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Apex Legends, Respawn’s popular free-to-play shooter, has cross-play across all platforms. Users on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Origin, and Steam can all link up and play together. The game did not launch with cross-play, but it was added in October 2020. Cross-play is enabled by default, matching using controllers together and players on mouse and keyboard together.

How to play with friends

To add a friend from any platform you will need to go to the friends screen in Apex Legends, which can be found in the bottom right corner on the main menu, indicated by an icon of three people. There you can use the find a friend to search your friends on any platform and add them. You will use their username on their platform of choice and as long as they have logged into Apex Legends before, their name should appear, unless they have disabled the ability to cross-play search for them.

Once the friend request is sent, your friend will receive a notification in the lobby to either accept, reject, or block. Blocking the request will prevent that player from receiving any other invites or friend requests from that person, unless they are unblocked in the friend menu. After accepting the request, the friend on another platform will be listed in the friends menu and will have either a generic controller logo or keyboard to indicate if they are on a console or PC.

How cross-play matchmaking works

By default, there are two cross-play pools, one for console players on controller and one for PC players on keyboard and mouse. Cross-play is turned on by default for all players. If a console player and PC player group up together, they will be matched with other PC players to ensure console-only lobbies don’t have PC players.

On console, players on the same system as you (PlayStation, Xbox, or Nintendo Switch) will be indicated with that platform’s logo. Players on other systems will have a generic controller log next to their names. You can disable cross-play matchmaking in the system settings, which will make sure you are only matched with players on the same console as you. However, Respawn warns that disabling cross-play can cause extremely long queue times, due to the limited number of lobbies that are exclusive to a single platform.

How to turn-off cross-play

You may want to avoid players on other platforms altogether. If so, follow these steps:

• Go to the lobby
• Click the cogwheel (Game Menu) in the bottom left corner of the screen
• Click Settings
• Scroll down to Cross-Platform Play
• Click Enabled to turn it on, and Disabled to turn it off

Does Apex Legends have cross-progression?

Apex Legends currently does not have cross-progression, except on PC, meaning items you buy, battle pass progress, and so on are locked to the platform you’re currently playing on. Accounts across Steam and Origin have cross-progression, since both platforms are on PC. However, Respawn is working on adding it to all platforms, with cross-progression currently set to be added sometime in 2022. Respawn director of communication Ryan Rigney has described the process of implementing it as “gnarly as hell.”

“It’s not only that you have to solve the technical challenge of merging existing accounts, but there are also legal and contractual issues to navigate with purchasing on other platforms,” Ryan Rigney said. “Different regions have different laws. It’s a mess. But we’re working on it, and we’re committed to delivering it.”

After being canceled last year due to the pandemic, Free Comic Book Day makes a triumphant return this Saturday, August 14. The day famed Marvel scribe Dan Slott once described as “Geek Christmas” is back with an array of comics for readers of all tastes and ages. There will be over 50 free comics handed out at participating comic book stores around the world.

FCBD first debuted on May 4, 2002, so this year’s event is being marked as the 20th anniversary. The event is typically held the first Saturday in May but because everything remains in a state of flux due to Covid-19, this year’s day was moved to August in the hopes that more people would feel comfortable going to comic stores.

For FCBD, various comic publishers send comic shops a curated selection of comics to give away for free. Often, customers are given a limit on how many free floppies they’re allowed to take, so here’s a list of the FBCD titles we recommend you pick up. Use the Comic Shop Locator to find a store near you, and get yourself some free comics!

Avengers/Hulk #1 (Marvel)

Marvel Comics has a couple of titles on offer for FCBD, including this behemoth of a book that debuts a new era for its biggest team and greenest hero. If you’re excited to see where the all-star creative team of Donny Cates and Ryan Ottley take the Emerald Giant when their run begins this November, you’ll want to grab a copy of this freebie on Saturday. You will also see what Jason Aaron and Iban Coello have cookin’ for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes!

Enter the House of Slaughter (BOOM! Studios)

There is perhaps no hotter name in the comics business at the moment than James Tynion IV. A big reason for that is the blockbuster success of his and artist Werther Dell’Edera’s creator-owned series Something Is Killing the Children. Enter the House of Slaughter, due out in October, is set to expand the mythology of the book’s protagonist and Wisconsin’s number one monster hunter, Erica Slaughter, so pick up this teaser issue for a taste of what Tynion and Dell’Edera have cooking.

