PS Plus, PS Now, And Game Pass: The Ultimate Guide

There is no better time than now to be a gamer, and that’s simply because we have a lot of options for what we play and how we play it.

But with options, comes the need to make decisions, and to make decisions you need to be as informed as possible on questions like what is the PlayStation Plus Collection? Or PS Now? Is it like Xbox Game Pass? Are they the same and what service is right for my gaming needs?

PS Now offers the ability to stream over 700 games, 400 of which are downloadable, and thankfully Bloodborne is available for both options. But what about The Last Of Us? You may be surprised to know it’s only streamable. In comparison to PS Now’s huge library, Game Pass has a little over a 100 games, but does more games mean it’s better for you?

In this video, Kurt Indovina goes through what each service is, what they cost, and exactly what it is they offer. He also lists details some of the hottest games for each service, and compares what games are available on both PS Plus Collection and Game Pass, like Batman: Arkham Knight, Resident Evil 7, and more.

NBA 2K21 Updated Player Ratings Revealed, Starting With LeBron And The Lakers

2K has unveiled the first batch of updated player ratings for NBA 2K21. And as is appropriate for how the season turned out, this starts with members of the NBA Champions, the Los Angeles Lakers, as well as other top performers from this year’s unusual, pandemic-impacted playoffs.

This first group is headlined by LeBron James, who comes in at a whopping 98, making him the top-rated player in 2K21. That might be thanks in part to winning yet another NBA Finals MVP, but whatever the case, it gives him a clear edge over his teammate, Anthony Davis, who will have a 96 rating. The regular season MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo, comes in at a 97, apparently not being heavily impacted by the Bucks’ underperformance in the post-season. Despite his young age, Dallas’ Luka Dončić isn’t far behind these big names, earning himself a 94 rating.

Other members of the Lakers to receive new ratings so far include Danny Green (76), Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (76), and Alex Caruso (75). Their opponent in the NBA Finals, the Miami Heat, have seen Jimmy Butler come in at a 93, which is unsurprising given how well he played in the playoffs.

Another breakout player from the playoffs, Denver’s Jamal Murray, jumps to an 87, which is a great rating and yet somehow feels low after that stretch in the Utah series where it seemed like he couldn’t miss. That ties him with one Jazz opponent, Rudy Gobert, but puts him a point behind his more direct opposite, Donovan Mitchell, who will be an 88.

More ratings will continue to be shared on the NBA 2K Twitter account throughout the day. You can see a roundup of all the confirmed ratings below so far. These will be reflected in both the current-gen versions of 2K21 as well as the upcoming PS5 and Xbox Series X/Series S versions. Those next-gen versions will come at a premium, costing $70 unless you opt to buy the even pricier Mamba Forever edition that goes for $100 and includes access to both current- and next-gen versions.

Updated NBA 2K21 Player Ratings

  • LeBron James — 98
  • Giannis Antetokounmpo — 97
  • Anthony Davis — 96
  • Luka Dončić — 94
  • Jimmy Butler — 93
  • Jayson Tatum — 90
  • Donovan Mitchell — 88
  • Devin Booker — 88
  • Rudy Gobert — 87
  • Jamal Murray — 87
  • Kemba Walker — 86
  • Jaylen Brown — 86
  • Danny Green — 76
  • Kentavious Caldwell-Pope — 76
  • Alex Caruso — 75

NBA 2K21 has received some negative press recently as the game was briefly home to an unskippable ad–something many felt had no place in a $60 game. 2K apologized and explained the ad didn’t function as intended, though it doesn’t sound as if ads will be going away altogether. For more on the game itself, check out our NBA 2K21 review.

Now Playing: NBA 2K21 – Next-Gen Gameplay Reveal Trailer

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Fortnite’s Wolverine Logan Skin Is Finally Available: Here’s How To Get It

Fortnite has finally added Wolverine’s stripped-down Logan skin, but you’re going to have to complete a lot of challenges in order to unlock him. If you’ve been following along with our weekly challenge guides, however, that shouldn’t be an issue.

Wolverine Logan skin
Wolverine Logan skin

Available to unlock after completing 60 weekly challenges and six challenges from the Wolverine Battle Pass, the Wolverine Logan skin shows the hero wearing a tank top with a large tear in the front. Presumably, his healing factor allowed him to repair any damage that happened under the shirt.

Logan is the third skin available for Wolverine in Fortnite this season, with the gold and classic skins being released in weeks 5 and 6. Other weapon skins and back bling were previously made available. You can even swap from using a pickaxe to his Adamantium claws.

