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Intellivision Amico Delayed For a Third Time to the End of 2021

The Intellivision Amico – a new take on the classic console from the 1980s – has been delayed a third time to the end of 2021.

As reported by VGC, the Intellivision Amico was originally set to be released in October 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic caused its first delay to April 2021 and then another to Fall 2021. This latest delay was announced in an email to those who pre-ordered the system, with Intellivision announcing that the international component supply and various logistical challenges have led to this decision.

“The team at Intellivision has been working tirelessly to bring Amico, our family-focused entertainment system, to eager households around the world,” Intellivision wrote. “We’ve grown to a strong and stable company of more than 60 passionate team members spanning three continents, representing some of the industry’s best talent. All of us are extremely excited to share Amico with you.

“We originally planned to launch Amico in the Fall of 2020 but had to adapt during the midst of the global pandemic disrupting our production. Despite our best efforts, and now facing new unprecedented international component supply and logistics challenges beyond our control, we want to apologise as we are forced to push our desired launch date yet again.”

The company then assured its fans that it is “focused and determined to deliver pre-ordered units by the end of the year.” Furthermore, this delay will “allow us more time to optimise our operating system for future game development.”

To help make this news a bit more bearable, Intellivision has promised that those who have already pre-ordered will be getting “a very special thank you gift via email next week” as an apology.

IGN Middle East had the chance to get hands-on with the Intellivision Amico and talk to CEO Tommy Tallarico about the console that is built on four pillars known as S.A.F.E. – Simple, Affordable, Family, and Entertainment.

When first announced, it was revealed to come with a price tag of between $150-180 and that all of its game would be rated E for Everyone or E10+. All the games would be downloadable and will run between $3-$8, with no high-priced DLC or in-game purchases.

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Trevor Moore, Comedian and Co-Founder of The Whitest Kids U’ Know, Dies at 41

Trevor Moore, a comedian, actor, writer, producer, and co-founder of the sketch comedy group The Whitest Kids U’ Know, died on Friday, August 6, at the age of 41.

As reported by THR, Moore suffered an accident that caused his death, which was confirmed by his manager, Kara Walker, who shared the following words on behalf of Moore’s Wife, Aimee Carlson.

“We are devastated by the loss of my husband, best friend and the father of our son. He was known as a writer and comedian to millions, and yet to us he was simply the center of our whole world. We don’t know how we’ll go on without him, but we’re thankful for the memories we do have that will stay with us forever. We appreciate the outpouring of love and support we have received from everyone. This is a tragic and sudden loss and we ask that you please respect our privacy during this time of grieving.”

Moore was born in 1980 in Montclair, New Jersey and began writing as a young child. He had his first published work at the age of 12 – a book of cartoons titled Scraps. In 1999, he moved to NYC and interned with Saturday Night Live’s producer Lorne Michaels and was a member of NBC’s page program.

Moore was perhaps best known for co-founding the sketch comedy group The Whitest Kids U’ Know with Zach Cregger, Sam Brown, Timmy Williams, and Darren Trumpter. The group started off as a officially sanctioned club at New York’s School of Visual Arts until 2003 when it started touring comedy venues in New York City as its own entity.

The group won an award at the HBO US Comedy Arts Festival in 2006, and the group’s self-titled series The Whitest Kids U’ Know ran from 2007-2011 on IFC. Moore also had a bunch of other television writing and directing credits, including Uncle Morty’s Dub Shack and Disney XD’s Walk the Prank and Just Roll With It.

“Early this morning, we learned that we lost our brother, our collaborator and the driving force behind WKUK,” Cregger and Brown wrote. “He was our best friend, and we speak for all of us in saying that the loss of Trevor is unimaginable. We are heartbroken and our grief pales in comparison to the loss felt by his wife and son. On behalf of WKUK, we ask for privacy during our time of profound grief, and strength for his family who are dealing with the impossible thought of living life without him. Our hope is that friends, fellow artists, and fans that loved him will not focus on his death, but will remember the countless moments of laughter he gave them.”

Moore is survived by his wife Aimee and their Son, August.

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

The Suicide Squad Wins the Domestic Box Office With an Underwhelming $26.5 Million

The Suicide Squad won the domestic box office this weekend with an underwhelming $26.5 million, which may have been the result of the film being available on HBO Max at no extra charge and the rising concern of the Delta variant of COVID-19.

