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Guilty Gear Strive will see a returning face among its character roster, as the deadly rocker I-No has been confirmed for the upcoming fighting game. She’s supremely confident in her own abilities, and based on what we’ve seen from her so far, that confidence is warranted. This reveal came during a special fighting game developer roundtable, with members of Arc System Works going into detail about what players can expect from the return of the time-traveling, guitar-wielding witch.

In the new gameplay and announcement trailer, we get to see I-No in action, her guitar in hand as she delivers furious kicks. At one point, she ducks under a projectile attack and delivers a devastating uppercut to punish, sending her opponent to the floor. I-No also has projectile attacks of her own that she can use to control space and keep her opponents from playing too defensively, and her counters should also keep her opponents from being too aggressive. You’re between a rock and a hard place with I-No, but at least she can shred on the guitar for you as she’s pummeling you into the ground.

In addition to the reveal of I-No, Arc System Works also revealed during the developer livestream that Samuari Showdown and Guilty Gear will have a collaboration, which will come in the form of a guest character arriving in the former. Also revealed was a special Saiko x Guilty Gear watch that fans of the series can purchase.

Guilty Gear is a notoriously complex fighting game, and arguably Arc System Works’ toughest series to get into. Still, the series has a dedicated following, and Guilty Gear Strive is keeping up with the franchise’s sense of style and sophisticated combat. The Japanese studio is legendary in the 2D fighter genre and is also responsible for BlazBlue and Dragon Ball FighterZ. Their last game before Guilty Gear Strive was 2020’s Granblue Fantasy Versus.

Guilty Gear Strive releases on April 9 for PS4, PS5, and PC. There will be 15 characters on the roster out of the gate, and a beta is available with 13 of the characters included. You can play several different modes in the beta, including a Versus mode against CPU or local players, as well as online play. You don’t need a PlayStation Plus membership to access it, either.

Hitman 3 PC players are now able to import levels from Hitman 1 and 2 at no additional cost if they already own either of the first two games of the World of Assassination Trilogy.

Developer IO Interactive shared the news alongside a Location Importing Guide, noting that all players need to do to unlock these other levels is sign in to their IOI Account and make sure their platform accounts that own the games (i.e. Steam and The Epic Games Store) are linked as well.

This has been an ongoing issue for PC players due to the fact that Hitman 3 is exclusive to The Epic Games Store. While the original Hitman is available on that digital storefront as well, Hitman 2 is still only on Steam. This meant there was no way to prove you owned Hitman 2 prior to this new import procedure.

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IO Interactive shared a few important things to consider before you initiate this process, and they are as follows;

• Double check all your choices before claiming content. They cannot be undone or reversed.
• The content you claim will be an ‘Access Pass DLC’. For example, if you own HITMAN 2, you can claim the HITMAN 2 Access Pass. It’s that simple.
• Once you have claimed an Access Pass, restart HITMAN 3 to access the relevant content. (There are no codes you need to redeem.)
• We recommend using a PC browser, the location importing site is not fully optimised for mobile browsers.

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To make up for some of the frustrations, IO Interactive made the Hitman 1 GOTY Access Pass free to all PC players who pre-purchased Hitman 3 or bought the game within the first ten days after release. Now, those who own the previous games will be able to play older locations with all the upgrades that come along with this new title.

Fortunately for console players, this has never been an issue and importing locations has been available since launch.

For more on Hitman 3, check out our review, our full guide on how to get Hitman 1 and 2 locations into Hitman 3, and IO Interactive’s comments on Hitman 3’s DLC.

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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.

World of Warcraft‘s new Chains of Domination update for the Shadowlands expansion is adding a brand-new mount that is a giant ancient tree that you can ride and stomp around on. Finally. It’s probably my most-anticipated part of the update (I am only joking a little).

At BlizzConline, I spoke with WoW principle game designer Jeremy Feasel about this mount, including how it came about, why it’s so unique, and how it connects to the wider lore.

Blizzard launched a player survey some time ago asking fans what they would like to see from a new mount, allowing them to vote to determine what it would be. The idea was to work closely with the community in a new way to help players feel a greater sense of connection to Azeroth and the Warcraft universe. Some of the other options in the survey included a giant book you could ride, a kitty cat made of jelly, a caterpillar, and a creepy spider.

The Wandering Ancient was the most popular choice by far, Feasel said. “By a wide margin, everywhere, riding a giant walking tree won,” he said.

Fans of The Lord of the Rings are likely familiar with big walking trees with the Ents, but the Ancients are also a central part of the Warcraft lore and Night Elves specifically.

“There’s this mythology of riding on top of a giant tree,” Feasel said about the portrayal of giant walking trees in media like The Lord of the Rings. “But also, Night Elves have this long and extensive lore about ancient protectors and … it goes all the way back to Warcraft 3. I feel like there is a sect of the player base that has always wanted to ride one of those things. They finally got their way.”

