The upcoming penultimate chapter in the Fast Saga, Fast 9, has more prominent roles for its cast of women, according to Michelle Rodriguez.
Talking as part of a cast roundtable, Rodriguez revealed that there has been an effort to improve the roles and storylines of the movie’s female characters. “I was really, really like my heart warmed when I saw that there was actually not one single bit of resistance against the idea of bringing the females of the franchise into the forefront,” she said. “Justin was super, super onboard with it. Vin was super onboard with it. He’s always been supportive of strong women.”
Rodriguez explained that an additional writer was brought on to help with these characters. “The studio hired an amazing SLP writer to come on board and touch up all the female characters,” she said.
“When I actually watched the movie, I was like, ‘Yeah, okay, drop mic.’ I can chill now because I felt like all the females in the franchise got equal amounts of love. And that to me, warmed my heart.”
Rodriguez went on to offer some vague examples of what people can expect from the film’s women. “To see Natalie [Emmanuel] doing something other than typing into a computer and doing techie stuff, to see this wonderful new character who’s a walking weapon – Anna [Sawai] – just kick ass and take names, to see Jordanna Brewster’s character come in and get her hands dirty again in full-on fight action sequences, I was like, ‘Yes, that’s what I’m talking about, guys. Let’s do this.’”
Fortnite is coming to print and digital comic shops starting next week for the Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point six-issue comic book run. That much we already knew, as we also knew buying the comics physically or digitally via a DC Universe Infinite subscription would net readers as many as seven new DC Comics cosmetics to use in Fortnite. What we didn’t know until now is that in all cases, you won’t have to buy the comics to get the Fortnite items.
With the debut issue of Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point set to arrive next week on April 20, Epic has shared more details about what to expect if you’re eager to read the story or get some new in-game items. Included in the FAQ is a note that most items included with the comics will be sold in the Fortnite Item Shop day-and-date with their corresponding comic book release.
The only exception is the first one, Rebirth Harley Quinn, dressed in her red and black leather jacket and shorts she’s often been clad in since DC soft-rebooted its entire comic line in 2016. Those wishing to unlock Rebirth Harley as soon as possible will need to get the first issue of the comic book when it launches next week.
Either physical or digital copies will include a code to unlock the item, but if you’re getting it digitally, note that only DC Universe Infinite will offer these codes. No third-party digital comic stores, such as Comixology, will net you Rebirth Harley. You also can’t get the code with the one-week free trial DC offers to new subscribers as the crossover comic isn’t part of the trial. To put it plainly, there’s no way to get these new DC items for free.
Following that first issue, the subsequent five issues launching every other week through July 6 will include additional DC Comics cosmetics, but you can buy the items in-game if you no longer wish to buy the comics or keep an active DC Universe Infinite subscription. Rebirth Harley will also come to the Shop later in 2021, so if you unlock her by way of the comic beginning next week, you’ll have her a few months ahead of schedule.
Epic is keeping these additional items a secret for now, though it’s probably expecting too much to think each cosmetic will be a new DC hero or villain. More likely, they’ll include items such as Back Blings, Emotes, or Harvesting Tools. Players who redeem codes for all six items will earn a bonus seventh cosmetic, Armored Batman, though it’s unclear if that Style will later be sold separately as well.
As for what else is new to Fortnite, our second Spire Quest guide can help you complete this week’s lore-heavy challenge.
At a recent roundtable interview, the director and cast of Fast 9 spoke about the creation of the penultimate chapter of the Fast series. They discussed elements that bridge the franchise’s past and future, with the return of old faces and the recruitment of a new important cast member.
On bringing things back from the series’ past, Justin Lin spoke about his return to the series, having previously left the franchise behind after directing 2013’s Fast & Furious 6. “When I left, I thought, ‘Okay, this is time for me. I don’t have any more to contribute,’” Lin recalled.
“And I remember I would be shooting a film or being in a cutting room, and Vin [Diesel] would call me,” he continued. “And we’d just be talking about Dom and the Fast family. And I think it’s through that and also just a lot of the conversation through the years, whether it’s just fans stopping me, talking about character and the world. And when the right idea and the right themes landed, it just felt very organic. It felt like I wasn’t really away at all.”
Justin Lin is not the only returning member of the Fast crew; Fast 9 will also see Sung Kang reprise his role as Han Lue. Believed to have died during the events of Tokyo Drift, Fast 9 will bring him back into the family. For Vin Diesel, this was an important part of the story.
