears reinforce harmful stereotypes that generations of Asians have worked hard to dismantle,” reads Walsh’s letter. “They trigger our worst impulses: to view entire groups of people with suspicion, to close ourselves off, and to miss out on the opportunities and connections our global city provides. Boston is united in our efforts to dispel these harmful and misguided fears.”

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Walsh specifically urged PlayStation to play a role in pushing back against these fears.

“As a large, international company, you have an opportunity to set a good example,” Walsh wrote. “As a leader in technology, you can show that you are motivated by facts, not fear. As a leader in gaming and culture, you can show that you believe in connection, not isolation.”

So far, only one Boston resident has been confirmed to have contracted COVID-19. That resident, a man in his 20s who attends the University of Massachusetts and returned from recent trip to Wuhan, the Chinese city at the center of the outbreak, has since been kept in isolation in his home where he is currently recovering.

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Since COVID-19 appeared in Boston, Walsh has started a social media campaign focused on easing the fears of the city’s Chinatown’s business.

PlayStation has yet to publicly respond to Walsh’s letter.

An increase in racist comments and attacks has been linked to increasing fear over COVID-19. A viral video recorded recently shows a man on an LA subway train ranting at an Asian woman, saying “every disease has ever came from China.” Similarly, another video recorded at a Super 8 in Plymouth, Indiana shows a man denying a room to two Hmong men over a similar fear. Other video footage shows a man attacking an Asian woman seemingly for wearing a face mask, a common accessory in Asian communities long before COVID-19 arose.

As of February 23, COVID-19 has killed approximately 2,442 people in China’s mainland, with a total of 76,936 reported infections, according to Aljazeera. According to CNN, United States health officials have confirmed 35 cases of COVID-19 in the country. The highest concentration of individuals with COVID-19 appears to be in California, with a confirmed eight cases.

PlayStation and Facebook (which owns the Oculus VR brand) similarly also pulled out of the 2020 Game Developers Conference, which is hosted in San Francisco’s downtown district from March 16 to March 20, citing the same concerns over the coronavirus.

“We have made the difficult decision to cancel our participation in Game Developers Conference due to increasing concerns related to COVID-19… We felt this was the best option as the situation related to the virus and global travel restrictions are changing daily,” Sony said in a statement. “We are disappointed to cancel our participation, but the health and safety of our global workforce is our highest concern. We look forward to participating in GDC in the future.”

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PlayStation not attending PAX East also means that a previously planned demo of The Last of Us Part II will not be available for the public.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has interrupted other gaming events as well. The Overwatch development team has announced it will temporarily relocate its Chinese teams to South Korea, and Nintendo confirmed the outbreak will impact Animal Crossing: New Horizons shipments in Japan.

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Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer for IGN.

Warning: The following contains FULL SPOILERS for all of Hunters, which is now streaming on Amazon’s Prime Video platform…

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Now that you’ve (hopefully) finished Hunters, and absorbed the diabolically absurd (yet also hugely telegraphed) twist involving Al Pacino’s Meyer Offerman, it’s time to dig into what exactly happened and how the story sets things up for a possible second season.

In our review of Hunters, it’s noted that the show bounces back and forth, rather freely, between awesome and outlandish – between grounded and goofy. The hard left turn in the Season 1 finale, titled “Eilu v’ Eilu,” is sort of a glorious representation of that tonal clash in that it makes sense (and is easy to predict, especially after Episode 5, “At Night, All Birds are Black,” when Meyer kills the Leni Riefenstahl-syle Nazi who starts to give him away) and yet also feels utterly ridiculous and unnecessary.

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Let’s examine the twist a tiny bit and see where it leaves us, and the story, in general…

The Wolf Revealed

Okay, so “The Wolf” was Meyer Offerman’s white whale. He was the cruel concentration camp Nazi who was in love with Ruth and took out all his anger over her rejection on Meyer, whom he sadistically tortured (and forced to commit heinous murders in order to spare Ruth’s life). For half of the season, we were all aware Meyer wasn’t who he said he was. That much was clear after he quickly killed Barbara Sukowa’s Tilda because she called him the “biggest charlatan of them all,” as well as a “great pretender” (in German).