Batman FCBD Special Edition (DC Comics)

This free Batman issue features a pair of stories. The first is an early look at the upcoming Bat-titles crossover Fear State which is built around the Scarecrow’s rise to power in Gotham. The second story, by Oscar-winning screenwriter John Ridley and artist Travel Foreman, showcases Jace Fox, son of Lucius, as he puts on the cape and cowl in the new series I Am Batman.

Archie Comics: Past, Present & Future Fun (Archie Comics)

If you’re bringing a youngster to FCBD, then consider picking up some all-ages fare like Archie Comics: Past, Present & Future Fun. Archie is out to save the multiverse and along the way, he runs into all the different versions of himself we’ve met over the past 80 years – even those we’ve seen on TV! We are firm believers that there is no better gateway into comics than an Archie comic, and this one lets you see just how far the character has evolved over the decades.

Allergic (Graphix)

The kids graphic novel market has been booming, thanks in part to the sheer volume of great stories being released. Allergic by writer Megan Wagner Lloyd and artist Michelle Mee Nutter is one example. The coming-of-age GN about a girl dealing with her allergies is a deeply personal story of learning how to figure out where she belongs and navigate life’s constant changes. If your child is a fan of The Baby-Sitter’s Club series or Raina Telgemeier’s books, make sure to grab a copy of this preview comic.

InvestiGators: Ants in our P.A.N.T.S. (First Second Books)

Here’s another kid-friendly preview. The InvestiGators series by John Patrick Green is incredibly popular with young readers. The silly title tells you what it’s all about: two alligator super-spies who travel by toilet to solve crimes. This freebie gives you a taste of the fourth book in the series, and there’s a bad guy named the Maestronaut and a dinosaur escape artist named Houdino. We defy you to find a kid who doesn’t want to read that kind of comic!

Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins/The Witcher (Dark Horse)

Two massively popular IPs in one comic! The Critical Role chapter dives into the backstory of the adventuring party known as the Mighty Nein. The Witcher story features a brand-new tale involving the iconic witcher of the School of the Wolf, Geralt!

Red Room (Fantagraphics)

Maybe the wildest and most inventive offering of FCBD, Red Room is a cyberpunk extravaganza with dark web conspiracies, crypto, live-streamed murders. In some ways it is to comics what Natural Born Killers was to movies. Ed Piskor, from YouTube’s Cartoonist Kayfabe and the guy behind the stellar X-Men: Grand Design books, masterminded this wild read. It’s a 12-part series featuring all self-contained chapters. This free version isn’t just a preview or a rehash; it features 33 pages of ‘new’ material. You will not regret it.

The director of 2011’s Green Lantern movie, Martin Campbell, has a lot of regrets.

In a new interview with Screen Rant, Campbell spoke about directing Green Lantern and his thoughts on the film a decade later. It’s well known that a lot of people, both critics and audiences alike, didn’t like the movie and it seems Campbell is in the same camp.

“The film did not work, really,” Campbell said. “That’s the point, and I’m partly responsible for that. I shouldn’t have done it. Because with something like Bond [Campbell directed the Daniel Craig Casino Royale film] — I love Bond, and I watched every Bond film before I ever directed it. Superhero movies are not my cup of tea, and for that reason, I shouldn’t have done it.”

Campbell went on to say that it’s on directors to “carry the can for the failures,” citing the adage that success has many fathers whereas failure has one. In this instance, the director said he’s the father.

Campbell also revealed to Screen Rant that he had his own cut — something Zack Snyder famously had for Justice League, and David Ayer says he has for Suicide Squad too.

“I did have my cut,” he said. “The point was, right at the beginning of the movie, there was a whole sequence where he’s an 11 year old. It’s how his father dies in the car crash, which was a really good sequence, but [the production head] at the time decided that he wanted the death of the father intercut with Hal plunging in the plane, and he saw these flashbacks come to him. That was something I didn’t like very much.”

If you’re curious to see what Campbell is talking about, Green Lantern was added to Amazon Prime Video last month. Read our thoughts on the movie and find out why we gave Green Lantern a 4 out of 10 in IGN’s Green Lantern review after that. Check out this story about how Jeremy Irvine will play Green Lantern in a new HBO Max series and then be sure to read IGN’s breakdown of all the Green Lanterns in that series.

Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.

The Abandoned Realtime Experience App has finally gone live and it contains one extremely short trailer and a bunch of “coming soon” tabs. After multiple delays and months of confusion about who is actually making Abandoned–or what Abandoned even is–the app contains zero information about the game.

The app, which renders the trailers in real-time, contains four spots for trailers and two spots for gameplay demonstrations. Only the initial trailer box labeled “Introduction” actually contains anything and it features a few seconds of a person walking across a floor before saying “trailer coming soon” and “Playable prologue coming soon.”

The app also has a tab for news and announcements which features a single message.

“We are excited to kick off the realtime experience app with a small introduction. The cinematic reveal and gameplay demonstration will be revealed soon! You can find the cinematic reveal and gameplay demo as a video online or rendered in realtime using this app.”

It’s unclear if the gameplay demo will be playable or not, whenever it actually releases. Upon opening the app there is a notice that states there is no playable content in the app, but the intro trailer says a playable demo is coming soon. Overall it takes about one minute to see everything there is to offer within the app, with no dates or release windows for any other trailers. You can watch a video below of the entire experience.

According to the initial PlayStation Blog announcement, Abandoned will launch on PS5 in late 2021. The only thing we know for sure is that it’s not directed by Hideo Kojima.

FX’s upcoming Y: The Last Man series won’t be shy about tackling the one thing the original story never really reckoned with — transgender people.

How it will do so is increasingly coming into focus thanks to new comments by executive producer Nina Jacobson, who said on a TCA panel today that the series will “blow up the binary,” as reported by Deadline. The series, which takes place in a world where anyone with a Y chromosome dies, has been criticized in the past for its binary view on gender identity, and transphobia, amongst other issues.

“That was part of the challenge because we love the source material on one hand and on the other, we recognized the opportunity to really blow up the binary because of the source material we have been given — and the way it’s been read, perceived, and talked about,” Jacobson said. “In some ways, it’s the most rich and dangerous opportunity to take on some of these questions of representation.”

The original Y: The Last Man graphic novel does center on how any mammal with a Y chromosome dies, but it fails to treat gender as something that’s fluid and instead falls into the idea that gender is strictly binary. It also fails to include a single non-binary or trans person, as noted by SyFy Wire, and it features slurs about trans people.

The show is looking to tackle those issues, however. As Deadline points out, the show is set to feature transgender and non-binary characters, including a new trans man character named Sam Jordan who will be played by Elliot Fletcher, who is a trans man himself.

The world will be one of a kind. #YTheLastMan premieres September 13. Streaming Exclusively #FXonHulu. pic.twitter.com/QdASbqDPh0

— Y: The Last Man (@Y_FXonHulu) August 5, 2021

“Gender is diverse and chromosomes are not equal to gender,” showrunner Eliza Clark said. “In the world of the television show, every living mammal with a Y chromosome dies — that includes many women, it includes non-binary people, it includes intersex people.”

Clark went on to explain that the team is making a show that affirms that trans women are women, trans men are men, and non-binary people are non-binary. The showrunner said “that is part of the richness of the world we get to play with.”

Y: The Last Man will debut exclusively on FX on Hulu on September 13. While waiting for that, check out the very first trailer for the series and then catch up on the history of Y: The Last Man by reading about how a movie was in the works as early as 2014.

Check out our thoughts on the comic finale in IGN’s Y: The Last Man #60 review after that and then watch this video about the series cast. For more, read IGN’s breakdown of everything we know about Y: The Last Man and then watch this Y: The Last Man fan film after that.

Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.

The Alien series has always had a look all its own. One part blue-collar sci-fi horror, one part corporate dystopia, its unique style has held up extremely well since the original film’s debut back in 1979.

Speaking with journalists, FX chairman John Landgraf says Noah Hawley’s forthcoming Alien TV series will continue that tradition.

“[The Alien TV series] is very grounded. I think Noah is very conscious of the fact that there’s a cinematic universe if you will. While it has some flexibility, the aesthetic that was established by Ridley Scott and I think continued by James Cameron is a part of that universe,” he says.

