Category: Games

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Justice League Snyder Cut: Ezra Miller Shot New Footage On Fantastic Beasts 3 Set

One of the most anticipated DC releases of 2021 isn’t a new movie or show–it’s Zack Snyder’s reworking of the much-maligned 2017 movie Justice League. Snyder is making a new four-hour version of the film, which mixes previously unseen material with newly shot footage. One of the actors who has returned for reshoots is Flash actor Ezra Miller, and Snyder has revealed that he shot his new scenes on the set of the next Fantastic Beasts movie.

Speaking to Beyond the Trailer, Snyder explained that he was unable to fly to the UK to film Miller, so asked the Fantastic Beasts crew to help out. “I had to get a pick-up shot of Ezra when we were doing this little bit,” he said. “You know, he’s on Fantastic Beasts, and that’s in London, and we weren’t going to travel to London, unfortunately. I would have loved to have done that. So what we did was we picked him up on a Zoom, and the Fantastic Beasts crew, I sent them these drawings. I was like, ‘Ok, this is what he has to do, this is where he is.'”

Snyder also spoke about the problems of finding the various superhero costumes from the 2017 shoot for the actors to wear in the reshoots. “They were all over the place,” he said. “In museums and stuff. We had to tear them out of there. One of the cowls we put on just ripped in half!”

Zack Snyder’s Justice League will premiere on HBO Max in 2021. The director has confirmed that it will be released as a four episode limited series, as well as a standalone movie. The first trailer was released during DC FanDome in August.

As for Fantastic Beasts 3, it was reported earlier this month that Johnny Depp has left the movie. Depp played the villainous title character in 2018’s The Crimes of Grindelwald and had already started shooting the third film. However, following the failure of his libel case against the UK’s Sun newspaper, Warner Bros. asked him to exit the production. Hannibal and Rogue One star Mads Mikkelsen is reportedly in talks to take over the role. Fantastic Beasts 3 releases in July 2022.

For more, check out GameSpot’s guides to every upcoming DC movie and TV show we know about to date.

Now Playing: Justice League Snyder Cut Details, What To Watch On HBO Max At Launch

Best Book Lover Gifts – Holiday Gift Guides 2020

Books give us a window into an infinite number of worlds and stories, so gifting someone a great book they’ve never read is one of the best things to do in a holiday season. With the advancements in technology that have allowed e-readers like the Amazon Kindle and Apple iPad to exist, reading has taken an incredible new form, but that doesn’t mean your should forget about books altogether.

From Sci-Fi to Mystery/Thriller to Non-Fiction, there are so many great options out there, but it can be hard to decide exactly what to get someone. To help with your quest to find a perfect gift for the book lover in your life for the 2020 holiday season, we’ve created this guide that includes a bunch of different types of gifts.

There are also great gifts for the TV and movie lovers in your life, as many shows and films, including Dune and The Expanse, all began as books. Additionally, there are those books that will let you continue a story that you love that may have yet to get the big screen treatment, like Ready Player Two.

These, and so many more, help make up our gift guide for book lovers.

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Best Amazon Kindle Gifts

It’s hard to beat an Amazon Kindle at providing the best digital reading experiences, and here are our best choices for gifts.

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Best Apple iPad Gifts

While Apple’s iPads can do so much, they also make a GREAT reading device.

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Best Sci-Fi Book Gifts

There are few greater adventures than those told in Science Fiction, and here are our best choices.

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Best Mystery/Thriller Book Gifts

There is quite nothing like a good page turner, and mystery/thrillers contain some of those best moments. Here are our best choices.

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Best Book Collection Gifts

Sometimes you need to give more than a single book, and here are our options for the best collections of incredible stories.

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Best Non-Fiction Book Gifts

While fiction is great, hearing real-life stories from some of our greatest people is something special and worthwhile.

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Best Book Lover Gifts Under $25

If you are looking for a great book or shirt under $25, we’ve got your covered.

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The Best Gifts for 2020

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

Xbox Console Evolution: Xbox To Series X

Remember When Halo Almost Wasn’t An Xbox Game: https://youtu.be/noE49iZ9Reg

Starting all the way back in 1998 with the console’s conception, the Xbox was the brainchild of Seamus Blackley, and entered the gaming market competing head on with Sony’s astronomically successful PlayStation 2. While going toe-to-toe with the PS2 was a steep uphill battle, Microsoft still managed to place itself among its contemporaries as a worthy competitor, outselling Nintendo’s GameCube that generation.