Fortnite has recently begun some spooky challenges just in time for Halloween. These include a candy-eating challenge, flying a witch’s broom, and becoming a literal shadow of your former self. It looks like the Marvel fun isn’t stopping, either, as a Ghost Rider skin has leaked. You could even defeat Wolverine this season, and we’ve provided a guide to the challenges you’ll need to complete in order to unlock him.

Now Playing: Fortnite – Fortnitemares 2020: Midas’ Revenge Gameplay Trailer

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Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & The Blade of Light Coming to Nintendo Switch

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & The Blade of Light – the first Fire Emblem game from 1990 – will be released on the Nintendo Switch on December 4, 2020, and will be fully localized for the first time.

This Fire Emblem game, that was released only in Japan on the Nintendo Family Computer (Famicom), told a story that featured the “heroic exploits of Prince Marth,” and began a franchise that has spawned 20 games, spin-offs, and remakes, most recently with Fire Emblem: Three Houses for the Nintendo Switch.

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & The Blade of Light will be available on the Nintendo eShop for $5.99 and will only be available to purchase until the end of the franchise’s 30th anniversary on March 31, 2021. Super Mario 3D All-Stars and Super Mario Bros. 35 will also only be available, at least in their current forms, until that date as well.

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There will also be a Fire Emblem 30th Anniversary Edition that will be available for $49.99 and will include “a nostalgic, stylized physical NES box and a replica NES Game Pak art piece with a protective sleeve that transports owners to the era of the original game’s release.” There will also be a 222-page Legacy of Archanea deluxe hardbound art book, download code, NES instruction manual (also localized!), a fold-out world map, and a Mini Nintendo Power retro collectible.

Collectors

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & The Blade of Light will have its first English language localization on Switch, and will also have rewind, fast-forward, and save states to help players along their journey.

Throughout the adventure, players will be able to control dozens of characters with unique attributes and will help Marth acquire the sacred Falchion sword on his quest to restore peace to the Kingdom of Archanea.

This particular adventure was remade for the Nintendo DS in 2008 as Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon. In our review, we said “Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon doesn’t offer a revolutionary experience, but it is a highly polished and well-balanced example of strategy gaming. Nintendo did a nice job making sure it kept the challenge the series is known for while at the same time providing a friendlier experience for newcomers. The series superfans may be disappointed at the lack of new features, but this is still one of the strongest turn-based strategy experiences on the DS.”

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Nintendo Switch Getting First Fire Emblem Game, Previously Japan-Only, In December

The first-ever Fire Emblem game turns 30 this year, and Nintendo is celebrating its anniversary by officially localizing it for Switch. The company announced that it is bringing the series’ previously Famicom-only debut entry, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, to Nintendo Switch in English on December 4.

In addition to full English text, Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light will feature a few new amenities, including a rewind feature that lets you skip back to a previous turn, as well as the ability to fast-forward through animations. Nintendo has also added a save state function to the game. You can watch the announcement trailer for Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light below.

As the first game in the series, Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light established the framework that future Fire Emblem games would follow. The game features more than 50 unique characters, who you’ll need to tactically maneuver around a map to defeat opposing armies. It was also the first title to feature the series’ hallmark permadeath; if one of your characters should fall during battle, they’ll be gone permanently.

Although this is the first time the Famicom installment is being officially released in English, this isn’t the first chance Western players had to play through Marth’s adventure. Nintendo released a full remake of the game dubbed Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon for the original DS back in 2009.

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light launches digitally on the Switch eShop on December 4. The game will cost $6 USD to purchase. Nintendo is also releasing a $50 USD collector’s edition that comes with an assortment of physical goodies on top of the game download, including an NES instruction manual, an NES-style box and game pak art piece, and a 222-page art book.

Much like Super Mario 3D All-Stars, however, Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light will not be a permanent release. Nintendo says the game will only be available to purchase until March 31, 2021.

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PS5 to Launch with Apple TV+, Disney+, Netflix, Spotify, Twitch, and YouTube

Sony has revealed that Apple TV+, Disney+, Netflix, Spotify, Twitch, and YouTube will all be available on PS5 on its launch day of November 12, 2020.

Announced on PlayStation.Blog, the PS5 will also be getting additional streaming apps in the future like Amazon Prime Video, MyCanal, Hulu, Peacock, and more.

Some of these apps also have an integrated experience with PS5, including being able to play Spotify in the background while you play a game, watching or livestreaming on Twitch, and broadcasting and sharing gameplay moments from YouTube.