“This instalment is in so many ways about fatherhood. And fatherhood, to really grasp the significance of that, we have to examine the brotherhood,” said Diesel. That comes in the introduction of Jakob Toretto – Dom’s actual brother – played by John Cena. But, explains Diesel, this allows the film to examine the non-blood brotherly bond between Dom and Han.
In regards to his return, he celebrated Universal allowing him and the team creative freedom to push beyond the series’ established ground. “I think a lot of times with sequels, it’s like ‘let’s do the same thing over’. That’s not the case here,” he said. “We’re always challenging each other to evolve and to push. And so, it felt like I was away, but it also felt very poetic to be back, trying to wrap everything, at least the saga, up.”
“If you go back to Tokyo Drift, there was no brotherhood between Dom and Brian,” he explained. “Brian was a cop, obviously Dom was an outlaw. There was a brotherhood between Han and Dom. They were outlaws in Mexico. They were brothers. So in creating this whole mythology, the presence of Jakob was beautifully balanced by the return of Han, the return of a brother. There’s a relevance and a power that lives in this mythology that only Sung Kang Han could bring to our mythology.”
This return of a character from the series’ past ties into the franchise’s future, with brand new character Jakob. Finding the right person to play a Toretto brother was something of a sticking point for Diesel and Lin.
“Once we started getting closer to production, Justin and I would talk about how harrowing it would be actually have to cast a new Toretto,” he recalled. “There’s so many different directions you can go.”
But an encounter with John Cena caused Diesel to have an emotional reaction that made him realise that Cena was perfect for the role of Jakob Toretto. “ I remember John Cena coming into this Dom shrine that I had, where I would kind of go meditate and train and start getting into that Dom state of mind,” revealed Diesel. “Call this crazy, but I remember feeling as though Pablo Paul Walker had sent him in. And I remember talking to Justin that night and saying, ‘My gut and my heart feels like this was meant to be.’”
The English-language version of Ask Iwata: Words of Wisdom from Satoru Iwata is now available in the US, and Amazon is offering the hardcover edition for 11% off its cover price.
The late CEO of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata, started his career as a part-time programmer at HAL Laboratory, the developer of games like Kirby’s Adventure. Nintendo and HAL had a close relationship long before HAL Laboratory was officially part of the Nintendo family, and Satoru Iwata was its brightest star.
Iwata worked for HAL, but also developed games for Nintendo for the Famicom ath the time, such as Balloon Fight. There’s a fantastic, subtitled episode of GameCenter CX where Iwata plays Balloon Fight with host Shinya Arino and shares some of his experiences as a programmer and eventually, Nintendo CEO. It’s a shame the episode is no longer on YouTube, because it’s one of my favorite looks into the history and development of video games.
Iwata died of complications from a rare form of cancer in his bile duct in 2015, leaving a lasting impression on gamers the world over. While the Wii U was a flop, failing to even come close to the success of the Nintendo Wii, Iwata took the failure with humility and grace, opting to cut his own CEO salary in half due to Nintendo’s lackluster financial performance in 2014.
Those of us who owned the Wii U generally feel like it’s a good little system that failed to live up to its potential, but Iwata’s brilliance would shine through again, although sadly, after his death. He worked on development of the Nintendo Switch during its earliest days, days that would ultimately be his last.
I’m personally extremely excited to dive into it. As a fan of gaming history, video games, business, and game development, as well as someone fond of Satoru Iwata, this book ticks off a lot of boxes for me. The hardcover edition is $20.59 and the Kindle version is $11.99.
[poilib element=”accentDivider”]
Seth Macy is IGN’s Executive Editor, IGN Commerce, and just wants to be your friend.
From the outside, the MSI Stealth 15M has quite a different look than the MSI GP66 Leopard that I recently reviewed, with the Stealth featuring a more compact overall footprint, weighing just 3.73-pounds. However, on the inside, the two gaming laptops are fairly similar. The Stealth 15M maxes out with an RTX 3060 Laptop GPU and boasts an 11th Gen Intel Core i7.
Nvidia has moved away from using Max-Q or Max-P with its mobile GPUs. Instead, the company is now referring to them as a “Laptop GPU,” which makes sense. In addition to the new name, the chip-maker is giving manufacturers more control tuning the GPU inside their laptops. After a few weeks of using the Stealth 15M, I’ve found it to offer surprising performance in a fairly compact design, but you’re going to have to be willing to pay for it.
