Author: Trafficblast

Ahead of the release of Marvel’s Avengers on April 15, 2020 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Google Stadia, the comic book giant is releasing a series of prequel comics that tell the story of the iconic superhero dream team prior to the events of the game. The first issue, called Marvel’s Avengers: Iron Man, is out today.

The comic’s store page sheds some light on what to expect from the brand new Marvel story, at least in the build-up to the game. The Avengers will be going up against the Lethal Legion, an odious group of villains that have appeared throughout Marvel comics history, reforming with a new leader each time they return. They’re not the most well-known antagonists, with the group consisting of the likes of Porcupine, Metal Master, Man-Ape, Batroc The Leaper, and even demonically-enhanced versions of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and Nazi official Heinrich Himmler. It’s probably a safe bet to say the latter two won’t be making a reappearance here.

“When Tony Stark discovers his enemies have co-opted Stark technology for nefarious purposes, it’s up to him to stop the leak,” the synopsis says. “But can his teammates be trusted, or is something more sinister at play? Featuring the debut of the game’s Avengers, as well as never before seen takes on some classic villains, you won’t want to miss this landmark moment in comics history!”

Marvel has plans to release more comics in the series, with each member of the game’s Avengers getting their own starring role. Thor #1 releases on January 8, 2020, followed by Hulk #1 on February 5. Both Captain America and Black Widow will see their comics released in March.

Marvel’s Avengers was first announced back in 2017, but we finally got our first glimpse of the game in action at E3 earlier this year. It’s a third-person action title with some RPG elements, letting you take control of Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Hulk, and Thor. Somewhat surprisingly, however, Kamala Khan’s Ms. Marvel is the real star of the game. We’ve played it, and finally understand what exactly it is.

We’re rolling out sneak peeks for Netflix’s The Witcher all month long as part of our IGN First exclusive set visit. Keep it locked right here for never-before-seen interviews and behind the scenes footage of the White Wolf, Ciri, and Yennefer. And be sure to check out The Witcher when it premieres on Netflix on Friday, December 20, 2019.

When we first encountered Henry Cavill’s Geralt of Rivia on the set of Netflix’s The Witcher series in Budapest, there were no massive green screens or charging hordes of enemy combatants. Instead, Cavill stood stoically near a riverbed, accompanied by his horse, Roach, and the bard Jaskier (Joey Batey) — also known as Dandelion in the games and English translations of the novels. Before embarking on our journey to the Continent, we had already devoured Andrzej Sapkowski’s books and played hundreds of hours of The Witcher video game franchise, and it was truly surreal to see Cavill’s Geralt out in the wild.

Continue reading…

A piece of cut content from Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice has been uncovered, and it recontextualizes an important moment late in the game. Spoilers follow.

The modder Lance McDonald, who is known for having uncovered cut content in previous FromSoftware games, found an important but missing piece of dialogue surrounding the character Anayama. If he catches Dragonrot, he can be cured, but he curiously lacks any kind of dialogue when it happens.

Apparently that’s not the case if he’s cured using a special curative pellet that was cut from the game. In that instance, he was going to have an exchange in which he refused to accept the item for free, and so Sekiro charged him a nominal fee of a single Sen. That information changes the context of a later story event, when Sekiro meets Anayama for the last time near the end of the game. At that point, Ayanama offers the Promisory Note for a single Sen, effectively exchanging the kindness back in return.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was one of our nominees for the best games of 2019, which are being detailed throughout this week. GameSpot’s top Game of the Year winner will be revealed on December 17.

It’s back: Amazon has resurrected its best deal ever on the Echo Dot. First run back in October, the deal gets you a third-generation Echo Dot and a one-month subscription to Amazon Music Unlimited for just $8.98. That’s $41 off the normal price of the Dot alone, plus you get to listen to pretty much any song you want for a month.

The only potential hitch is that you have to be a new Amazon Music Unlimited subscriber. And if you don’t want to continue your subscription, you’ll want to cancel before you’re billed for the second month. Do that, and you’ll save a heap of cash.

Echo Dot + 1 Month Amazon Music Unlimited for $8.98

Continue reading…

Infinity Ward has just rolled out a multiplayer playlist update for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. The update rotates in some new game modes (including an old fan favorite), adds a new map to Ground War, and includes new additions to the shooter’s Hardcore mode.

For starters, Gunfight has now been replaced by Gunfight: OSP, which adds a twist to the small-scale 2v2 mode introduced in this year’s Call of Duty. The setup is much the same, with the key difference being players will have to scavenge weapons on the battlefield as opposed to being provided with a loadout at the start of each round.

The fan-favorite Infected also makes its way to Modern Warfare for the first time. Originally introduced as an April Fool’s joke in Modern Warfare 3, the mode has since become a staple of the series, pitting a randomly selected “infected” player against everyone else. Uninfected players have to avoid or kill the infected, while the infected player has to spread the so-called disease until the uninfected’s player numbers dwindle and there’s eventually no one left.

Both modes will be leaving the game in just over a week on December 18, so make the most of them while you still can.

In addition to Gunfight: OSP and Infected, the playlist update also adds the Aniyah Palace map to Ground War–the large-scale 64 player mode that’s got more than a little Battlefield about it. Aniyah Palace was actually one of the first Ground War maps Infinity Ward showed off prior to Modern Warfare’s release, and it’s finally made its way into the game now. A smaller version of the map was previously available in 10v10 modes, but even then the map felt too big for the player numbers, so it was removed.

Elsewhere, the Hardcore playlist has added Shoot House 24/7, another NVG Moshpit, and a Free For All mode.

Season One of Modern Warfare kicked off last week, bringing with it new content and a 100-tier Battle Pass. It also marked the opening of an in-game store, which has now been stocked with a couple of new cosmetic bundles: Cold Blood and Mother Russia. Activision described both bundles in a blog post, saying, “The ‘Cold Blood’ bundle is fit for a cold and hardened Operator. Pick it up to look fierce in the ‘Winter Warrior’ skin for Golem, take out the competition with the ‘White Out’ handgun weapon blueprint, or take some time with the ‘Precious Commodity’ watch, and more. Get this collection of chill items to look the part of a stone-cold killer.

“Say ‘Dasvidaniya’ to your foes and channel the menacing force of the Red State with the ‘Mother Russia’ Featured Bundle. The bundle includes the ‘Commuter’ Operator skin for Yegor to blend in with the locals, the ‘Old Country’ LMG weapon blueprint for high damage eliminations, the ‘Brass Tactics’ Finishing Move to pummel your enemies, and more. Get the ‘Mother Russia’ bundle for themed goods from the Motherland.”