Category: Games

Civilization 6 will be getting its next free community update on February 25 at 11 AM PT/ 2 PM ET/ 7 PM GMT.

Each of these community updates brings a new feature along with it. For February, we’re getting the Barbarian Clans game mode. Playing this way will completely change how you’re used to interacting with the Barbarians in Civ 6. Instead of the standard kill-or-be-killed setup, this mode introduces six Barbarian clans that can be found living on or near different map conditions, with each specializing in a different unit type. Each turn, the Barbarians will accumulate progress towards becoming a city-state; it’s your call if you want to help or hinder them in that endeavor.

Destroying a clan will wipe it off the map completely, while choosing to raid one will allow you to earn gold and decrease some of that clan’s progress. To stop clans from attacking your cities, you can bribe them or hire them to add their strongest unit to your army. Barbarian clans can also abduct your units, and you’ll need to pay a ransom to get them back. To really get your Machiavelli on, you can Incite different clans by paying them to attack other enemy cities for you. Exchanging gold in this way will also allow a barbarian clan to gain progress towards becoming a city-state.

Another change coming with the February update is the addition of the Leader Selection Pool. This will allow players to customize which leaders can be used in a game. With this feature, you have complete control over which leaders you’ll be faced with, in case you dislike certain ones or want to practice against them.

Like past updates, the February one is also bringing balance changes and tweaks to the game’s AI. Certain governments have had their policy slots shifted to reflect how those governments would actually run more accurately. Additionally, some Natural Wonders have been rebalanced and both air units and combat have had their AIs adjusted.

If you have the game’s Frontier Pass, you can enjoy both the monthly free updates and DLCs as they come out.

Marvel Comics has revealed a new Star Wars crossover set in the period in between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Dubbed War of the Bounty Hunters, this Boba Fett-centric storyline will address one of the biggest unanswered questions about this era in the Star Wars timeline.

This crossover kicks off in May 2021 with a prelude issue called Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters Alpha #1, from writer Charles Soule (Star Wars) and artist Steve McNiven (Civil War). From there, the story will continue both in the form of a five issue War of the Bounty Hunters miniseries (written by Soule and drawn by Star Wars: Thrawn’s Luke Ross) and in the pages of Marvel’s four Episode V-era comics – Star Wars, Star Wars: Darth Vader, Star Wars: Bounty Hunters and Star Wars: Doctor Aphra.

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War of the Bounty Hunters aims to address the question of why it took so long for Luke, Leia and Lando to rescue the frozen Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt. After all, there’s about a year of time separating the latter two movies in the original trilogy. As we’ll learn, Boba Fett didn’t immediately make his way to Jabba’s Palace. Fett will now find himself the most hunted target in the galaxy as the Rebel Alliance, the Black Sun criminal organization and even his fellow bounty hunters do everything in their power to steal his prize bounty.

“The main story that we’re dealing with is a Boba Fett-focused crime epic, that involves Boba Fett going up against some of the heaviest hitters in the galaxy. It’s Jabba the Hutt. It’s Black Sun. It’s Darth Vader. And a bunch of others — factions and so on — that I think will be really interesting for the fans,” Soule told Star Wars.com. “It’s basically Boba Fett, by himself, against all of these people.”

This is certainly interesting timing for a Boba Fett story, given the character’s recent, long-awaited return in The Mandalorian: Season 2 and the new details revealed about his family history and connection to Mandalore. Will War of the Bounty Hunters build on those reveals and showcase a more sympathetic approach to this formerly enigmatic villain?

Interestingly, Marvel previously teased this crossover with the following image, which could suggest Fett will be donning a shiny black costume and spear during this ordeal:

Whatever happens, Soule makes it clear the crossover is designed to lay the groundwork for even bigger things to come for the franchise.

“War of the Bounty Hunters is a story about Boba Fett doing his thing, but it builds into something much bigger, and that’s what the best comic crossovers and big stories do. They tell a great story in and of themselves, but they’re also the start of something, and they open a lot of new doors,” Soule continued. “And this story will absolutely do that.”

This is just the latest example of Marvel’s current Star Wars lineup filling in some major gaps in the Star Wars timeline or addressing key plot holes. For example, the core Star Wars series has revealed how Luke recovered his X-Wing from Cloud City and introduced Luke’s Kenner-inspired yellow lightsaber, while Darth Vader has forged an important link to The Rise of Skywalker.

