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Blizzard is once again testing same-faction Battlegrounds in World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Classic, and this time, Alliance players will be receiving more rewards than their Horde counterparts.

Starting July 20 and running through July 27, same-faction Battlegrounds will once again be enabled on Burning Crusade Classic, with a few tweaks from the previous same-faction Battleground test. The maximum group size able to queue for a Battleground will be reduced to five, the matchmaking system will wait a little longer to find an opposite-faction match, and Alliance players will be able to complete a repeatable quest that rewards Battleground wins with a box of loot that contains various crafting materials, consumables, and currencies.

PvP Battlegrounds are usually against the opposite faction, ie Horde vs. Alliance. But Burning Crusade Classic has a bit of a faction imbalance problem, with far more Horde players both in general and when it comes to participating in game’s match-made Battlegrounds. That was resulting in massive queue times for Horde players that made acquiring PvP items almost impossible. The fix Blizzard came up with was to run a test over one weekend and see how having Horde vs. Horde Battlegrounds (or, in rare circumstances, Alliance vs. Alliance) would change the equation.

The result was near instant match-finding times for players, but Blizzard also found some other interesting pieces of data. Many players were participating in full premade groups, which when encountered by players who solo queued and weren’t in Discord with their teammates, almost always resulted in a loss. Alliance players also weren’t particularly happy. Being able to more readily participate in PvP has long been a perk of being a member of the Alliance, a perk Blizzard now looked to be removing.

Hence the new enlistment bonus. Blizzard says the trend over the last few months has been a lower Battleground participation rate for the Alliance, and these new rewards will be looking to increase that number.

“A major point of discussion was the perception that the faction a majority of players chose for their main character would see all players switch to it, unless we change the game to either reward the minority faction, punish the majority faction, or prevent players from choosing to play on the majority faction in the first place,” Blizzard says in a forum post.

That being said, Blizzard doesn’t want to dramatically alter the game, preferring to “emulate the design pillars and intentions of original Burning Crusade’s game systems” and “address player concerns in a way that capture the spirit of the original design of the game.

“As you can see (and has been discussed at great length here and elsewhere), most such changes that might come to mind would conflict with our stated goals above,” Blizzard says. “Still, we’d like to see what happens when we place a reward for the minority faction into the game.”

Changes to Battlegrounds wouldn’t be the only modern adjustments made to Burning Crusade. In addition to a paid level boost and a new mount, the game’s content is also being rolled out in phases, differing from the original landmark expansion in a major way.

2K Sports has divulged the first official details on this year’s NBA 2K22, revealing what’s new this year for MyCareer, gameplay updates, and a new social hub called the City. 2K also began to discuss new features like Seasons that the studio is hoping will keep people coming back.

The information revealed today is very high level in nature, and 2K said it will have “deep dives” coming in August and September to discuss new features in more detail.

Starting with gameplay, 2K Sports says it has revamped the block, steal, and shot contest systems to make them more skill-based and thus rewarding in an ideal scenario. The new gameplay setup will reward player IQ and stick skills. In short, making the right plays, at the right time, is a focus for 2K Sports this year as it attempts to more authentically represent the sport.

The gameplay should feel like less of a dice roll, and that players have more control of any given outcome, according to developers on a call GameSpot attended. If something goes wrong, or you fail to execute a play, that’s on you and not a result of something with the game or its controls.

“It really has changed the way the game plays. For me, it’s a lot more fun, it’s a lot more engaging. It really rewards the veterans who put in the time and the work to get good at the game, and at the same time we’re still accessible [to newcomers],” gameplay director Mike Wang said.

Another big area of focus for NBA 2K22 are in-game Seasons. Like many other games, it appears NBA 2K is leaning even further into ongoing, seasonable content to keep players coming back. For NBA 2K22, seasons aren’t entirely new, as they were in MyTeam in last year’s game. But for NBA 2K22, Seasons are game-wide, spanning multiple modes. The game you play on day one won’t be the same as the one you play in Season 2, 3, and so on, the developers said, adding that the content in Seasons is free for everyone. There will not be any battle passes, either.

“Across fan-favorite experiences, Seasons will allow players to extend and enhance their hoop ambitions long after the game’s launch with more content, more rewards, and more ways to play,” the developers said.

For MyTeam, 2K is promising an “evolved” experience that gives players more control over how you want to build their team. There is a new Draft mode where players can select their entire lineup and choose from a pool of players that is constantly being updated. Additionally, MyTeam supports cross-gen progress, so everything you do on one platform moves with you, whether that’s progression or any store items you might purchase. A future Season for NBA 2K22 will introduce a brand-new mode for MyTeam outside of the Draft, but 2K is holding back revealing it for now.