Here are the specifications of the MSI Stealth 15M Leopard I’ve been testing:
Model: MSI Stealth 15M (A11UEK-010US)
Display: 15.6-inch FHD 144Hz (1920 x 1080)
Processor: 11th Gen Intel Core i7-11375H 3.3GHz (12M cache, 5.0GHz Max Turbo)
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU with 6GB GDDR6
Memory: 32GB DDR4 3200MHz
OS: Windows 10 Pro
Storage: 1TB NVMe SSD
Webcam: 720p
Ports: 1 x Thunderbolt 4 with Power Delivery, 1 x USB-C USB 3.1 Gen 2 with DisplayPort, 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 1 x HDMI, 1 x 3.5mm headphone jack, 1 x microSD port
There are several different configurations listed on MSI’s website, including the model I tested at the top of the chart (or furthest right, in this case). That said, all of the models listed come with the same display, processor and GPU. The biggest differences between the builds come down to storage and RAM. It’s either 512GB or 1TB of storage. For RAM, your options are 16GB or 32GB. Best Buy has the same model I tested, with the only difference being it has 16GB of memory instead of 32GB, for $1,599.
Design
The Stealth 15M comes in two color options. I tested the carbon gray model, but there’s also a pure white model. Looking at the photos, I think the white version looks slick. The gray housing has a slight blue tint to it. The downside to that color is it shows every little bit of oil from my hands. Measuring 14.10 x 9.76 x 0.63 inches and weighing 3.73 pounds, the Stealth 15M is clearly made for portability and power. Even though it has a 15.6-inch display, the footprint of the 15M is small enough you don’t feel like you’re toting around a huge laptop. As a point of reference, the MSI GP66 Leopard also boasts a 15.6-inch display while measuring 14.09 x 10.51 x 0.92 inches and weighing 5.25 pounds. In other words, the 15M is not only slightly thinner, but MSI trimmed 1.5 pounds off of the weight.
When we get back to regularly traveling or trekking across campus, it’ll be easy to carry this around in a backpack without breaking your back. With the lid open, you’ll see a honeycomb pattern above the keyboard, and if you look close enough, you can see the fans just underneath it. That same pattern is found on the bottom of the laptop’s housing, allowing air to freely travel through the housing.
The 84-key keyboard has single-zone RGB lighting you can adjust in the Dragon Center app. Single zone lighting means you can’t do anything terribly fancy, but it does provide a gaming look and feel to the otherwise standard-looking laptop.
The trackback is centered on the housing. It’s small for my liking, especially with the extra space that’s left available, but it gets the job done. Either way, most people will want to plug in an external mouse for gaming.
Just above the display is a 720p webcam, making the bezel that goes along the top of the screen slightly thicker than the bezels on either side. The webcam looks OK, not great. As is the case with most built-in webcams, the picture is overexposed. It’s good enough for Zoom work meetings and calls with loved ones and that’s about it.
There’s a wide variety of ports on the 15M, giving gamers enough spots to plug-in accessories, but also use it for assignments or work tasks. On the left side of the deck are a microSD card reader, the charge port, a standard USB 3.2 Gen 1 port and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
Flanking the opposite side of the deck you’ll find two USB-C ports, one with Thunderbolt 4 and Power Delivery support, the other with DisplayPort support. There’s another USB 3.2 Gen 1 port, and finally an HDMI port with 4K@60Hz support.
It’s a welcome mix of old and new ports, allowing for high-speed hubs and accessories thanks to Thunderbolt 4 support, while still providing standard USB support for things like wireless mic or headset adapters.
The only thing I would change about the 15M’s design is the keyboard, as I’d prefer firmer keys more like the ones MSI used on the GP66 Leopard. The 15M’s keyboard is okay for quick typing, but it’s far too easy to get lost when gaming or typing long-form documents.
Performance and gaming
The 15M checks all the boxes you want to look for in a gaming laptop spec list. It has an 11th Gen Intel Core i7-11375H, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU with 6GB GDDR6, 32GB of 3200MHz memory, and a 1TB NVMe SSD.
As I do with every gaming laptop that lands on my desk, I took a look at the boost clock speed of the 15M’s GPU in GPU-Z (and the Nvidia Control panel). It registers at 1282MHz, instead of the 1357MHz MSI’s spec sheet lists, with a base clock speed of 817MHz.