But the finale still made an earnest effort to try and force us forget all that by casting William Sadler in the role of Dr. Friedrich Mann – the plastic surgeon Jonah thinks is “The Wolf.” Sadler here is a red herring, though he works to throw us off the trail because the series, over the course of Season 1, has already used notable guest stars for bad guy pop-ins – like Sukowa, Fringe’s John Noble, and even freakin’ Keir Dullea (in a bedridden role reminiscent of the end of 2001). So Sadler could be The Wolf, right? He even looks like an older version of the actor playing the young part.

However, when Jonah presents Mann to Meyer, Meyer does that suspicious thing again of killing a person quickly before they can give him up. Mann is stabbed dead and Meyer thinks he’s in the clear. But Jonah realizes, in that moment, that Meyer went against his own protocols for killing The Wolf – which included the reciting of a prayer. Meyer confesses to Jonah that – yup – he is The Wolf. Whaaaaaat?

Yes, Meyer Offerman is/was Jonah’s real grandfather, but Pacino’s character is not Meyer Offerman (and maybe a reason for the casting of a non-Jewish person in the role). The real Wolf, soon after the camps were liberated by Allied Forces in 1945, escaped his captors and killed Meyer out in the woods. He then wrote Ruth a “Dear John” letter, as Meyer, and took Meyer’s full identity. Eventually, to blend in even more, he paid Mann to give him facial surgery in order to look more like Meyer.

Then, after 30 years of living as a Jewish person, fully indoctrinated in the culture and faith, the fake Meyer saw the error of his evil ways and decided to hunt down his fellow Nazis. Was he a double agent? No. He really did want to stop the Nazis and their new plot for a Fourth Reich. But he was also a monster through and through. He’d robbed many of their lives and unleashed unparalleled cruelty.

It’s also highly likely he had Ruth killed after she came to him, 30 years later, and told him she’d found a few Nazis. She’d made an appointment to see Mann and that would have gotten her close to the truth about fake Meyer. After all, she was the “verifier” for the group. She would have known Mann wasn’t The Wolf eventually. So fake Mayer may have put Kenneth Tigar’s “chess Nazi” onto Ruth to silence her, so he could bring in Jonah as his possible successor.

Anyhow, Jonah kills fake Meyer (with bullets, and the golden dagger) after reciting the Kaddish prayer Meyer always said he’d say aloud before he killed The Wolf.

Season 2 Set Up

The team learning that Meyer wasn’t Meyer basically disintegrates their bond. It’s such a shock to the system that the members reel from the news in various ways. Mindy straight up leaves, to go live with her family. Joe also takes off (though he’s quickly kidnapped – more on that later!). The rest just stick around to ty and do some good in the wake of Meyer’s crazy betrayal. With Jonah seemingly at the helm, and Harriet presenting them with a new mission in Europe, Roxy and Lonny say they’re in.

Normally, for a story, a twist like the one involving Meyer could be a game-ender. It would work as a nice bookend to wrap up the adventure. But Hunters used quite a bit of its finale setting up a Season 2. Not only is there a partial team still around, but we also checked in with Jerrika Hinton’s Agent Morris, who will now have secret funding to go after Nazis from the right side of the law (Jonah even says that Millie will try to stop them while they try to stop Nazis), as well as Greg Austin’s Travis, who kills his Jewish lawyer in order to gain more respect behind bars as a Nazi gang leader.

Even Dylan Baker’s “Biff Simpson” made it out alive, escaping to the Soviet Union with false papers (and very little knowledge of the Russian language).

So as you can see, most every character from Season 1, save for Meyer and Murray, are still around for the show’s sophomore season.

Eva and Adolf, Argentina Style

Okay, so if the twist of Meyer not being the real Meyer wasn’t outrageous enough for you, Joe’s abduction down to Argentina revealed that – well – a certain Führer was still alive and kicking!