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Furthermore, these apps, as was shown in the PS5’s UI reveal, will have a dedicated media entertainment space next to the Game home screen. There will also be no need to download the entertainment apps through the PS Store as they will now all be contained in the Media space.

This will allow for switching quickly between Game and Media spaces and PS5’s new Control Center will also make controlling your music even easier with the ability to switch between channels, skip, and pause whatever you may be playing.

The PS5’s Media Remote will also be available with the launch of the console, and will let users power on the PS5, quickly navigate media, adjust volume and power settings on compatible TVs, and will feature dedicated launch buttons for Disney+, Netflix, Spotify and YouTube.

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Most of These New Star Wars Figures Are Available Now

This probably isn’t news to anyone, but Star Wars has a whole lot of great action figures coming out all the time. The Black Series offers a terrific meeting point between quality and pricing. The brand new Celebrate the Saga line offers great-looking 3.75-inch figures that come in box sets of five.

Below we’ve compiled some of the coolest looking upcoming Star Wars figures, accessories, and sets you can either order or preorder now. It’s not a complete list of the upcoming figures, but it covers a whole lot of ground. For the Amazon preorders in particular, you won’t be charged until they ship, and if they get a discount before release, you’ll only be charged the lowest price they go. Let’s have a look.

New and Upcoming Star Wars Figures

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These figures run the gamut from the long-running Black Series and Vintage Series to the new Celebrate the Saga series.

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Chris Reed is IGN’s shopping and commerce editor. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.

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Mortal Kombat 11’s Rambo Gameplay Trailer Draws First Blood

Mortal Kombat 11 has a few more warriors to add to its roster including fan-favourite Mileena and Edenian demigod Rain. This week’s latest reveal is a grisly and brutal deep dive that showcases Sly Stallone’s famous cinematic hero John Rambo in action. Earthrealm’s grizzled war veteran is ready to draw first blood in this gameplay trailer, as he wields his trademark knife with surgical precision.

In the trailer above, Rambo has access to a cinematic arsenal of weapons. His trusty knife forms a key part of his offense, his bow can keep opponents at bay, and he can whip out a pair of heavy machine guns to create a massive gap between him and anyone on the opposite side of the screen. Rambo’s fighting style revolves around the use of grapples and traps as well, while his fatality is a savage combination of bamboo, knives, and a throat rip finisher that would make the late Patrick Swayze proud.

Developer NetherRealm’s version of Rambo also has several of his outfits from Last Blood and Rambo 3 as cosmetic options, while Stallone himself was brought in to voice his famous action movie persona. If you want to see who the true king of the Hollywood box office really is, you can even face off against Stallone’s greatest rival from the time, as Arnold Schwarzennegger is present in Mortal Kombat 11 as a playable version of the Terminator. Sadly, Arnie doesn’t voice his digital doppelganger.

NetherRealm has said that the digital versions of these new characters will be the quickest way to access them, as the physical version of Mortal Kombat 11: Ultimate Edition that includes the new roster additions won’t arrive until January 2021. On the plus side, you’ll be able to upgrade your current-gen version of Mortal Kombat 11 to its PS5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S version for free, and we’ve got a guide right here explaining how to.

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Sony Announces PS5 Supported Entertainment Apps, But No HBO Max

Sony has detailed the slate of streaming entertainment apps that will be available on PlayStation 5 upon launch, with more promised on the way. The initial slate of apps includes a lot of what you’d expect, but one app is conspicuously absent from the mentions.

A post on the PlayStation Blog details the apps, specifically mentioning Apple TV, Disney+, Netflix, Spotify, Twitch, and YouTube. A note about additional streaming apps also mentions Amazon Prime, MyCanal, Hulu, and Peacock, but it’s not clear whether those will be part of the day one offerings.

Not included on the list, though, is HBO Max. The streaming service launched this summer, bringing together lots of content from the Warner Bros. catalog along with new original programming. It’s priced at $15 and replaced HBO Go and HBO Now for many users, but its distribution has been inconsistent. Roku and Amazon Fire devices, which make up a significant share of streaming users, do not offer HBO Max access. With this announcement, it appears PlayStation doesn’t either, at least for the time being. PS4 does have an HBO Max app. GameSpot has contacted HBO and Sony for clarification.

PlayStation 5 will launch on November 12, as a $400 digital version or $500 version with a disc drive. Preorders have been notoriously hard to nail down, but you can keep an eye on our PS5 preorder guide for updates on when more stock becomes available.

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