For the Xbox 360, Microsoft came out swinging a whole year ahead of the PS3 and Wii, and while that head start was pivotal to the console’s success, the 360 still faced many challenges along the way–most notably the infamous Red Ring of Death dilemma. Still, by the end of its lifespan, the Xbox 360 was hugely successful, and set the bar high for what was to come with the Xbox One. Unlike the Xbox 360, the Xbox One was a major misstep for Microsoft, but one that ultimately led to a historical change of course that that has led the company to its current vision and values heading into this next generation with the Xbox Series X/S. With Xbox on the cusp of its fourth generation, it’s suffice to say that story is far from over.

HBO Max Finally Coming To Amazon Fire TV Devices

AT&T/WarnerMedia’s HBO Max launched back in May, and while it’s a great streaming service, the major issue with it is that it has limited accessibility because it is not available on Roku or Amazon Fire TV devices. However, HBO Max will finally be available on Amazon devices, like the Fire Stick, this week.

Hitting devices on Tuesday, November 17, HBO Max will be available on Fire Tablets and Fire TVs, according to a press release from HBO Max. This news means 40 million more people will have access to HBO Max.

“We are very excited that Amazon customers will now be able to enjoy the best-in-class content that lives within HBO Max,” said WarnerMedia’s head of sales and distribution Tony Goncalves. “Our continued goal is to make HBO Max and its unparalleled content available to customers across all the devices they love. Fire TV is a favorite among customers and we look forward to working with the Amazon team to engage and grow our existing subscriber base by showcasing all that HBO Max has to offer.”

“We’ve worked closely with HBO for many years to bring their great content to Fire TV and to make it easier to discover and enjoy with features like search integration, Alexa and personalized recommendations,” said vice president of Amazon entertainment devices and services Marc Whitten. “We are excited to continue that partnership with the launch of HBO Max to bring even more incredible content to customers on Fire TV. Alexa, play Raised by Wolves.”

As for the 46 million people with Roku devices, no word yet on when HBO Max will be available, but there is a trick to get it running with your iOS device. It’s unknown if and when an official app will land on Roku. HBO Max continues to add more extremely-popular programming to its service. Season 4 of Rick and Morty recently arrived. And for those unsure about HBO Max, as there may be an ad-supported tier coming in spring, and that could mean a cheaper version of the service for people to check out.

The other major streaming service launch of 2020, Peacock, finally got a wider release. Back in September, NBCUniversal and Roku came to an agreement, which will also allow 46 NBCU broadcast apps on Roku devices as well.

As for HBO Max, the service is available on iOS and Android devices, Apple TV, desktop, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Samsung TVs–with Amazon Fire devices coming on November 17.

Oxford University Study Suggests Playing Games Is Good for Mental Health

An Oxford University study has suggested that playing games could be good for your mental health.

As reported by The Guardian, academics from the UK university used gameplay data from Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville in the study, using psychological questionnaires to find that more playtime led to a greater sense of “wellbeing” in players.

This is one of the first instances of researchers using real playtime data rather than asking subjects to report their own hours. “This is about bringing games into the fold of psychology research that’s not a dumpster fire,” lead researcher  Andrew Przybylski explained. The study showed that you’re a “much happier human being” if you play four hours a day of Animal Crossing, but the team doesn’t want to give games a “carte blanche pass” as a result. “I’m very confident that if the research goes on, we will learn about the things that we think of as toxic in games, and we will have evidence for those things as well”

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Przybylski thinks that if researchers continue to take advantage of gameplay data collected by a wider range of publishers and developers instead of using self-reported hours, they will be able to understand more about our relationship with the hobby. “You have really respected, important bodies, like the World Health Organization and the NHS, allocating attention and resources to something that there’s literally no good data on, Przybylski says. “And it’s shocking to me, the reputational risk that everyone’s taking, given the stakes. For them to turn around and be like, ‘hey, this thing that 95% of teenagers do? Yeah, that’s addictive, no, we don’t have any data,’ that makes no sense.”

In other news, England’s top mental health nurse recently asked for game publishers to restrict microtransactions as they may push kids into gambling habits. Last year, the UK’s NHS opened its first treatment clinic for video game addiction.