In terms of NBA 2K22’s social spaces, there is a new City for the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S editions of the game. This social space now has NPCs to help it feel more alive. It should feel like it’s “teeming with life,” according to the developers. The City also has matchmaking options now, and you can select from 1v1 and 3v3 against other humans, or against computer players. The overall aim for the matchmaking system is to help players get into matches faster, the developers said.

On PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC, there is a new version of The Neighborhood that’s set on the decks of a cruise ship. You can even get off the boat and visit different locations. Additionally, if there is an in-game event happening on a Friday, for example, on the Tuesday before you might see an island off in the distance that gets closer each day until you arrive. Some of the locations you’ll visit include Egypt and Iceland, the developers said.

Eric Boenisch, a VP at developer Visual Concepts, stressed that no matter what platform you’re playing on, you’ll get the full NBA 2K22 experience.

“We didn’t want to focus all of our energy on one generation of consoles and make that section of our fans feel like they got the lesser,” he said. “We put all of our efforts into both. Both games. And made them both incredible, standalone pieces on their own.”

The PC edition is considered to be in line with the PS4/Xbox One/Switch versions of NBA 2K22, according to Boenisch.

The MyCareer mode is getting attention in NBA 2K22 as well with a narrative experience that unfolds in the City. It’s no longer a separate experience, but instead it’s baked directly into the social space, the City, though this is only for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. Very few details are known at this stage, but the developers said players will be able to extend their careers beyond the court through things like getting involved in the fashion and music business. The overall aim is to give players the freedom to live out a pro basketball player’s fantasy even more than last year’s game.

COVID had an impact on NBA 2K21, and specifically how the studio was unable to record all of the motion-capture it might have wanted due to the pandemic. But NBA 2K22 is shaping up to be a return to form when it comes to motion-capture, and overall this should benefit the experience across the board, according to Wang.

“With COVID last year, we had a lot of challenges. With this year we were able to get into more of a normal groove where we had all of our normal motion-capture was back in place and so we have a ton of content this year that was a struggle to get in last year,” he said. “I think you’re going to see just a much more full experience and the movement, everything, just feels a lot more tight and it looks a lot better, too.”

NBA 2K22 launches in September for PS4, Xbox One, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Nintendo Switch. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Dirk Nowitzski, Kevin Durant, Luka Doncic, and Candace Parker are featured on the various different covers for the pro basketball game.

Preorders for NBA 2K22 are now available.

It doesn’t hit theaters until August 13 but IGN has partnered with 20th Century Studios to offer stateside fans a chance to see the new Ryan Reynolds action-comedy Free Guy for free this Thursday, July 22.

IGN is presenting free fan screenings in five cities — Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Austin, and Chicago — this week. Screenings will be held on the evening of Thursday, July 22. The screenings will be held at 7 pm except for the Chicago screening, which will happen at 8 pm.

Screening details and RSVP links for the respective regions are below. If you click on the wrong link by mistake and need to fill out an RSVP request for a different city, please refer back to this main article.

If you’d like to bring a guest then please have them fill out their own submission via the appropriate RSVP form below.

Click here to RSVP for the Los Angeles Screening.

Click here to RSVP for the San Francisco-San Jose Screening.

Click here to RSVP for the New York City Screening.

Click here to RSVP for the Austin, TX Screening.

Click here to RSVP for the Chicago, IL Screening.

Please arrive 30 minutes prior to screening start time to check-in. A guest list will be utilized at the screening. If your name is not on the list, you will not be admitted.

You are seeing this film before it is available to the public. Anti-piracy security will be on-site at the theater.

In order to give audiences around the world the opportunity to enjoy movies to the fullest and allow them to discover any surprises and plot twists, we respectfully ask that you refrain from revealing spoilers and detailed story points on social media.

Free Guy is rated PG-13.

COVID COMPLIANCE POLICY:

Please be advised we are planning on filling the theater to approximately 80% capacity, which allows us to maintain a select number of seats set aside for those who are unvaccinated and need to physically distance themselves from others and those who feel more comfortable having some physical distance.

For L.A. county screenings, attendees will be expected to wear a face covering per the new mandate.

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Free Guy opens only in theaters on August 13.

After a shaky entrance to the new generation of consoles, the NBA 2K franchise is looking to build upon its ambitious foundation for NBA 2K22 (release date: September 10). In a short preview event with Visual Concepts, I came away happy to hear that many of my complaints about NBA 2K21 were being addressed in NBA 2K22. For instance, The City, which previously felt empty, is being populated with NPCs and interactable buildings. Still, the shadow of microtransactions and their impact on any new features looms large. It’s hard to say if any changes have been made in that regard, and if history has taught us anything, it’s probably best to assume the worst.