Scott, who directed the original film as well as the more modern follow-ups, will also be ‘very involved’ in the series as a producer.

“So while I think you’ll see some inventiveness and originality that is uniquely Noah, I also think the show will feel like a part of the cinematic universe you’re familiar with in terms of Aliens,” Landgraf says.

First announced in December 2020, the Alien TV series is being developed by Hawley, who is best-known for his work with the Fargo TV series. It will not focus on Ellen Ripley, the hero of the original films, but it will seek to delve into “this blue-collar space-trucker world in which Yaphet Kotto and Harry Dean Stanton are basically Waiting for Godot.”

The series will be set on earth and will seek to answer what happens when the Xenomorphs can’t be contained.

As of June, Hawley says that two scripts have been written so far, with production set to begin in Spring 2022.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN.

Call of Duty’s Season 5 adds an ambitious new investigative objective mode to Black Ops Cold War called Double Agent. Similar to both Among Us and Trouble in Terrorist Town, Double Agent is a mode where certain players are assigned roles to try to sabotage a mission and stay incognito, while the rest of the competitors must work to uncover their identities. It’s a much different sort of experience to see inside a Call of Duty game, but based on our impressions so far, it doesn’t function well in public matches. You’ll want to make sure to round up your friends if you want to enjoy this murder mystery mode. If you’re diving into Double Agent, here’s what you need to know about how it works, as well as why public matches are currently a nightmare.

Double Agent matches are played out in five rounds with 10 players in a lobby. Before each round, all players are given a starting pistol and 25 seconds to scavenge better weapons from crates or floor loot. Players are then randomly sorted into one of the three assigned roles: Double Agents, Investigators, or Operatives.

Double Agents

Double Agents are tasked with sabotaging the match, while working together to deceive the others into thinking they’re innocent. The sabotage can be performed by eliminating other players or by successfully setting off the dirty bombs located around the map. Double Agents will also be able to identify their fellow agents by the spy icon marked over their head.

In this intended game of cat-and-mouse, the Double Agents can use gas mines, counter spy planes, combat bows, and attack helicopters to help them achieve their mission. Double Agents also get access to Field Mics, which can be activated around the map. These function just like the Field Upgrade in a standard multiplayer match, revealing enemy positions on the agent’s mini-map. This can provide crucial intel about an Investigator’s or Operative’s movements to aid in the agent’s deceit. However, Operatives and Investigators can destroy Field Mics to deny agents that intel.

Investigators

Marked with a blue shield and star icon over their head, the Investigator is a special Operative tasked with leading the investigation. Dead players drop Autopsy Reports, which reveal information like how long the player has been dead and the weapon that was used. Anyone Operative can view this information by interacting with the report on the ground, but only the Investigators can see the killer’s footsteps. This ability works similar to the Tracker perk in multiplayer.

The Investigators can also use trophy systems, stim shots, and hand cannons, and they have the ability to see the footprints of the person who killed their teammates. Investigators are also able to mark someone as “suspicious” and launch a Wanted order against them.

Operatives

The role of the Operative is the most common role in the game. Unless you’re marked as an Investigator or given the role of Double Agent, you are an Operative. Operatives must help gather clues, communicate about suspicious behavior, and help identify the Double Agents before it is too late.

How It Works

While the Double Agents are being sneaky and investigators are hunting the killer, the regular “Operative” players need to protect the Investigator and help them piece together all the clues to uncover the identity of the Double Agents.

Clues are given to the Investigator and Operatives in the form of decoded radio messages marked around the map. This will generally give information like the Double Agents’ gender or reveal if their given Operative number is an odd or even number. Then the process of elimination can be used to track them down.

Otherwise, if the Double Agents are sneaky enough, they can win the match by remaining incognito while either killing all the Operatives or detonating all the dirty bombs.

This mode has potential, and lots of tools and information are given to help players work through the mystery of discovering the Double Agents, or as the spies in question, they have the tools to sabotage the whole match in a really sneaky way. Unfortunately, matches rarely play out as intended.

Many rounds of my public matches ended fairly abruptly, as everyone just fired on each other haphazardly without ever bothering to look for clues or cause deceit. I understand Treyarch’s need to eliminate players who commit friendly fire, but a bad teammate killing a friendly Operative punishes both players. Both players are eliminated from the round. I think there needs to be ricochet in effect for friendly fire, as you often see in Hardcore multiplayer modes. With ricochet, only the player who commits the friendly fire is killed, and the victim gets to carry on with the round.