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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

2020 Video Game Accessibility Awards Announced

As December approaches we’re getting near video game award season, with various sites giving their Game of the Year awards and Geoff Keighley set to host a virtual presentation of The Game Awards. Before all of that, though, the accessibility organization AbleGamers hosted its 2020 Video Games Accessibility Awards, honoring the games and studios that did the most to make their games available to all types of players.

The presentation was hosted by Alanah Pearce and AbleGamers’ Steve Spohn, with a panel of presenters including several Twitch streamers, fellow accessibility advocates, and voice actor Troy Baker. The awards included categories like “Same Controls But Different” and “Clear Text.”

The presenters each gave a brief explanation of the category, and then following each announcement Spohn walked viewers through how each category solves for a specific accessibility problem. For example the Second Channel category, which was won by The Last of Us Part 2, honored games that offered an alternative or additional way of accessing game information for players who can’t access it through the in-game tools.

The Last of Us Part 2 was the only game to receive more than one award, but lots of this year’s biggest games were represented in at least one of the categories. You can watch the full stream and check out the list of winners below.

2020 Video Games Accessibility Awards Winners

Same Controls But Different: Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

Second Channel: The Last of Us Part 2

Improved Precision: Apex Legends

Clear Text: The Outer Worlds

Do More With Less: Ghost of Tsushima

Play Alongside: Borderlands 3

Bypass: Fuser

Training Ground: Madden NFL 2020

House Rules: Among Us

Helping Hand: The Last of Us Part 2

No, TimeSplitters 2 Remake Has Not Been Announced

New RTS expansion SpellForce 3: Fallen God contains a reference to a TimeSplitters 2 Remake but, sadly, publisher THQ Nordic says it’s just a joke for now.

YouTube user Beyond posted a video showing a French version of the game, in which an in-game merchant sells a TimeSplitters 2 Remake item. The item’s description (when translated from French) reads: “It’s finally coming! The iconic shooter, which has stood the test of time to join the era of modern games.”

It led to a certain amount of excitement, given that we know THQ Nordic sister company Koch Media has plans for TimeSplitters. Sadly, in this case, it’s nothing but a joke. A THQ Nordic spokesperson told IGN: “The intention behind those easter eggs was pure fun. When Koch Media and Deep Silver are ready to talk about TimeSplitters, they will make sure to get heard.” We’ve contacted Koch Media for its own take on the situation.

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That plural on “easter eggs” is notable – the game also includes items for BioMutant and Gothic that imply those long-awaited games have been cancelled, which THQ Nordic also says is untrue.

TimeSplitters 2 remains a much-loved FPS, and one we’d love to see on Switch. Since Koch bought the rights to the game, as well as Dambuster Studios (which was previously TimeSplitters creator Free Radical), we’ve heard very little about its next incarnation, although we know series creator Steve Ellis was brought on to “plot the course” of the franchise, and that the company’s been working on ideas for its future.

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Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

New Star Wars Game in the Works From Zynga

Zynga has announced that it is opening a brand-new game development studio based out of its Austin, Texas office to work on a “premiere mobile game set in the Star Wars universe.”

This new studio will be led by industry veterans Jeff Hickman and Matthew Hemby, and its primary focus will be partnering with NaturalMotion, a Zynga-subsidiary, to develop this new mobile title. It is also looking to hire 25 new employees to help bring this vision to life for such positions as Lead Engineer, Design Director, and Lead Level Designer.

“As a longtime Austinite, I know firsthand the immense level of talent and creativity that resides in this beautiful city,” said Jeff Hickman, Senior Vice President, Games. “We believe that the Austin talent market is highly compatible with our mission of bringing AAA console visuals and deep, compelling gameplay to mobile platforms.”

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While EA may still hold an exclusive licensing agreement with Disney to “develop and publish new Star Wars titles for a core gaming audience,” Disney does still retain “certain rights to develop new titles within the mobile, social, tablet and online game categories.”

That doesn’t mean that EA hasn’t dipped its hand into the mobile market, however, as Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes is one of the most popular Star Wars games on iOS and Android and is still supported to this day.

While we wait for the reveal of where this new game will take us in that galaxy far, far away, be sure to check out our review of the latest Star Wars game to be released – Star Wars: Squadrons.