As reported by Variety, The Suicide Squad earned another $35 million from 70 overseas territories, but that is still a far cry away from its budget of $185 million and the “many million more to promote globally.”

As previously mentioned, there are many factors that most likely led to this, especially considering the universal praise of the film from director James Gunn. It also most likely did very well on HBO Max, but DC has yet to disclose those numbers.

“Currently, this is an unforgiving market,” says David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. “Under normal conditions, a strong marketing campaign can overcome a few drawbacks and generate a good weekend. Under current conditions, that isn’t happening.”

The Suicide Squad did, however, have the largest domestic pandemic opening weekend for an R-rated film, which also may have kept out some of the younger crowd.

2016’s Suicide Squad had opening weekend sales of $133 million before continuing on to rake in $746 million globally, but that was obviously before the pandemic and the movie wasn’t available on any streaming service.

Wonder Woman 1984, another DC film that was also released on HBO Max, earned $16.7 million in its opening weekend in December 2020. At that time, only around 35% of theaters were reopened as opposed to around 85% of theaters in the US and Canada today, according to Comscore. The Suicide Squad was also just shy of beating Birds of Prey’s $33.3 million.

The Suicide Squad beat out Disney’s Jungle Cruise, which dropped 55% from last week by earning $15.7 million. It earned $34.2 million in its opening weekend, with another $30 million coming in via Disney+ Premier Access.

M. Night Shymalan’s Old took third place with $4.1 million, Marvel’s Black Widow secured the #4 spot with $4 million, and Matt Damon’s Stillwater took fifth with $2.86 million.

For more on The Suicide Squad, check out our review, a look at who dies in the film, and our explainer of the end credits scenes.

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Project Nomad, An Open-World Power Rangers Game Pitch, Shown Off

Jason Bischoff, formerly the director of global consumer products at Saban Brands and global franchise director at Hasbro, has revealed a pitch for an open-world AAA Power Rangers game that he was trying to successfully get off the ground around 2016. It was called Project Nomad. Bischoff tried to pitch the game to Saban’s business development department as an ambitious, open-world co-op adventure that captured the energy, teamwork, lore, and history of the iconic Power Rangers franchise.

He described it as basically the Power Rangers version of WB’s upcoming Gotham Knights. The game’s story would have taken place on Eltar, Zordon’s home planet. With the planet under occupation, it was up to different Power Rangers scattered across the galaxy to to free it.

Bischoff, along with some artists such as Jarold Sng, Carlos Dattoli and Lineage Studios, crafted the pitch further and even created some concept art for Project Nomad. This included individual reimagined portraits of the original Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, as well as the Red and White Alien Rangers.

Additionally, three alternate designs for the robot companion Alpha were drawn. Another piece of concept art shows Eltar with the Red Mighty Morphin’ Ranger commanding his Tyrannosaurus Rex Zord and the Silver Space Ranger flying alongside it. The Gold Zeo Ranger, Ninjor, and Goldar make an appearance in a separate art piece as well.

Unfortunately, he says there was quite a bit going on at Saban at the time, and therefore there wasn’t enough bandwidth or budget to support this video game endeavor. However, he was able to independently explore other options for funding.

Bischoff said that early discussions with different developers and publishers were promising, but ultimately timing and shifts in business caused any momentum for Project Nomad to fizzle out.

This all sounds very exciting, and it’s a shame that the game never materialized. For fans of the franchise, at least the fighting game Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid exists. Bischoff explained that he’ll share more info about Project Nomad at another time in the future.

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Daily Deals: Save On LG Monitors, Switch Digital Games & More

This weekend of deals has brought with it quite the mix of items. Some of the best monitors that LG has to offer are on sale today, while Amazon has decided to place several different gaming books on sale, including several relating to Mario, Zelda and more. Let’s not also forget that Best Buy has a sale on various Nintendo Switch Digital games as well!

Daily Deals for August 7th 2021

Razer Is Holding Beta Tests for its RGB Face Mask, Zephyr

Razer’s Project Hazel RGB face mask is officially called Zephyr, and the company is now accepting community sign-ups that will give those interested a chance to test it out before its release.