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Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

McDonald’s has started a new promotion, this time featuring the timeless, enduring property for kids and weird adults alike, Pokemon. And as one such weird adult, I sincerely regret to inform you that the included “toys” are actually pretty cool. Do with this knowledge what you will.

We first started to hear scuttlebutt about the Pokemon Happy Meals in January, with leaked word that it would involve a series of paper-based “toys” instead of the plastic figurines of past promotions. Ha! How cheap, I thought, remembering such Happy Meal royalty as the Halloween dress-up McNuggets and Changeables, which were basically Transformers if Optimus Prime had disguised himself as a milkshake. Even the Pikachu with glowy red cheeks was up there as a pretty sweet collectible! Who needs cheap paper crap?

I do, apparently.

That’s because the paper-based toys are actually pretty neat, on the whole. The toy package comes contained in a little cardboard sleeve with an activity and an accessory like stickers or a paper picture frame. These are perfectly reasonable little goodies, but the centerpiece of the sets are the Pokemon card packs. These are well-made, usable Pokemon cards, and each pack contains three standard cards alongside one holo card.

I don’t actually play the Pokemon Trading Card Game, but I do have an itch for collecting regardless. Just ask my piles of unused Star Wars CCG cards, or my actual still-preserved collection of pogs, or the fact that I’m the resident Hearthstone player on staff. So a set of collectible trading cards commemorating a series I’ve loved since childhood is fiendish.

What’s worse, these clever bastards made them all starters, one of the most memorable elements in Pokemon canon. All 25 standard cards are themed after the 25 starter Pokemon across the entire series history (24 + Pikachu from Pokemon Yellow), along with holo versions of each for a total of 50 in all. You may not have ever gotten around to finishing the Elite Four in Pokemon X and Y, but you’ll remember picking Fennekin until the day you die. Because of this, every pack is a nostalgia trip.

When you purchase two Happy Meals for your two children or your one adult self, you may end up with duplicates from the top of the toy pile (or whatever, I’ve never been backstage at a McDonald’s). This is fine for keeping your children from fighting over the better toy, but not ideal if they wanted to play together with some variety. Or if you, just hypothetically, as the adult grabbing some Happy Meals during his lunch break, wanted to get two different things.

With randomized card packs this isn’t much of a problem. The pack contents aren’t predetermined, and two packs don’t appear to have the exact same assortment of cards. So unless you’re trying to catch ’em all like some kind of maniac, the chances of duplicates are relatively low.

Even the Happy Meal box is cute, with a little Pikachu design that sports pop-out ears so you can make it look 3D.

Don’t mistake me, I’m not saying the Happy Meals are worth driving from town to town, or buying 100 at a time, or paying exorbitant fees from eBay scalpers. They’re just cute, fun collectibles, and a nice trip down memory lane for longtime Pokemon fans. If you happen to live near a McDonald’s and have an appetite for a cheeseburger with apple slices and a tiny thimble of soda, give it a try.

Just stay the hell away from mine.

It’s a new week and that means Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and the battle royale game Warzone are being updated again with new playlists and store bundles. Activision outlined everything that’s new in a blog post, and we’ve collected the highlights here.

New Playlists For Black Ops Cold War

The Throwback Moshpit playlist is coming to Black Ops Cold War on February 18. It includes the popular classic maps that were updated for Cold War: Raid, Express, and Nuketown ’84.

Also coming to Black Ops Cold War on February 18 is the Snipers Only Moshpit playlist. As its name says, this is a playlist where all you have is a sniper rifle, so it’s a good way to hone your sniping skills or just have fun playing familiar maps in a new way.

The 2v2 Gunfight Blueprints playlist, meanwhile, is staying in rotation this week. Teams of two face off with random weapon blueprints on five maps: Game Show, KGB, U-Bahn, ICBM, and Nuketown ’84.

New Store Bundles

Players looking to spend some Call of Duty Points this week can grab the Retro Renegade bundle starting on February 18. It comes with two weapon blueprints–the Tape Deck SMG and the Fast Tempo assault rifle. The bundle also comes with two legendary items–the Forward Progress watch and Mixtape charm. Players also get the Retro Vision sticker, Love Link calling card, the Retro horn, and the Renegade vehicle skin.