Optimistically, however, the most exciting changes all involve The City and MyCareer. In NBA 2K22, MyCareer will be ditching the more cinematic experience that we have gotten so used to in favor of a more open-world questing system within The City. I was skeptical at first, but this doesn’t feel like a feature cut. Instead, the focus seems directed at making The City feel more alive and populus. One of my central complaints in NBA 2K21 was how empty The City always felt, and the changes to NBA 2K22 promise to change that. Buildings will be more interactable and NPCs will be available to take on various quests.

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Similarly, the far-too-grindy Rookieville has been cut from NBA 2K22. This is a significant change, as it will allow for me to hop right into the best parts of MyCareer in The City: playing with my friends and getting to explore the newly populated areas. There will also be the freedom to explore business outside of the NBA, with new opportunities to develop clothing lines or even become a hip-hop star. Just how fleshed out these quest lines will be remains to be seen, but it does seem like an interesting step toward a better role-playing experience.

In terms of gameplay, very little was talked about. Almost everything mentioned revolved around a focus for more “control” – something NBA 2K21 already did a much better job at. There does seem to be an increased effort to make defense entertaining, with revamped block and steal systems. Similarly, the focus on offense looks to reward high levels of skill instead of the dice-roll elements the franchise has become known for. Some of this seems promising, but without many details it’s hard to know what these concepts will look like in action.

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One aspect of gameplay that did get a little attention was fatigue and how this would blend with a focus on load management in MyNBA. With the rampant set of injuries in this year’s NBA playoffs, there is an emphasis in NBA 2K22 on how focusing too much on one star player can put injuries or major fatigue at risk. The new fatigue system accounts for things like high-effort crossovers and the kind of energy that zaps from players in the middle of a game. Giving players rest days and plenty of time to rest is now pivotal to making a deep playoff run without injuries.

Another interesting development is the addition of “seasons” to all facets of NBA 2K22. Seasons were first used in MyTeam in NBA 2K21 as a way to re-engage players every six weeks or so. Now, this concept will apply to the entirety of the game. Visual Concepts is promising significant updates on a similar six-week time frame – including a holiday update that will add an undisclosed mode to MyTeam. While they didn’t offer details on what exactly this might look like, there was a promise that the game in season one would look totally different than by the time season two or three came around.

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The last thing that popped out to me in the press event is Visual Concepts’ dedication to both the previous and current generation of consoles. When talking about MyCareer, they excitedly talked about the differences between each. For instance, The Neighborhood (a previous-generation exclusive) involves playing aboard a cruise ship with excursions in places like Egypt. Similarly, there seemed to be a real focus on gameplay parody between the two generations with a focus on not leaving the previous generation behind. While this is admirable in some respects, I came away feeling a little bit confused that the focus hadn’t shifted primarily toward what should be the best version of the game on Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X and S.

Similarly, it does seem as if there will still be a narrative experience available on the previous-generation version of NBA 2K22. While 2K22’s additions to The City seem more exciting to me, the door seems open for the new generation of NBA 2K22 to feel less feature-complete. More details are being promised for August, so it may be safe to not make any assumptions until then. While cross-generation progress is still available, it really seemed like both versions of NBA 2K22 are getting dedicated development time. I just hope that doesn’t leave the next-generation versions feeling less impressive than they should be.

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Ultimately, NBA 2K22 seems to be playing it safe in a lot of respects. After the monumental shift from The Neighborhood to The City, it seems appropriate that Visual Concepts would take the opportunity to build on what is already there. As it stands, I’m anxiously awaiting to hear more details about NBA 2K22 and how it will build on its ambitious entry from a year ago.

After launching last week, Codemasters has released a new patch for its latest racing game, F1 2021, which removes ray tracing on PlayStation 5 in order to improve performance.

Codemasters has identified an issue with its ray tracing implementation specifically on Sony’s hardware, which has hindered the game’s ability to run smoothly. As a result, the developer is removing the option as it investigates the issue, with the hope that a new patch soon will be able to sort those issues out for players.

This doesn’t affect ray tracing if you’re playing on PC or Xbox Series X, but Codemasters stopped short of explaining why it might be affecting one current-gen console and not the other. The patch also addresses a more pressing issue for both versions by sorting out a bug that would corrupt you save file at random when designing a custom livery for your car from within MyTeam.

F1 2021 is the first title released by Codemasters after the studio’s purchase by publisher EA. It has led to some strange pricing differences across several regions. This latest entry also features a new narrative career mode inspired by the Netflix series Drive to Survive called Braking Point, which allows you to experience the stresses of being an F1 driver both on and off the track.