Part of the transition away from Max-Q nomenclature is that manufacturers are supposed to list the max graphics power on the spec sheet. MSI honored that by listing the 65W maximum for the RTX 3060 in the 15M. What does all that mean? Well, look at the benchmarks below:
Benchmarks
MSI Stealth 15M
MSI GP66 Leopard
Acer Predator Triton 300 SE
Price as tested
$1,899
$1,799
$1,399
CPU
Intel Core i7-11375H
Intel Core i7-10870H
Intel Core i7-11375H
GPU
Nvidia RTX 3060
Nvidia RTX 3070
Nvidia RTX 3060
3DMark Time Spy
6294
10266
6377
3DMark Fire Strike
14091
21626
14416
3DMark Night Raid
28015
47377
30238
Total War: Three Kingdoms
56
84
54
Borderlands 3
61
87
60
Metro Exodus
48
69
48
Hitman 3
110
158
93
Unigine Heaven 4.0
85
126
85
PCMark 10
5698
6499
5892
PCMark 10 Battery Test
3:00
2:20
6:30
The Stealth 15M and Acer Predator Triton 300 SE, which also features an RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, are competitive with one another across the IGN benchmark suite, but both fall short of matching the performance of something like the Razer Blade 15 Advanced with a 2080 Super. For example, the 15M’s 3DMark Night Raid score of 28,015 is well below the Blade 15 Advanced’s score of 35,805 in the same test.
However, both laptops remained competitive on the Borderlands 3 benchmark with scores of 61 and 65 fps, respectively. And of course, the Stealth 15M doesn’t fare so well compared to the GP66 Leopard and its RTX 3070 Laptop GPU (and 130W total power). Look at 3DMark’s Fire Strike benchmark, and you’ll see the GP66’s score of 21,626 shows a big performance boost over the 15M’s score of 14,091. You can go down the line of benchmarks and without exception the GP66 outperforms the 15M.
In real-world use, the 15M feels fast. Apps open and are ready for use without any hesitation. Browsing with multiple tabs open doesn’t cause any slowdowns.
All the while, gaming performance was surprisingly positive. I spent a lot of time digging into the deluxe edition of Need For Speed: Heat for the first time, along with Call of Duty Warzone. I played both games without the performance-boosting gaming mode turned on to get a feel for what the core experience is like, and then turned on gaming mode.
I used the Xbox Game Bar app to monitor the average frames-per-second over the last 60 seconds, sporadically recording the average at least five times, then averaging those numbers.
This is the first time I’ve spent time racing around in Need for Speed on a review laptop, so I can’t make any direct performance comparisons. However, I have played it on my personal gaming PC with an RTX 2070 Super. Maybe it was a placebo effect, but the experience on the 15M felt smoother with faster loading times.
As for Call of Duty’s Warzone, the 15M’s average frame rate was 94 FPS with Normal graphics settings. I originally had it set to High, but Warzone warned me that I had gone over the safety limit for VRAM and that I would see degraded performance. Looking back, I should have taken that chance, just to see how big of an impact it had on performance.
However, I opted to stay under the limit. My Warzone experience on the 15M wasn’t overly impressive, but it wasn’t poor, either. That is to say, it was quick, responsive and free of any tearing or hiccups. You’re not going to get anywhere near the screen’s 144Hz refresh rate in any AAA games, but nonetheless, you’re getting a solid gaming experience.
Lastly, I did play with gaming mode disabled to see how much of an impact it had on overall performance. As I experienced with the GP66, the difference was negligible. The frame rate dropped only a few points.
What surprised me the most about gaming on the 15M was the clarity in the display. Even though it’s still just a 1080p screen, the color reproduction in Need for Speed was clear and crisp. The rain hitting the car and the road had a glossy sheen to it that I enjoyed.
The Stealth 15M comes in either 512GB or 1TB storage configurations, and I’m thankful the review unit I was sent came with the larger option. Trying to squeeze several AAA games and personal files on 512GB of storage feels like playing Tetris, trying to decide which files and games can go on internal storage, and which need to remain on an external drive.
Battery life
With less space to cram full of spare cells, battery life always seems to suffer when I’m testing gaming laptops as thin and light as the 15M. After putting the 15M through the PCMark 10 battery life test, my skepticism was confirmed.