These items can be used across Black Ops Cold War and Warzone, presumably.

Double XP

Finally, Activision announced the next double XP promotion is coming up soon for Black Ops Cold War and presumably Warzone as well. From February 19-22, players can enjoy double XP and double battle pass XP. It’s great timing because Season 1 is coming to an end very soon. Activision also just announced that Season 2 will begin on February 25–you can learn more in our Season 2 coverage.

DayZ’s latest patch is now live, and while it doesn’t make a ton of changes to the core game, it wipes all progress on the game’s official servers as part of a “fresh start” for the game’s 2021. According to a blog post that accompanies the rollout of the patch, it focuses mainly on fixing bugs and improving the game’s performance.

For example, the patch improves the collision on zombies, such that they will no longer go inside player characters during hectic fights. Players will also find that attempting to get into a car will no longer teleport them to the roof of the vehicle instead. Various bugs affecting the game’s horticulture and fishing systems have also been stamped out.

The patch includes a number of other small fixes, including improved detection of area damage triggers like barbed wire and an increase in the number of mods that can be run by community servers. There’s also a new rifle that spawns at helicopter crash sites called the SVAL–which is apparently the Czech word for muscle–and it’s particularly nasty, so watch out for that.

DayZ 1.11 Patch Notes

ADDED

• Added the SVAL rifle
• Added the 20 round magazine for SVAL and VSS
• Added new textures for the static (abandoned) M3S truck
• Added abandoned truck parts for M3S
• Starting a vehicle engine now slightly depletes the battery
• Added flags of the winners of our base building contest
• Garden plots can now be removed with shovels and pickaxes

FIXED

• Fixed an exploit to look/glitch through walls
• Plants could not become infested
• Fixed a server crash related to pulling corpses out of vehicles
• Fixed a game crash connected to item attachments
• The player can no longer execute certain actions when their legs are broken
• The player can no longer dance with a broken leg
• Preparing Mackerels or the Carp did not stain the player’s hands with blood
• An applied splint would disappear if the player’s inventory was full at the moment the healing was completed
• The Pumpkin Helmet was still shining when ruined
• Flares shot by the flare gun often disappeared inside objects
• The glow of the flare was immense when seen from up close (now scaled with the distance)
• Getting out of a car could result in the character appearing on the roof when an object was on the exit position
• Fixed a server error caused by repeated crouching during an ongoing action (https://feedback.bistudio.com/T154062)
• The inventory of improvised shelters could be accessed from the closed-off sides
• Infected could hit the player through shelters and tents
• Infected could enter closed-off containers (variants 2A and 2B)
• Infected would glitch into players during combat
• Dead bodies getting stuck in mid-air
• Bodies of infected would sometimes rotate while already dead
• The wrong particle effect was displayed when hitting infected with a Pipe, Wrench, or a Lug wrench
• Adjusted collisions and occluders of buildings against unwanted behavior (https://feedback.bistudio.com/T152082, https://feedback.bistudio.com/T154532)
• Removed collisions of low-hanging tree branches for better navigation
• Exploit allowing players to get infinite plant seeds
• The Frying Pans and Cooking Pots would disappear from fireplaces upon server restart (https://feedback.bistudio.com/T153689)
• The inventory of the M3S truck did not refresh after removing attached containers from it
• The dashboard on certain vehicles would disappear after certain actions
• Ruined hatchets showed the wrong texture
• The contents of the fireplace would not always be displayed correctly in the world
• The indoor fireplace could sometimes get wet during rain
• Land mines were not dealing damage when placed in the doorways of specific houses
• Barbed wire could block the damage of grenades (https://feedback.bistudio.com/T154631)
• Sounds were missing when skinning with some tools
• It was possible to build overlapping fences and watchtowers
• Swapping materials attached to base building objects could trigger a desynchronization
• Fixed a server error when checking the pulse of a disconnecting player
• The battery charger is not a heavy item anymore
• The battery charger could not recharge car and truck batteries
• Items could not be rotated and placed on the same space
• Placing a connected battery into the inventory would not disconnect it
• It was possible to use items placed in attachment slots for crafting operations
• Entering a vehicle with a Chemlight or Road Flare turned on would ruin them
• It was problematic to open/close the doors of certain vehicles when in third person view
• It is no longer possible to cut a raincoat into armbands when its inventory isn’t empty
• Attempting to throw a handheld plugged device would unplug it, preventing it from being turned back on
• Slicing a rotten pumpkin produced edible pumpkin slices (https://feedback.bistudio.com/T155304)
• Preparing spoiled fish would produce edible fish
• Players were unable to remove some car parts from close range
• An engine belt was displayed in the ADA 4×4 (https://feedback.bistudio.com/T148071)
• It was possible to craft a long torch from a sharpened stick with food attached, causing the food to disappear
• Items split in the inventory of the truck would appear below it
• Items were appearing on the roof when swapped while inside specific buildings
• It was not possible to open cans that were upside down while in full inventory
• Character hand slot become broken after exiting a vehicle in the water
• Endless white cable appeared after placing a Spotlight
• It was possible to sometimes light a fireplace underwater
• Fishing in sea was frequently interrupted, making it difficult to find a place to fish
• The revolver was not dealing consistent damage
• It was problematic to place a Medium / Party Tents too close to the player
• Issues with fertilizing garden plot slots (https://feedback.bistudio.com/T156389)
• The magazine of a weapon on the players back was detached after relog
• The immunity system was not updated on the player (https://feedback.bistudio.com/T156489)
• The spotlight could be plugged into a battery that was inside of a vehicle
• It was possible to place two tents inside each other
• It was possible to stack up stone ovens
• It was possible to sometimes place objects inside furniture of buildings
• Epinephrine was not working correctly (https://feedback.bistudio.com/T156359)
• Improved the client performance when holding an item in hands
• Continued damage from a fireplace or barbed wire after moving away from it
• Packing a tent while having an item in the hands would not hide the item
• Resuscitation while having an item in hands caused it to appear in the middle of the action
• Blurred text on the logout dialog window
• Camera clipping issues in the big ATC building and airfield service hangar
• Infected walking through service hangar doors
• Several object placement issues on the Chernarus terrain