F1 2021 – Patch 1.04

• Addressed an issue where users would experience a corrupt save if they edited their vehicle’s livery from within the MyTeam HQ. Saves that were previously corrupted as a result of this bug will be able to be resumed after applying the patch.
• PlayStation®5 only: We are aware of some instability within the game for a limited number of users on PS5 relating to Ray Tracing. As such, we have taken the difficult decision to temporarily disable it to aid stability. We aim to re-enable this as quickly as possible, and we will provide an update in due course.

Valorant update 3.02 is out, and it makes some tiny but significant additions to the game, per its patch notes. For one thing, Riot has rebalanced the way that clipping is calculated, meaning that player models and the like should no longer phase through thin walls quite as frequently.

The biggest gameplay change comes in the form of yet another small Sage shift. Players can no longer create a barrier between the pyramids on the Breeze map to create a small sliver of space that players can use to create an unintended line of sight. Additionally, Raze’s Boombot can no longer be placed through some walls.

The patch also includes several important bug fixes, particularly one that causes the team voice volume slider to reset to 50 again and again. This one was noted by fans, so it’s nice to have it fixed. In the text of the update, Riot notes that it is still monitoring the effect that new agent KAY/O has had on the game’s competitive meta since he was added in early June.

Valorant 3.02 Patch Notes

GAME SYSTEM UPDATES

• Changes made to how clipping is calculated, which should result in less clipping overall in your gameplay
  • Yes, things are still going to clip, but you will see a noticeable lack of hands, melees, abilities, and general effects poking through thin walls.

SOCIAL UPDATES

• Added a space between the Match Rank and Leaderboard Ranking for Immortal+ rankings in the Hover Card UI

BUG FIXES

Agents

• Sage can no longer place her Barrier Orb between the pyramids on Breeze to create a sliver peek
  • “Sliver peek” refers to a very small gap created by sandwiching two things and creating an advantageous line of sight.
• Fixed KAY/O’s textures applying themselves to weapons when he is re-stabilized during NULL/cmd(X)
• Removed the ability to place Raze’s Boombot through some walls

Social

• Fixed a bug where the Team-voice volume sliders would always reset to 50
  • Hooray! That’s the sound of us thanking you for your patience.
• Fixed a bug where the scrollbar in the Social Panel would sometimes display incorrectly
• Fixed the pixelated border surrounding the Unranked icon in the Hover Card UI
• Fixed an issue where the blurred background would sometimes make friend notes illegible in the Hover Card UI
• Fixed a bug where the VCT Masters Reykjavik Winner Title would get overlapped by the Player Card in the Hover Card UI

A Rainbow can be seen in the background of a few clips from the Bugha Icon Set announcement, this normally would be pointless to mention BUT we haven’t seen a rainbow really since Leaky Lake from Chapter 1 Season 6 pic.twitter.com/DuyDCuTvkU

— iFireMonkey (@iFireMonkey) July 19, 2021

While many were upset to find out that the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster series would only be headed to PC and Mobile, Square Enix has confirmed that the games could come to other platforms if there is enough demand.

In a Japanese Q&A (translated via Google Translate), Square Enix revealed a bit more about these Pixel Remasters – which are essentially upgraded versions of Final Fantasy 1-6 – and it began by explaining that it chose to do this project because there are fewer opportunities to play these games easily. Furthermore, Square Enix wanted to renew these games with the same standard, which will make it better for first-timers and series vets alike.

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These games will be remasters based on the original NES and SNES versions, and while some of the game balance will be updated to make it a more enjoyable experience, the stories will stay as they were. These games will not include every element that has appeared in the many re-releases of these games over the years, but there will be a gallery, music player, and bestiary included as a bonus.

It was also revealed that Kazuko Shibuya, an artist who has worked on numerous Final Fantasy games, will be recreating all the beloved character art for the remasters.

Fans of Final Fantasy will also be happy to know that Nobuo Uematsu will be supervising the music and rearrangements for the Pixel Remaster series and that the sound effects will be reproduced as close to the originals as possible. Those who purchase the remasters will be able to check out the new music right away, as the included Music Player has all songs unlocked at the start.

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There will be a bestiary that will be filled out as you fight enemies in each game, and there are various ways to arrange them. In the Mobile version, you can also battle with those you have registered.

Lastly, almost all of Yoshitaka Amano’s character, monster and image illustrations are included in the gallery. All of these will also be unlocked at the start.

The Pixel Remaster version of Final Fantasy 1-3 will be released on July 28 and Final Fantasy 4-6 still have a release date of “coming soon.”

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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.