There’s also the issue of how players are clustered near each other at the start. I know the point is to be sneaky as an agent or investigative as an Operative, but very few times have I been able to play a round as an Investigator or Double Agent and lived long enough to complete any tasks. Random players often start trolling or firing all over the place without playing the objective. This makes for quick and uninteresting matches.

Call of Duty is all about the guns, but I think it would be best served to have players only use tasks and equipment you can interact with to play either the spy or Operatives roles. Eliminating weapons completely for this mode would make for a more interesting experience.

This is based on my first day experience with Double Agents, so players may calm down after the newness wears off and develop a better understanding of how the matches should play out. But it is possible that this mode will always suffer in public matches with weapons involved.

Overall, Double Agents isn’t a very fun mode for public matches with random players. However, I can see how private matches with friends could be great fun. Double Agent may not be a completely original concept, but this has the potential to feel refreshingly outside the box for what you’d expect in a Call of Duty mode. We’ve seen many capture and defend-style modes, so having something with a little murder mystery is a welcome addition, but Double Agent definitely needs some tweaks to allow for a proper murder investigation inside public matches.

After winning a game of Call of Duty: Warzone, players may notice that every member of their team doesn’t escape the encroaching gas. A new cutscene has been added to the massively popular battle royale for Season 5 that seems to tease the next entry in the Call of Duty franchise, rumored to be called Call of Duty: Vanguard.

A video posted to YouTube by OHB The Don shows what seems to be a normal victory cutscene. However, not all players make it into the helicopter. The last member of the team is instead shot, seemingly out of nowhere, and left on the ground while the chopper takes off. The camera then cuts to a woman dressed in an old Russian military uniform, complete with a USSR side cap and a sniper rifle, the barrel still smoking.

To throw out any question of whether or not this cutscene is authentic, Sam Maggs, one of Call of Duty: Vanguard’s writers, reacted to it on Twitter with a simple, “Atta girl.”

The cutscene is likely a teaser for Call of Duty: Vanguard, which will take place, at least partially, in the western front of World War II’s European theater. However, that doesn’t include Call of Duty: Warzone, which will reportedly be getting a new, much larger map based on the war’s Pacific theater.

Call of Duty: Vanguard is rumored to be revealed on August 19, while its publisher Activision Blizzard is dealing with the repercussions of a lawsuit filed by the State of California. The lawsuit alleges that the company developed a culture in which sexual harassment and discrimination were rampant. In response, workers at Activision Blizzard’s studios have walked out, and the company’s CEO, Bobby Kotick, has apologized for “tone deaf” apologies.

Danny DeVito, who played Penguin in 1992’s Batman Returns, is set to return to the character, this time in the form of a comic book.

This news comes by way of GamesRadar, which reports that DeVito is writing a comic book story about this villain in DC’s upcoming Gotham City Villains Anniversary Giant #1 one-shot comic due out this November. The Penguin story is set to celebrate the Batman villain’s 80th anniversary.

Penguin was first created for 1941’s Detective Comics #58 and the villain’s popularity grew from there, taking on multiple forms and iterations. Sometimes he’s a lowly gangster trying to work his way up to the top, and other times he’s already at the top of Gotham’s criminal food chain.

In the case of DeVito’s Penguin in Batman Returns, the character leans somewhat hard into the whole “Penguin” aspect of the character. He also has bombs that look like penguins and more penguin-inspired things too.

As for what this comic book story will be about, that’s yet to be revealed. However, DeVito’s Penguin does die at the end of Batman Returns so it’s probably safe to say DeVito’s Penguin story will be an original one and not based on the character he played nearly three decades ago. We’ll likely learn more closer to the one-shot’s release later this year.

For more about Batman Returns, read about how Michael Keaton is set to return to his role as Batman for DC’s upcoming Flash movie and then check out this teaser from the director teasing Keaton’s suit. Read about how DC has returned to the story of Keaton’s Batman in its Batman ’89 comic after that.

Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. He’s very excited to read this DeVito Penguin comic. You can follow him over on Twitter @LeBlancWes.