The Wandering Ancient is among WoW’s largest-ever mounts, and as such, Feasel said players can expect it to feel very unique in that respect. “This is the mount for stomping across the landscape,” he said.

The Wandering Ancient is also unique in that it will change colors with the seasons–check out the animated GIF above to see that in action. Additionally, its special ability shakes the tree and different color leaves will drop off depending on the season. Feasel teased that the Wander Ancient mount will also feature some “unique extra little things” to be announced later.

One of these surprises may have already been revealed. If you look closely, you’ll notice that one of the mount ideas that didn’t get enough votes–the caterpillar–actually has a home on top of Wandering Ancient mount. The bug is positioned in a place that looks like he’s controlling the mount, which is a nice touch.

As part of BlizzConline, the studio released an in-depth video for the Wandering Ancient in which developers across disciplines talk about how they brought the mount to the game from the very beginning to the final model. It’s an impressive video and it really showcases how special and unique the mount is. Check out the video below.

The Wandering Ancient isn’t the only new mount coming to Shadowlands in the Chains of Domination update. There will be a series of new flying mounts, too, and you can see them below.

Chains of Domination is the first major update to Shadowlands since the expansion launched last year. It will include a new 10-boss raid, an eight-boss mega-dungeon that will have a Hard mode, additional PvP content, changes to the Maw, and more. On the story side, players will finally get to fight Sylvanas, which is a battle that’s been brewing for years.

We spoke with Feasel, as well as technical designer Frank Kowalkowski, about a series of other topics related to Shadowlands, Chains of Domination, and the wider World of Warcraft universe. Check back soon with GameSpot for our full interview.

For now, you can check out some of the top BlizzConline stories below, as well as our roundup of all the big BlizzConline news:

While fans of Metallica were treated to a special performance by the band at the end of BlizzCon 2021’s opening ceremony, those watching on the official Twitch Gaming channel were treated to the concert with the most non-heavy metal music imaginable in order to avoid a DMCA claim.

Shortly after Metallica started playing, Twitch switched over to royalty-free music to avoid a DMCA takedown, which predictably led to a hilarious few moments that was captured by those like @Slasher on Twitter.

the current state of Twitch: the official Twitch Gaming channel cut off the live Metallica concert to play 8bit folk music to avoid DMCA pic.twitter.com/sCn56So8Ee

— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) February 19, 2021

It would appear that Twitch did not obtain the proper rights to allow the music to be played on its channel. Fortunately, the concert and its music played as expected on other Twitch channels like Blizzard’s own and the official BlizzCon livestream on YouTube.

DMCA takedowns have been a huge issue for Twitch streamers recently, and Twitch even admitted that it has handled this situation poorly and promised that better tools are on the way.

Besides this funny moment, BlizzCon 2021 has already provided some big news and reveals, including Diablo 2 Resurrected, Diablo 4’s Rogue class, 55 new Overwatch 2 details, and so much more.

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As of this writing, Day 2 of BlizzCon is underway, and you can catch up on all the best announcements in our BlizzCon 2021 roundup.

Blogroll Image Credit: Buda Mendes/Getty Images.

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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.

It’s the weekend, and you know what that means, it’s deal time! Most of the focus is on Best Buy today, who is having a giant sale on Microsoft related products. This includes a great discount of Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Gift Cards, as well as deals across the Surface Book lineup. We’ve also got a nice mix of games being slashed in price for the weekend, and for those looking forward to tax season, or those dreading it, we have a good deal on software that will help you through your filing process.

The Best Daily Deals for February 20

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More Video Game Deals

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For nearly two decades now (and long before that if you count its Warcraft predecessors), World of Warcraft has centered around a conflict between two factions: the Alliance and Horde. Never have the twain been able to meet to do content together cooperatively in the MMORPG…but Blizzard says that may one day change.

In today’s World of Warcraft Q&A at BlizzCon 2021, panel moderator Scott Johnson asked a number of questions regarding the recent announcements of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Classic and World of Warcraft: Shadowlands’ upcoming 9.1 patch to a panel of Blizzard developers including game director Ion Hazzikostas, touching on topics such as the recent cinematics and lore, character availability and transfer for The Burning Crusade Classic, and game balance.

The discussion turned to the fact that some of the “realms,” or servers in World of Warcraft have an exceedingly low population of either Alliance or Horde. And since players can only do raids, dungeons, quests, and most other content with their same faction, this can often lead to players either changing to higher population servers or switching factions, effectively either ensuring some servers become even more skewed, or are abandoned entirely. Hazzikostas cited features like cross-server gameplay and connected realms as having alleviated much of that issue, but acknowledged that it was still a problem due to the need for guilds to be made up of characters all on one server, among other issues.

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Johnson then asked the panel a question that he acknowledged comes up seemingly on a yearly basis, with a negative answer each time: would Blizzard ever let the Horde and Alliance raid, or do Mythic dungeons together?

