Hogwarts Legacy lead designer Troy Leavitt has left developer Avalanche Software and quit the project, following controversy around his YouTube channel.
Leavitt became the centre of controversy two weeks ago, when journalist Liam Robertson pointed out that the designer had previously uploaded a number of videos in the past that, among other subjects, expressed support for the Gamergate movement and downplayed high-profile cases of sexual harassment.
Leavitt has now explained on Twitter that he has left Avalanche Software, adding that he has “nothing but good things to say about the game, the dev team, and WB Games.” In a follow-up, Leavitt says that he felt “absolutely secure” in his position at Avalanche, but made the choice to resign.
1. I have made the decision to part ways with Avalanche Software. I have nothing but good things to say about the game, the dev team, and WB Games.
2. I will be releasing a YouTube Video about this soon on my channel.
Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].
This week on Console Crew, the gang discuss why game leaks suck for everyone, what they’d like to see from a Switch Pro, and what the future of PlayStation handhelds could look like.
This week on Console Crew the gang finally get to talk about Elden Ring, because goodness knows they’ve never talked about a From Software game before on the show. We’re not going to show any footage of the leaked Elden Ring trailer, but we do discuss it–specifically, we talk about why video game leaks suck for everyone involved.
With numerous reports that the Switch Pro is on the way, they also talk about what improvements they’d like to see to the Nintendo Switch, including better performance and battery life. Finally, the PlayStation Vita is getting a new physical game for the first time since 2019, which begs the question: What does the future look like for Sony handhelds?
Console Crew is your weekly roundup of the biggest PlayStation, Nintendo, and Xbox news, hosted by Lucy James, Tamoor Hussain, and Jordan Ramée. Catch it every Friday at youtube.com/GameSpot.
A standing desk is one of those neat pieces of equipment that I’ve enviously watched others use in corporate settings for years, but I’ve never had the fortune to use one myself until recently. And while I’ve always thought of a standing desk as something you use in an office environment, I’ve come to appreciate the major perks of having one at home. The particular desk I’ve been testing comes from one of the top makers of standing desks, FlexiSpot, which just released a new model: the Comhar EG8 All-in-One Desk. Sleek and stylish with a shiny glass top, the Comhar EG8 is by far the most expensive desk I’ve ever used at $500, but having used it for both working from home and PC gaming for a couple of weeks now, I can say that it’s a major upgrade that could be worth the high price tag if you’re someone who works from home full-time.
Design
At first glance, the FlexiSpot Comhar EG8 standing desk looks like one you’d find in an office setting, and I was worried it wouldn’t fit in with my cozy, cluttered living space (I received the all-white version, and I tend to prefer darker furniture). Its frame is made entirely of industry-grade steel, with the capability of supporting over 100 pounds of weight, and it has a shiny glass top that gives it a stylish, elegant look. On the front-facing side of the table, you’ll see “FlexiSpot” in small silver letters on the left, and on the right, there’s a control panel with several buttons and three USB ports. All in all, it looks expensive–it’s immediately clear the Comhar EG8 desk is a premium product.
The FlexiSpot Comhar EG8 desk (featuring Goku) | Photo via FlexiSpot
After loading all of my equipment onto the desk, I was much happier with the overall look of the desk and felt that it gave my space a more polished, professional vibe without feeling out of place. At 48 inches wide and 24 inches deep, the surface offers ample space for my 32-inch monitor, keyboard, microphone, and MacBook Pro without feeling cluttered. Though you might be able to fit two small monitors, the Comhar EG8 is ideally a single-monitor desk with ample space for smaller peripherals as well.
The three USB charging ports (one USB Type-C, two USB Type-A) on the front of the desk are a particularly nice feature, allowing you to charge your phone or power other USB devices. This can help free up some of your USB inputs for other peripherals, like your keyboard or mouse, while letting you more easily charge items that get unplugged and moved around more frequently, like a phone or tablet.
My personal setup with the Comhar EG8 (in standing position)
A small drawer is built into the front of the desk, which is convenient for storing small items like chargers, a phone, glasses, or a notebook. Let me emphasize small here: At only 1 foot deep and 2 inches high (though over 2 feet wide), the drawer won’t fit larger accessories or even particularly thick books, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to have.
FlexiSpot Comhar EG8 key specs
Lifting mechanism: Motor
Weight capacity: 110 pounds
Height range: 28.3″ to 47.6″
Desktop size: 48″ (W) x 24″ (D)
Lifting speed: 1″ per second
Available colors: White and black
How the lifting mechanism works
Of course, what you’re really paying for here is the standing component, which works beautifully. The desk plugs into the wall in order to power the lifting mechanism, which is operated using the aforementioned control panel on the front-facing right side of the desk.
The control panel is straightforward and easy to use.