CHANGED

• Updated the Tarp (Fabric) durability, textures, and inventory view
• More tools can be used to slice pumpkins
• Reduced initial velocity of the 5.56x45mm ammunition by 9% to match real values
• Barbed Wire and Fire now deal damage to infected and animals
• Deployed Barbed Wire can only be dismantled from inside on Fence and Watchtower
• The fireplace now warms a larger area, with the maximum heat reaching further
• Lowered the maximum heat of the fireplace
• Updated the credits
• The flare from the signal pistol now falls down slower

CENTRAL ECONOMY

• Changed: Reduced the amount of ammunition and magazines
• Tweaked: Deagle and Revolver now spawn in Towns only
• Tweaked: Repeater tiers adjusted from Tier 1,2,3 to 2,3,4 (Chernarus)
• Tweaked: Batteries won’t spawn with a full charge anymore
• Fixed: Spawn points on Land_Castle_Stairs_nolc
• Fixed: BearPelt was missing

SERVER

• Added: timeStampFormat now supports two additional options “ShortTZ” and “FullTZ” which will append the time zone in UTC (RPT log only)
• Fixed: Server startup freeze when using too many mods (https://feedback.bistudio.com/T153090)

LAUNCHER

MODDING

• Added: IsBoxCollidingGeometry, an extended version of IsBoxColliding, with parameters to fill in what geometries to check against (primary and secondary)
• Added: Moved cargo conditions for Clothing into separate functions for modders to override (https://feedback.bistudio.com/T154093)
• Added: Road parts for the terrain making on the sample GitHub repository (https://github.com/BohemiaInteractive/DayZ-Misc)
• Fixed: FPS dropping down to 1 when using the backward compatible SetActions implementation
• Changed: the ActionDismantleGardenPlot has been added to the items that could build it
• Changed: Created new base recipe PrepareFish to limit the script duplication in prepare mackerel and carp Do methods
• Removed: Unused internal organ classes from the character config DamageSystem >> DamageZones

Rian Johnson has reportedly confirmed that his Star Wars trilogy is still happening, though there aren’t any set dates or timelines for the project.