The 15M powered through exactly three hours of use before powering down. Compared to the Predator Triton 300 SE’s 6.5 hours of battery life in the same test, I can’t say I’m all that impressed with battery performance in the 15M.
Just like the GP66 Leopard, the 15M does have an extended battery performance mode that should limit power usage, but testing in balanced mode didn’t return impressive results.
Software
I’ve opined numerous times about passive-aggressive preinstalled antivirus software and how annoying it is when random popups interrupt what you’re doing to let you know your free trial is about to expire. But nothing annoys me more than when a popup is able to interrupt me mid-game. That’s exactly what happened when Norton butted into a Warzone match. I had to alt-tab out of the game, close the small popup, and then go back into the game. By that time, I was dead and on my way to the Gulag.
Why does this continue to happen? How is this still a thing? Sigh. I’ll stop there, but I really wish PC makers would think about the overall user experience before preinstalling software that obviously cares more about using scare tactics to get people to sign up for a paid plan.
Outside of Norton security, the 15M had the core Windows 10 apps, along with MSI’s gaming app Dragon Center. In Dragon Center, you can see system stats customize the color of the RGB keyboard, and switch between the various power modes the 15M offers. Out of the box, Game Center will automatically switch to a dedicated gaming mode that boosts performance (and the fans) to squeak out every last FPS it can.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki has fielded multiple questions from a fictitious reporter known as Kacey Montagu, a Roblox player who wasn’t present in the room and – per reports – doesn’t actually exist.
In a Politico report, it was revealed that Montagu is an active Roblox player who managed to convince officials that they were a member of the White House Correspondents Association and a reporter for The Daily Mail. Montagu was reportedly in touch with numerous officials close to the president and top White House reporters, and took part in COVID-19 response Zoom press briefings.
Montagu told Politico “I love journalism, and I think the Press Corps is doing a pretty bad job at the moment, so I decided I would ensure some transparency and ask some questions me and some friends wanted the answer to.” They used the opportunity wisely, asking real questions about COVID travel bans and ambassadorships.
Montagu’s “official“ backstory was that they were an 18-year-old student from the UK studying Political Science. Politico reports that Montagu’s biography is also a fiction, citing “acquaintances online”, who believe that Montagu‘s ruse started life as “something to boast about” in Roblox. One acquaintance said that the social media accounts created to support the Montagu persona were “just for the memes” and that they didn’t expect it would go this far.
Montagu was reportedly part of a Roblox role-playing group simulating the US Government, but resigned from their virtual role as nUSA Secretary of State after disagreeing with the Roblox US President’s decision to start a conflict with the UK.
IGN’s Summer of Gaming is returning this year, and E3 2021 will be a part of the event.
Just like last year, our summertime event will include exclusives, trailers, gameplay demos, and developer interviews – but unlike last year, we’re partnering with E3 to bring the world’s most famous games event into our lineup. That means, from Saturday, June 12 to Tuesday, June 15, you’ll be able to check out the first ever all-digital E3 right here on IGN.
E3 will be free in 2021, and feature announcements and showcases from Nintendo, Xbox, Capcom, Konami, Ubisoft, Take-Two Interactive, Warner Bros. Games, Koch Media. Organiser, the ESA promises that E3 2021 will include “major publisher showcases, press conferences, thrilling reveals, extended livestreams and special guest appearances, available free online for all attendees.”
The whole of E3 has been redesigned as a digital event that, alongside the usual mixture of announcement events, will include an online portal, charitable initiatives, and more. “We are focused on ensuring that E3 continues to be the most innovative and collaborative event in the video game industry, so enlisting some of the industry’s biggest media partners to help deliver the highly-anticipated news, reveals and more is crucial to a successful showcase,” said Stanley Pierre-Louis, President & CEO of organisers, the ESA.
As for us, E3 is just one piece of IGN’s Summer of Gaming this year – we’ll have many more details for you soon, but suffice it to say that you can expect IGN’s own announcements, exclusives you won’t see anywhere else, and more brand new additions to our line-up. Events like Gamescom and Comic-Con are on the horizon too, so be sure to check back for other events you can watch with IGN.