The first two buttons are arrows pointing up and pointing down–to raise the desk, you simply have to hold down the upward-facing arrow until it reached a suitable height for you. To bring it back down, you can press the downward-facing arrow. Conveniently, the desk allows you to save four different height presets so that you’re not constantly having to adjust and find your preferred desk height each time. This is a great option if multiple people in your household will be using the desk as well.
There’s a layer of safety built-in with the desk’s anti-collision function, which is designed to have the desk reverse directions when it detects an obstacle in its way. There are three sensitivity levels to this function, which can be turned off entirely as well, but how well it actually works is a bit unclear. I’ve been able to trigger the anti-collision function a few times, but other times, like when my chair’s armrests are underneath the desk while it’s moving downward, it simply won’t activate at all, even on the highest sensitivity setting. You should make sure the area is clear of obstacles in the first place when you set up this desk, but if you have kids or pets around, I wouldn’t completely rely on the desk to stop on its own.
That said, there’s another safety measure that I’ve found more reliable: the child lock button on the far right side of the control panel. If you have little ones or are prone to bumping into things like myself (I’ve accidentally hit the lift button a few times), you can lock the desk at its current height by holding down the circular button at the end of the control panel. This ensures the desk won’t be activated to lift up or down at an unsuspecting moment, which just adds another layer of stability to the overall setup. Overall, the Comhar EG8 standing desk is easy to use and highly effective, and I’ve experienced very few hiccups in the actual operation of the desk aside from the somewhat opaque anti-collision feature.
Assembly
Putting together an electric standing desk may sound intimidating, but I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly the Comhar EG8 comes together. You’ll want a decent amount of space and a soft surface (like carpet) to assemble it on so you don’t scratch the glass top, but once you have the table face down, all you have to do is screw on the frame and legs and connect some wires for the motor. You’ll likely want someone’s help to move the table exactly where you want it to go, but the entire process of putting together the desk is quick and painless, with very few loose parts included in the box beyond some screws.
Another pro: The Comhar EG8 includes two cable clamps that can be attached to the underside of the table to help pull the cables out of view and avoid them looking messy. It would be even better if more cable clamps were included–I ended up using a Command hook in place of having more clamps–but the fact that the table is set up well to hide cables is definitely a plus.
Value
Full-sized standing desks tend to cost a few hundred dollars, so the FlexiSpot Comhar EG8 is on the pricier end of the spectrum; however, its added features and premium design arguably justify the cost. Its tempered glass top gives it a more elegant design, and other added touches, like the USB charging ports, pull-out drawer, pre-set height buttons, and child lock button, come together to make the Comhar EG8 a more fully featured option than some standing desks on the market.
An ultrawide monitor could fit on the Comhar EG8. | Photo via FlexiSpot
The bottom line
The FlexiSpot Comhar EG8 is not marketed as a gaming desk, so if you’re looking for a desk that can fit multiple monitors and comes with other gaming-centric quality-of-life features, like a headphones stand or cup holder, you should look elsewhere (like our best gaming desks guide). FlexiSpot also offers gaming-focused standing desks that are cheaper and offer those types of features, though we haven’t tested those specifically.
However, if you’re someone who mainly uses a desk for work purposes and also happen to play games at it from time to time, the Comhar EG8 is a great option to consider. You don’t need us to tell you that sitting all day is terrible for your health, and taking standing breaks (which the Mayo Clinic recommends doing every 30 minutes) is a great place to start. The Comhar EG8 makes taking standing breaks easier than ever, and its other features–from the ability to save height presets to its USB charging stations–only make it an even better purchase. Particularly if you’re someone who will be working from home for the foreseeable future, investing in a premium standing desk like the Comhar EG8 is definitely worth it.
Assembly is a breeze with very few steps or loose parts
Lifting mechanism is quiet, easy to use, and moves at just the right speed
Tempered glass top gives the desk a stylish look and premium feel
Other quality-of-life features help justify the price, from the three USB charging ports to the four height preset options
The Bad:
Anti-collision function doesn’t always activate, so it’s unclear what counts as an obstacle
About the author: Jenae Sitzes has been using the FlexiSpot Comhar EG8 standing desk for both work and PC gaming over the past two weeks. FlexiSpot provided the Comhar EG8 for review.
We’ve seen no shortage of Marvel characters in Fortnite already, and it looks like Ant-Man will be the latest hero to join the roster. Leakers have shown a portal tease that strongly hints the size-shifting hero will be coming soon, though Epic Games has yet to make the news official.
Portals have been opening up as part of the Zero Point storyline in Fortnite for the last several weeks, and the latest shows a forest floor. The camera is on the ground, with bug noises heard–but Ant-Man himself isn’t seen in the video. Dataminers found the portal is code-named “SmallFry,” which seems to add weight to the Ant-Man prediction.