And not only that, but Lena Olin’s character, who’d only been referred to as “The Colonel,” was Hitler’s wife Eva Braun…

Yes, this “gotcha” moment, right at the end of the finale, plays off the history of Nazis successfully fleeing to South America (hell, Erik Lehnsherr even kills a few in Argentina in X-Men: First Class) – presuming that Hitler himself even made it out alive and went there.

All we needed here, with Pacino now officially off the series, was for the camera to pan up and reveal it was De Niro as Hitler.

What did you all think of the ending to Hunters: Season 1? Are you excited for more or were the twists and reveals too ludicrous to believe? Let us know below…

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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.

SPOILERS for Westworld seasons 1, 2, and promo material for season 3 below. Read with caution if you want to go into season 3 absolutely blind.

While we’ve all been waiting patiently for Westworld season 3, a group of diehard fans has managed to dig through a fake website tied to an ARG (augmented reality game) for the show. In the process, three new trailers for Westworld season 3 have been discovered.

According to a report from Westworld Watchers (via io9), Westworld fans dug through the real website for the very much fake Incite Inc, a shadowy company that appears to play a role in Westworld season 3. Specifically, Reddit user MTC_Chickpea found a total of three trailers hidden in various spots on the website, which looks pretty much exactly like the vaguely west coast-ish media/tech firm you’d see in any sinister sci-fi future tale.

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Despite being posted to YouTube on February 19, the three videos were unlisted, hence why it took a bit of internet sleuthing from fans to discover them.

None of the trailers are terribly long, but they do provide a ton of new peeks at characters old and new, plus what tensions there might be between certain characters.

The first trailer, titled “Free Will Is Not Free,” shows off characters like Aaron Paul’s character Caleb, plus Dolores, Ed Harris’ Man in Black, and Jeffrey Wright’s Bernard in various states of turmoil. It’s all intermittently broken up by various bits of text reading things like “escape is not freedom,” and “disruption is not change.”

 

Trailer two, which clocks in at a heftier two minutes and forty seconds, follows Dolores far more closely as she describes to Aaron Paul how the two are alike, and alludes to what they’re going to do about each other’s seemingly connected plots in life. We also see Maeve get introduced to a new, very corporate-looking gentlemen who tasks her with finding and killing Dolores. Spread out throughout the trailer are a couple more shots from what appears to be a car chase through the streets of a city.

The third trailer, “When Caleb Meets Dolores,” is definitely the weirdest of them all, and is clearly a sort of dark parody of meet-cute romantic comedy movies like When Harry Met Sally. Set to some jaunty music, Aaron Paul and Dolores meet up, Dolores teases him with a few key hints about her plans to start a revolution, and Paul remarks on how Dolores is the first real thing to happen to him in a long time. If it weren’t for the shadowy lighting, creepy parties with masked violinists, and, you know, the murder, it would definitely pass for a trailer at your local showing of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.

It’s unclear if this mysterious Incite Inc ARG has any other clues left to give, but rest assured that the internet will most likely find out.

While you’re waiting for more Westworld season 3 teases to drop, check out the actual trailer that HBO debuted just two days ago, or check out the official poster.

For more on Westworld, be sure to check out Westworld Awakening – a VR game where you play as a self-aware host, a behind the scenes look at season 2, and why the Man in Black’s story is Westworld’s greatest tragedy.

Westworld season 3 debuts on HBO on March 15, 2020 at 9 P.M. Eastern Time.

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Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer for IGN.

As production on The Batman kicks off (and set photos circulate of a fully batsuit-ed Robert Pattison riding a batcycle), actor Jeffrey Wright has shared some of the reading he’s doing to prep for his role as Jim Gordon.

In his Instagram post, Wright, who’s set to appear in Season 3 of HBO’s Westworld in March, revealed an image of the trade paperback Batman: The Golden Age Vol. 1. Here’s a look…

“Background reads for the culture,” Wright writes. “In the beginning…”

Batman: The Golden Age Vol. 1 contains Detective Comics #27-45, Batman #1-3, and New York World’s Fair Comics #2 – so it really hones in on the Caped Crusader’s first published outings as Gotham’s go-to vigilante. Director Matt Reeves has said that The Batman will focus on Batman’s detective abilities, emphasizing a rogues gallery and offering a more mystery, Noir-influenced take on Gotham City.