If you need a reminder, last year’s Summer of Gaming included brand new game reveals, interviews with some of the industry’s biggest developers, celebrity Animal Crossing island tours, an awards show, and much more, set over the course of a month. You can check out more of what we got up to in the gallery below:
There’s a stage in Pokkén Tournament called Neos City, where if you take your eyes off the fighting game action for a moment, you can see a much larger Pokémon world beyond the arena. Pokémon and humans walk side by side down the street, and there are shops, signs, vehicles, and billboards that hint at Pokémon living and working together alongside humans. In another stage, a Magikarp Festival is in full swing. And in another, Pokémon and humans laze about an old city square. There’s a serene Wobuffet laying on a bench in the background.
Revisiting these scenes, it’s far less surprising that Bandai Namco was tapped for New Pokémon Snap, a game about portraying Pokémon not as static figures across from one another in a battle arena or wandering aimlessly through tall grass, but as real, living creatures. Both games seem to me to be part of a growing trend where The Pokémon Company lends its license to third-parties with the aim of creating worlds exactly like this, where Pokémon are portrayed seamlessly with the real world. Think the Detective Pikachu movie, or Pokémon Go.
Speaking to IGN, New Pokémon Snap director Haruki Suzaki confirms that Bandai Namco’s treatment of the Pokémon world in Pokkén Tournament directly led to its involvement with New Pokémon Snap — though that doesn’t mean the original Pokémon Snap developer, HAL Laboratory, was left out entirely.
“Pokkén Tournament utilized Bandai Namco Studio’s strengths and it made Pokémon appealing in a new way,” he says. “Because of this, we got another opportunity to do something together again and this led to the development of New Pokémon Snap. We were able to talk with the developers [from the original game] and the project started with the involvement of many people.”
Suzaki also affirms that my theory about making Pokémon a seamless part of the world is correct. The original Pokémon Snap did this, of course, but was at the time limited by the technology available at the time. 22 years later, New Pokémon Snap can make better-looking monsters interact in more believable ways with a better-looking world.
“The main focus was to build the world where wild Pokémon actually live in this game,” Suzaki says. “To do this, we first set out to create an exciting world by thinking about the environment in which Pokémon live, creating scenery in detail, and also using Switch hardware’s capabilities to the fullest. While doing so, we tried to make Pokémon the star of the game by making them move naturally and with the feel of presence so that it’s fun to just watch them and it’s even more fun to take pictures of them.”
Suzaki says that another key focus of the team in creating a sequel was increasing the number of Pokémon available. The original Pokémon Snap only had 63 of the then 151 Pokémon. Now, with somewhere over 800 Pokémon in existence across every Pokémon game (the number varies depending on whether you count different forms separately), New Pokémon Snap has the opportunity to feature even more — over 200, in fact, as Suzaki has told Game Informer.
Pokémon Snap is 22 years old now, and the announcement of a sequel seemed to come out of nowhere. After all, what game gets a sequel that long after the fact? After years of silence but for the quiet release of the original Pokémon Snap on the Wii U Virtual Console in 2017, New Pokémon Snap was received with a wave of social media excitement upon its announcement last year, especially from fans with fond memories of the original.
Suzaki suggests Bandai Namco was well-aware of global fan interest in Pokémon Snap, and points to the capabilities of the Nintendo Switch as a key reason why now was a good time to make a new entry. But he also notes that “the idea of photography has changed so much in the last 20 years,” indicating that these shifts were also a significant motivator in bringing Pokémon Snap back. Though he didn’t elaborate on this point, it’s already at least somewhat visible in the photo editing mode we’ve seen in prior Pokémon Snap previews, as well as the shift from printing out photos at Blockbuster kiosk (remember THAT?!) to sharing them on social media via the Switch’s built-in image share features.
Another key change from the original Pokémon Snap that fans may have picked up on already is the lack of “Pester Balls,” which were little balls that exploded in a purple gas when thrown at Pokémon, irritating them. More subtle is the shift from “Apples” to “Fluffruit” as an item thrown to entice Pokémon, and in our preview I was told that Fluffruit explicitly does not hurt Pokémon if it hits them when thrown. Put simply, there’s a bit more of an emphasis on treating Pokémon like, well, actual living creatures who don’t deserve to have noxious irritating gas or painful solid objects lobbed at them when they’re just vibing in their natural habitats.
Suzaki didn’t put it quite so bluntly but, yes, there was a humane angle to these changes.