Razer shared the news on Twitter, confirming that the Razer Zephyr is the latest evolution of its wearable air purifier.

Zephyr is designed to be “safe, social and sustainable,” and it also “sports 99% BFE, a secure silicon face seal and anti-fog coating.” For those interested in signing up, all you have to do is go to the Community Beta Test page and enter your name, country, e-mail, social media, and a brief explainer of why you’d like to be part of the test.

Razer first unveiled this RGB face mask concept at CES 2021 in January, and it confirmed that it was becoming a real product in March 2021. Razer Zephyr is still slated to release this year, but Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan warned that there would be limited quantities of the mask “from the getgo.”

Fortunately, Razer is planning on implementing a “sales by drops” strategy, meaning it will have a database of those interested in purchasing one and will let them know when units become available once again.

The Razer Zephyr is a “surgical N95 respirator” and has a high fluid resistance to protect against large droplets and splashes. It also features a clear and transparent design that will let others see you speak and pick up on facial cues easier. Its Voiceamp technology will also ensure your speech isn’t muffled via its built-in mic and amplifier combo.

It also supports replaceable filters, has rechargeable ventilators, comes with a wireless charging case with UV sterilizer, is meant for daily use, and can take advantage of 16.8 million colors and a suite of effects thanks to Razer Chroma RGB.

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

The Ascent Patch Addresses Co-Op Bugs And Adds Ray Tracing

Neon Giant has detailed its newest patch for The Ascent, revealing that it not only addresses co-op issues, but also that it adds ray tracing to the Windows Store version of the game, meaning it will soon work for those with Xbox Game Pass for PC.

As stated by the latest patch notes, this update is available for the Steam version of The Ascent and will be released for Xbox and Windows 10 players shortly.

This ray tracing fix is a big one, as players quickly discovered that while The Ascent on Steam featured NVIDIA’s DLSS and ray tracing, the Xbox Game Pass for PC version did not. While there is no word yet on DLSS support, this is a welcome addition for Game Pass players.

It’s also important to reiterate that ray tracing and DLSS is only supported on the PC version of The Ascent, meaning Xbox Series X/S players are still without it.

The fixes to co-op include solving an issue where Player 1 and Player 2 have controller focus issues on certain menus, fixing some weapon replication issues in online co-op, fixing issues where the host leaving the game could cause the client to lose progress, and more.

The patch also includes a ton of stability fixes, save progress fixes, translation fixes, and much more.

In our The Ascent review, we said, “story isn’t its strong suit, but the rest of The Ascent delivers a wonderfully realized cyberpunk world mixed with satisfying twin-stick gunplay to create an enjoyable action-RPG.”

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

10 Games That Deserve A Remake Or Remaster

1. King's Field

1. King’s Field

From Software burst into mainstream gaming prominence thanks to Hidetaka Miyazaki and the Souls series. Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice were all instant classics, and some of the best games of the modern gaming generation.

But even before Miyazaki and Souls gained prominence, From Software had been around for a long time; its first game was a launch title for the Playstation 1. Since then, it has created a few properties that stood out, such as Armored Core and Shadow Tower. But what I think truly deserves the remake/remaster treatment is the King’s Field series.

When the first King’s Field was released in the US, many American critics dunked on it for being too slow and plodding, and not as fast-paced as Doom. Because back then, if it was a first-person game, it had to be compared to Doom. But the thing is, at their core, these games were absolutely fantastic. Leveling up and enemies were incredibly well-balanced, and exploration was always rewarding. The games did a fantastic job of managing risk and reward during exploration, with a plethora of weapons, armor, and equipment that your character could find, which genuinely helped in your progression without feeling utterly broken.

The games had an interesting and creepy vibe to their labyrinths, and with a healthy dose of imagination, many of these areas were truly haunting and spooky. But those blocky PlayStation-era graphics definitely don’t hold up today, especially in the first few games of the series. While there was a far better-looking PS2 sequel in King’s Field: The Ancient City, even that could use a nice boost.

With a graphical overhaul and a reworking of some of the dungeon design of the earlier games, I truly think a King’s Field Remastered Collection would be an absolute gem–and there are enough From Software fans today that it would find a big audience.