Though no one knows yet if Wright’s Jim Gordon will hold the title of “commissioner” in The Batman, or if the story will have him start out as a detective or lieutenant, Gordon was police commissioner in his first appearance in Detective Comics #27.

Check out Robert Pattinson in the batsuit, as part of test footage released by Reeves, as well as all the various comic book influences for the suit.

You can also see IGN’s official ranking of all the movie batsuits here.

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Plus, Ben Affleck recently explained why he gave up playing Batman in the DCEU.

The Batman — which releases June 25, 2021 — stars Pattison as Bruce Wayne / Batman, Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle / Catwoman, Colin Farrel as Oswald Cobblepot / The Penguin, Jeffrey Wright as Jim Gordon, Paul Dano as Edward Nashton / The Riddler, Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth, and John Turturro as Gotham City mobster Carmine Falcone.

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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.

 

Court documents reveal that Activision is attempting to subpoena Reddit in order to uncover the identity of the user who recently leaked key art for Modern Warfare’s battle royale game mode, Warzone.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Activision is filing a Digital Millennium Copyright Act subpoena against Reddit in an effort to reveal the identity of the user who leaked “infringing Activision content.”

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The now-deleted Reddit post seemingly revealed some key art from the upcoming Modern Warfare: Warzone game mode. This is not the first Warzone leak, as there have been a handful of leaks over the past couple of months, which have all but confirmed the unannounced battle royale game mode.

A December leak seemingly revealed an official look at the new Warzone map, while a leak earlier this month seems to reveal the full battle royale map. Since Modern Warfare leaks are not uncommon, it’s unclear why Activision is just now deciding to take legal action.

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IGN has reached out to Activision for a comment, but did not immediately receive a reply. A DMCA subpoena allows a company to notify another company that copyright-protected materials have been posted in some form on their own service, ostensibly compelling that company to respond and take down the infringing material. The DMCA protects companies like Reddit, YouTube, or other internet-based companies from legal damages if a user posts another company’s content on their site, so long as they agree to comply to the subpoena.

Activision is not the only company that has taken legal action against a leaker in the past few months. In November, Epic sued a UX tester for leaking details about Fortnite Chapter 2, and one month later sued another leaker for the same thing.

At the time of writing, it is unclear if Activision will be successful in subpoenaing Reddit to court, and if Reddit will comply with releasing the user’s identity. We will update this story in the coming days as more news unfolds.

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Andrew Smith is a freelance contributor with IGN. Follow him on Twitter @_andrewtsmith.

A new leak from Target employees seems to confirm that a new generation of the Apple TV, iPod Touch, and AirPod tech is in the works. Listed as placeholders in the Target backend, these listings don’t mention any kind of release date but do offer some pricing details.

Uncovered by 9to5Mac, the placeholder listing has the new Apple TV priced at $179.99, which is $30 more than the 4th generation Apple TV and the same price as the Apple TV 4K. The iPod Touch and AirPods are currently listed at $399.

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It is fairly common for retailers to create placeholders for unannounced items so that the backend will be all set up when the new products arrive. Further, these prices are far from confirmed, as retailers usually just put in a “best guess” price until an official announcement has been made.

It’s important to note that while a new generation of Apple products is likely coming, none of this has been officially confirmed by the tech giant. Apple tends to hold a major event every spring, so it’s possible there might be an announcement then.

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The new Apple TV will likely look to provide additional support for Apple Arcade, the company’s game streaming service. Apple Arcade released last September and costs $5 a month.

While you’re waiting for the new generation of Apple products to be released, check out our comprehensive list of all Apple Arcade games and our review of Apple TV.

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Andrew Smith is a freelance contributor with IGN. Follow him on Twitter @_andrewtsmith.