The filmmaker, who directed Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the middle chapter of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, recently sat down for an interview with USA Today reporter Sariah Wilson, who subsequently confirmed on Twitter that Johnson’s previously-announced Star Wars trilogy is still in the works. Wilson said it has “no dates or timelines because [Johnson] has other projects going on, but it is happening.”

I’m just going to post this now because I can see that I’m going to get a lot of requests –

Yes, Rian’s SW trilogy is still on. No dates or timelines because he has other projects going on, but it is happening.

THAT IS ALL I KNOW ABOUT IT.

— Sariah Wilson (@sariahwilson) February 16, 2021

News of Johnson’s Star Wars trilogy first emerged in 2017 when it was reported that he would be writing and directing the first of three new Star Wars movies alongside his long-time collaborator Ram Bergman, who was on board as a producer. It was understood that the trio of stories would “introduce new characters from a corner of the galaxy that Star Wars lore has never before explored.”

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In the years that followed, there were very few updates about the status of the project. In 2018, Johnson revealed that he was still in the early stages of the developing process, as he admitted that he was “at the very beginning of figuring out what this new thing” could be. He also confirmed that he wouldn’t allow the outrage over Episode VIII to influence his vision for the upcoming movies.

Rumors then circulated in 2019 to suggest that Rian Johnson had abandoned the Star Wars franchise, however, Johnson swiftly confirmed on Twitter that he hadn’t departed his project with Disney and Lucasfilm. Later in the same year, he even hinted about some of his plans for the new Star Wars trilogy, as he reaffirmed that he would be moving “beyond the legacy characters” to find a new direction.

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For the most part, news of the project remained dormant after that, with many expecting to hear an update during Disney’s Investor Day last year. Johnson’s Star Wars trilogy was noticeably absent from the company’s announcements, though we did find out about Patty Jenkins’ Star Wars movie, which is set to feature an all-new generation of heroic pilots in a “boundary-pushing, high-speed thrill ride.”

Star Wars: Rogue Squadron was one of the many Star Wars announcements revealed during the event, which also included news of an Ahsoka Tano Spinoff, Rangers of the New Republic, a Star Wars: Lando Calrissian series, a High Republic series called Acolyte, an anime called Star Wars: Visions, Star Wars: Andor, and Hayden Christensen’s return as Darth Vader in Disney+’s Obi-Wan Kenobi series.

For now though, here’s a rundown of everything that Star Wars fans have to look forward to this year.

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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

Halloween creator John Carpenter has suggested that the franchise’s next two installments could be released on streaming due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and its effect on theatres.

In an interview with NME, the legendary film director and composer admitted that Halloween Kills, which is due to launch October 15, 2021, may have to be released on a streaming platform if theaters remain closed for the foreseeable future. Lamenting the loss of the traditional cinema going experience due to COVID-19’s impact, Carpenter said that Halloween Kills and its sequel, Halloween Ends, might make the leap to streaming rather than have their releases postponed until theater doors are unlocked.

Asked about plans for both Halloween sequels, Carpenter said, “Halloween may be shared that way because theatres are dead,” Carpenter said. “It’s just the reality right now. And it’s a tragedy, but it’s true. We just have to face it. The studio did contact [director] David [Gordon Green] and I, and they had us put off the new one by a year in the hope that things got better. So we’re still hoping it will get better.”

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Halloween Kills, which is the follow-up to 2018’s Halloween, was initially set for release on October 16, 2020, but Universal pushed its launch back by 12 months in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Movie studios have had to adapt to the impact of the virus over the past year, with companies like Warner Bros. opting for simultaneous theater and HBO Max releases of their 2021 movie slate.

Warner Bros. has drawn fierce criticism over the move since its December 2020 announcement, with Tenet director Christoper Nolan calling HBO Max “the worst streaming service” and Dune director Denis Villeneueve saying the decision was a “desperate attempt to grab the audience’s attention“. Carpenter, though, believes this is only the beginning of big studios releasing their movies on different platforms. “These guys are making decisions that they consider in their best interests,” he said. “This is what they see the future is going to be like and so to get these things out they think this is the best way to do it.”

We awarded 2018’s Halloween a 9/10 review, saying it was a “great sequel that offers thrills, kills, and even plenty of laughs.”

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Tom Power is a UK-based freelance writer. Follow him on Twitter.