“Of course, we also thought that some modern changes would need to be made,” he says. “The Pester Ball was an important element to bring out Pokémon’s reaction in the Nintendo 64 Pokémon Snap, so we decided to add the role of the Pester Ball to the Fluffruit in New Pokémon Snap. Even though Fluffruit doesn’t hurt when it hits a Pokémon, it’d make sense that some Pokémon don’t like being hit by Fluffruit. So we designed the item to leave it up to players whether they place it near a Pokémon or throw it at a Pokémon.”
It seems there are far more changes to what fans of Pokémon Snap might expect than are immediately apparent on the surface. In our preview, we saw the introduction of branching pathways, and in the aforementioned Game Informer article, the developer revealed that as the player’s research level increases, new Pokémon might appear in areas they were not seen previously, or exhibit new behaviors that weren’t available before. With all the Pokémon in existence to choose from and a planet’s worth of potential ideas for Pokémon habitats, New Pokémon Snap seems like it could be ripe for DLC or expansions down the line — unfortunately, Suzaki responded to my question about this by simply telling me they had nothing to share on this topic at the time.
But the very fact that New Pokémon Snap already feels so open to expansion goes to prove my point — Pokémon no longer seems like a series built solely around inventing new monsters to throw into the same turn-based battles. Those monsters are now just as exciting for their behaviors, and their agency, and their relationships with both humans and the environment, and The Pokémon Company appears to be acknowledging that in a new string of media. Just as these newer projects take pains to show Pokémon living with humans, games like New Pokémon Snap feel designed to allow us humans to live a little closer to our Pokémon.
[poilib element=”accentDivider”]
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.
David Gaider, the lead writer on the divisive Dragon Age 2, has revealed some of what he would do if he could “Zack Snyder DA 2” and change the game for the better.
This Dragon Age 2 journey began when Gaider was asked whether or not Dragon Age 2 was his favorite in the franchise. Gaider answered by praising the writing team and saying how proud he was of all they accomplished in such a short time.
DA 2, according to Gaider, was a project where the “goal posts kept moving” and where “things kept getting cut, even while we worked.”
“I had to write that dialogue where Orsinio turned even if you sided with him, because his boss battle had been cut and there was no time to fix the plot. A real WTF moment,” Gaider said.
He continued by confirming that, while DA 2 is his favorite in the series, it’s “the sort of thing I never want to live through ever again. Mixed feelings galore.”
He then posed the question, “If you could Zack Snyder DA2, what would you change?” This is when he created a thread of fascinating details that reveal much of what could have been had the team been given enough time to do so.
One of the first things Gaider would change was to either “restore the progressive changes to Kirkwall we’d planned over the passing of in-game years or reduce the time between acts to months instead of years.”
Despite many saying the team should have gotten “rid of repeated levels,” Gaider doubled down and shared that he wanted “Kirkwall to feel like a bigger city. Way more crowded. More alive! Fewer blood mages.”
He also wanted to “restore the plot where a mage Hawke came THIS close to becoming an abomination. An entire story spent trapped in one’s own head while trapped on the edge of possession. Why? Because Hawke is the only mage who apparently never struggles with this. It was a hard cut.”
Many alternate lines were cut, and Gaider would be happy to see these restored, many of which dealt with people forgetting they’d met you, “Or that they knew you were a mage. Or, oh god, that maybe they’d romanced you in [Dragon Age: Origins]. So much carnage.”
He’d want to “restore the Act 3 plots we cut only because they were worked on too late, but which would have made the buildup to the mage/templar clash less sudden.”
Alongside restoring Orsino’s end battle, he also would have wanted “an end fight with the templars that didn’t require Meredith to have red lyrium and go full Tetsuo.”
While he and the team never got around to planning it, he also would’ve loved to implement “an end decision where you sided with neither the mages nor the templars. Because it certainly ended up feeling like you could brand both sides as batshit pretty legitimately, no?”
Oh, and he also thinks there should have been an option to go, “umm, Anders… what are you DOING?”
Varric also should have been a romance option, because Mary Kirby “took that ‘slimy car salesman’ character we’d planned and did the impossible with him.”
If Gaider had his way, there would also be an “original expanded opening to the game which allowed you to spend time with Bethany and Carver BEFORE the darkspawn attacked.”
Wrapping up his thoughts on this “Zack Snyder DA 2,” Gaider also would have liked to “Restore the ‘Varric exaggerates the heck out of the story’ at the beginning of every Act, until Cassandra calls him on it. Yes, that was a thing.”