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Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

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

Capcom Says Sales and Financial Information Stolen in Major Hack

Capcom has provided an update on the ransomware attack it suffered earlier this month, saying that sales and financial information has been compromised, and that 350,000 pieces of personal information may also have been stolen. Rumours have begun to spread about information for unannounced games being included in the stolen data.

In an update on its investors website, the company says that an investigation is ongoing, but explained that, as of November 16, it could confirm that sales reports, financial information, and nine employees’ personal information had been compromised.

Less certain is personal information for customers and business partners, as logs appear to have been lost during the attack. Capcom says up to 350,000 records for addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, birthdates and more may have been compromised, but explained that none of the potentially stolen data includes credit card information. You can see the full list of compromised and potentially compromised data at the bottom of this story.

Capcom says it’s begin contacting anyone whose personal information has been confirmed as compromised, and says anyone who wants to inquire about their own information should contact their region’s Capcom customer support service.

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The statement comes amid new rumours about the contents of that hack. Stemming from a now-locked 4Chan post, some claiming access to the stolen files have said that, among sales and financial data, the hack includes details of titles scheduled for the coming fiscal year, including PC ports for the upcoming Monster Hunter Rise and Monster Hunter Stories 2, an Oculus VR version of Resident Evil 4, unannounced games with codenames, and more. IGN has not been able to verify any of these rumours as of yet.

We’ve contacted Capcom for comment on both the hack itself, and the rumours, but received no reply at time of writing.

Capcom’s full list of compromised and potentiall compromised data follows:

1. Information verified to have been compromised

i. Personal information: 9 items

Personal information of former employees: 5 items
(Name & signature: 2 items; name & address: 1 item; passport information: 2 items)
Personal information of employees: 4 items
(Name and HR information: 3 items; name & signature: 1 item)
ii. Other information

Sales reports
Financial information

2. Potentially compromised data

i. Personal information (customers, business partners, etc.): maximum of approx. 350,000 items

Japan: Customer service video game support help desk information (approx.134,000 items)
Names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses
North America: Capcom Store member information (approx. 14,000 items)
Names, birthdates, email addresses
North America: Esports operations website members (approx. 4,000 items)
Names, email addresses, gender information
List of shareholders (approx. 40,000 items)
Names, addresses, shareholder numbers, amount of shareholdings
Former employees’ (including family) information (approx. 28,000 people);
applicants’ information (approx. 125,000 people)
Names, birthdates, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, photos, etc.

ii. Personal information (employees and related parties)

Human resources information (approx. 14,000 people)

iii. Confidential corporate information

Sales data, business partner information, sales documents, development documents, etc.

None of the at-risk data contains credit card information. All online transactions etc. are handled by a third-party service provider, and as such Capcom does not maintain any such information internally.

Because the overall number of potentially compromised data cannot specifically be ascertained due to issues including some logs having been lost as a result of the attack, Capcom has listed the maximum number of items it has determined to potentially have been affected at the present time.

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Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

Wonder Woman 1984’s December Release Is Up In The Air

After a number of delays, Wonder Woman 1984 finally settled on a December 25, 2020 release date that many assumed would be final. However, amidst a wave of COVID-19 spikes across the country, sources cited in a Variety report claim the new Wonder Woman film release will go one of two ways.

The first option will see WW84 continuing with its December 25 theatrical release date as planned, but also releasing on HBO Max shortly after in early January. The second, more conservative option would see the movie delayed again into summer 2021.

Warner Bros. may very well decide to push the release after its last big theatrical release, Tenet, performed worse than expected in the domestic market. Tenet’s performance has had repercussions on the rest of the industry, with other big name films pushing dates to avoid making the same mistake.

An early release combined with an HBO Max launch may be a smart decision for WarnerMedia, whose fledgling streaming service isn’t quite competing with the likes of Disney Plus or Netflix yet. After Disney saw its share price go up due to reaching 73 million subscribers on Disney Plus–despite also reporting a $710 million loss–it’s possible WarnerMedia may be looking more seriously towards a streaming-centered release.

Pushing the film’s release date back over six months to June or July in 2021 is the safer option, of course, especially with news that a viable vaccine could be on the cards for early 2021. A WarnerMedia spokesperson contacted by Variety declined to comment on either of the purported options, but did confirm that WW84 would be shown in theaters no matter what.

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