Hazzikostas bucked the trend with his response:

“I honestly would not say never…There are a ton of reasons why it is essential to retain faction identity, but for the sake of rated arena, from day one, Alliance could fight Alliance and Horde could fight Horde. When Burning Crusade Classic comes out later this year, that will be a thing and that will be a competitive activity, and that was one of those areas where the gameplay and the need for matchmaking was the top priority and had to be. In an ideal world, all of these priorities would co-exist, but at the end of the day an MMO like World of Warcraft is about being able to play with your friends, being able to play where you want to be and arguably, there’s greater stretch in the faction identity if you feel you can truly choose the faction you identify with, that you feel most a part of, and not have to sacrifice that because you need to be with your group or you want to join a higher-rated guild.

“I have coworkers who are lifelong Alliance players who now play Horde, who really wish they could be Alliance, who are doing it for guild reasons, and I know there are tens of thousands, maybe more, in that exact same boat around the world. We’d love to do something for them.”

Whatever this change ends up looking like, it’s clear that the potential unification Hazzikostas suggests isn’t coming anytime soon. While Patch 9.1 Chains of Domination includes a number of new features including a new raid, a mega-dungeon, and a new outdoor area, it doesn’t look like the Alliance and Horde will get to play together for now.

But Blizzard does seem open to further big leaps that it may not have considered in the past, with developers telling IGN in a pre-BlizzCon interview that they are open to the idea of one day releasing a Wrath of the Lich King Classic version — if enough players are interested.

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Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Diablo 2: Resurrected was announced during BlizzCon 2021’s opening ceremony, and the updated version of the classic dungeon-crawler makes significant improvements to the visuals–to the point that it almost looks like a brand-new game. However, Blizzard’s track record with remastered games is spotty, particularly after Warcraft III: Reforged released to a negative reception due to missing features and few meaningful improvements. Blizzard is looking to avoid a similar fate for Diablo 2: Resurrected.

Speaking to GameSpot’s Alessandro Fillari during BlizzCon, designer Andre Abrahamian said the team knew it needed to maintain the core gameplay of the original Diablo 2 when it started on the project. It isn’t designed to replace that game, either, as both will still be available through Battle.net. If players prefer the older version, they’re still able to play it, instead.

Producer Matthew Cederquist added that there will also be a technical alpha test happening shortly that will allow players to provide feedback on the game so far, which Blizzard will then do its best to implement. If the developers felt something was straying too far from the original formula while designing the new version, however, it wasn’t implemented, so it should still feel like Diablo 2 for veterans.

Diablo 2: Resurrected is coming to PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, and PS5 later this year. The game’s development team includes Vicarious Visions, which was folded into Blizzard recently. It previously created the excellent Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 remake, so it has experience with giving older games a makeover.

CD Projekt had game code stolen and allegedly sold off as part a hack earlier this month, and the company is doing everything in its power to prevent the code for games like Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3 from spreading online. That includes issuing DMCA takedowns to Twitter users trying to share it.

According to Vice, on Thursday, February 18, two different Twitter users were notified of a DMCA takedown related to sharing code for the card game Gwent. At least one of the tweets in question contained a link to the game’s source code.

The hackers left a ransom note after committing the attack against CD Projekt, but the company said it wasn’t going to give in to these demands when it initially shared the news, knowing the data could be released if it didn’t agree.

The note itself said four different projects’ source code was stolen, including the aforementioned three games as well as an unreleased version of The Witcher 3. Other administrative data was stolen, as well. Plenty were quick to jump in with jokes about how the interface for hacking in Cyberpunk 2077 made this all possible.

CD Projekt Red continues working on updates to improve Cyberpunk 2077, as its public image took a huge hit in December when the game released in a borderline-broken state. The game was even pulled from sale on PlayStation Store, and refund programs were enacted for unhappy customers. True next-gen versions are planned for later this year, and there is also a multiplayer experience on the way.

343 Industries has opted to delay the public flighting of its latest Halo: The Master Chief Collection update by a week in order to fix bugs. Fans can expect a lot of new content in this flight, which will be available to those in Halo Insider’s Ring 3. To help make the wait a little easier, we also have some images of the two new maps coming to Halo 3’s multiplayer.

“If all goes well in Rings 1 and 2, we plan to roll out our next public flight as early as next Thursday, February 25,” 343 Industries said in an update post. “Then we are planning in rough a week or so, an update to the flight to bring more content and features online that we are working hard on.”

The update will feature Season 6 content and some other customization options that we’ve discussed previously, such as keyboard support on Xbox systems. The biggest additions are the maps Edge and Waterfall, which both originally appeared in the Russian game Halo Online. That game is no longer available, but the maps live on.

They look like they’ll fit with the rest of Halo 3’s offerings, with one taking place in a frozen outdoor environment while the other is an indoor installation that looks like it was built by the Forerunners.

It should help to make the wait for Halo Infinite a little more bearable, as the game was delayed roughly a year in order to give the development team more time to polish it. A showcase over the summer received a mixed response, with particular criticism aimed at the lack of detail and fidelity in characters and the environments.