While being extremely proud of the project, Gaider obviously shares in the frustration in what Dragon Age 2 became, and even said “he wouldn’t be surprised if EA considered DA2 its embarrassing red-headed stepchild.”
“I would personally say that DA2 is a fantastic game hidden under a mountain of compromises, cut corners, and tight deadlines,” Gaider said. “If you can see past all that, you’ll see a fantastic game. I don’t doubt, however, that it’s very difficult for most to do that.”
In our Dragon Age 2 review, we said, “Every modification to the gameplay and structure of Dragon Age II is a clear improvement over the previous game. The combat is more responsive and bloody, you don’t need to fight the inventory system anymore, and conversations are more engaging thanks to the adapted Mass Effect wheel. There are downsides though; the semi-linear story and repetitive environments have a negative effect on what is otherwise a great role-playing game.”
You’ll need to slice through your opponents even more quickly in the new DLC for ninja parkour game Ghostrunner. The new Kill Run mode brings some extremely tough new challenges to the game, requiring you to not only rip through enemies who can one-shot you at a moment’s notice, but to find ultimate paths through enemies and execute perfect jumps, dodges, and wall-runs in order to nab a high score.
We got a chance to check out the newly announced DLC mode ahead of its reveal, and it brings an even higher level of intensity to the game than the rest of Ghostrunner. Kill Run mode contains five intense time attack levels, where you’re judged not only by finding your way through the stage, but by how quickly you do so. You’re only given around 25 seconds to beat them, but with the twist that 25 seconds isn’t really enough time to beat them. If the timer runs out, you’re killed and are forced to start the level over.
To make it through Kill Run’s stages, you’re incentivized to take out enemies, with each kill adding two seconds to your timer. You can also grab yellow clock icons scattered throughout the level, each throwing another second on your timer. But dying in Kill Run is essential, because beating the stages with a decent time–and therefore, unlocking higher ranks–is all about finding the best paths through the stage to gather kills and speed while maximizing your efficiency. So each Kill Run is a battle of attrition, forcing you to go as fast as possible, be as good a killer as you can be, and to be as observant as you can manage to find the best ways forward. Sometimes, you want to hit as many kills as you can in a short amount of time; at other points, whipping past enemies to find a quicker way to the goal saves you way more time.
Gallery
It takes a bit to get used to how Kill Run works, since it’s a big change of focus from Ghostrunner’s standard levels. Most of the time in the game’s story mode, your goal in a room is to kill everyone there. If an enemy is left standing most of the time, the exit remains locked until you take them out. But in Kill Run, even figuring out where your goal is will probably take you several runs, and once you’ve located it, you’ll need to figure out the best way to get there, which battles are essential to fight and which you should avoid, and how to best navigate the environment. And the whole time, you’re on the clock, so you have to make those decisions in a heartbeat. The upshot is that you have all of the unlockable abilities you get during the main game at your disposal, so if you’re a well-versed Ghostrunner, you can potentially utilize the ability to control the minds of enemies or to blink through multiple foes at once to serious advantage.
In all, Kill Run is a cool new challenge for seasoned Ghostrunner players. The mode ratchets up the challenge of the game, while testing the abilities you build while you’re playing it–it’s not just about super-fast reflexes, but in recognizing how you can move through a level and what paths are most efficient. Kill Run excels when you spend the time to get really good at its short levels, playing over and over (and over) again to really, fully understand it. As a competitive mode for parkour ninjas, it really does a great job of honing in on that super badass feeling you get when you perfectly execute a run in Ghostrunner.
Kill Run is a free addition to Ghostrunner, as is one other big new feature: a photo mode. Ghostrunner has some pretty impressive-looking environments, especially when it leans into its neon-washed cyberpunk look, and the new photo mode gives some new options for capturing those looks. There are a fair number of options in the mode for applying filters and adjusting things like focal length, and that gives you plenty of ways to tweak the shots you can create while slicing your way up the Dharma Tower.
While you get more options to play Ghostrunner for free with the DLC update, there are a few things you can add to the game if you’re willing to pay into it as well. Alongside the DLC comes the $5 Metal Ox pack, which adds a few new cosmetics to the game–namely, new swords and gloves for your ninja. The pack comes with four swords and gloves inspired by Chinese culture in celebration of the Year of the Ox.