The portals are typically only open for a short time before we get official confirmation on the crossovers. We’ve seen this with Tron, which featured a portal of the familiar blue-colored digital world before an announcement was made. It was also the case with Street Fighter, which showed off Ryu’s Suzaku Castle stage inside the portal. Most of the characters for Season 6 haven’t been superheroes, with the game instead drawing on a wide number of franchises like Alien, Halo, God of War, Predator, and GI Joe for skins and occasional challenges.
It’s likely that Ant-Man will be one of the last characters to make a guest appearance for Fortnite Season 5, appearing as a skin in the item shop. Season 6 will likely begin after next week, as the battle pass is only available for sale through March 15. If it’s keeping with Epic Games’ traditional strategy, there will be a monumental event to kick off the new season, and it’s almost certainly going to involve the increasingly unstable Zero Point.
Netflix has released the first official trailer for Lupin Part 2, the final five episodes that will complete Season 1 of the series that debuted back in January. The new episodes will hit the streaming service, according to the trailer, sometime this summer.
The intriguing crime drama is only coincidentally similar to the massively popular anime series of the same name–only because it draws inspiration from the same source material: the fictional adventures of early 20th century gentleman thief and master of disguise, Arsène Lupin. In this new French imagining of those capers, Lupin is the only son of a Senegalese immigrant who came to France to seek a better life for his child. Rather than being the beneficiary of a better life, Lupin instead is orphaned as a teenager after his father is framed for a crime by his boss, Hubert Pellegrini. An official synopsis for the next five episodes reads: “Assane’s quest for revenge against Hubert Pellegrini has torn his family to pieces. With his back to the wall, he now has to think of a new plan, even if it means putting himself in danger.” Check out the trailer below.
These upcoming episodes are directed by Ludovic Bernard (Episodes 6 and 7) and Hugo Gélin (Episodes 8, 9, and 10). The show’s cast includes Omar Sy, Hervé Pierre, Nicole Garcia, Clotilde Hesme, Ludivine Sagnier, Antoine Gouy, Shirine Boutella, and Soufiane Guerrab. This Netflix adaptation is co-created by George Kay in collaboration with François Uzan.
Even though it’s a live action reimagining of an overlapping influence, fans of the anime (which had an animated CG version come out also in January) will likely get a lot of mileage out of this version.
Ever since Pokemon’s first games debuted on February 27, 1996, it has been one of the most popular franchises in not only gaming but in all of entertainment. So this year we are celebrating Pokemon’s 25th anniversary by asking you to decide which Pokemon is the very best.
Is Pikachu your favorite? How about Charizard or Blastoise? We’ve selected 200 of the most popular Pokemon to “Face-Off” against each other two at a time. Will you choose Greninja over Mewtwo? Or Mimikyu over Dragonite? The choice is yours… Click on the image below to get started!
What is a Face-Off?
Like the name suggests, a Face-Off pits two things against one another and you decide which one is the superior of the two. In this case, you are voting to determine who the very best Pokemon is. It’s possible to see certain Pokemon multiple times so you can keep voting for your favorites to ensure they get ranked higher than the rest. IGN’s resident team of Pokemaniacs pre-selected 200 amazing Pokemon for you to choose from based on fan favorites from every region and various online polls. These get randomly paired up and each time you pick a winner, it’s tracked.
How do you determine a winner?
When voting ends on March 14, we tally up the total number of “wins” and “losses” each Pokemon has, and create a ranked list based on your choices that will go live on March 15. The Pokemon that won the most matchups will be crowned the “winner,” and in the event of a tied number of “wins,” the Pokemon with the least “losses” will take the top spot. If you continue to keep voting for your favorite Pokemon, they’ll have a better chance of ranking high on the list. You can vote as many times as you want until the Face-Off closes.
How do I know when I’ve clicked through everything?
It’s difficult to know when you’ve seen every Pokemon included because they are matched randomly and there are so many possible match-ups. Playing until you vote for all your favorite Pokemon or ensuring that certain Pokemon don’t get in the winner’s circle are different options you can take with a Face-Off. By deciding the winner throughout all these matchups, you’re ensuring that your picks for the best Pokemon will have a fighting chance to reach the top of the list.
Which Pokemon have you included?
The list of Pokemon has been decided by IGN staff, with Pokemon from each region included. There are so many Pokemon these days (almost 900!) that we had to narrow down the list to ensure voters will see as many of their favorites as possible. We are passionate Pokemon fans ourselves and did our best to provide a wide variety of Pokemon from every generation, from Pokemon Red and Blue all the way to Pokemon Sword and Shield.
Razer has launched a brand-new type of product, aimed not only at gamers but also the many people still working behind a computer at home. If you’ve been looking for a device to both protect your eyes and take your calls, the Razer Anzu Smart Glasses fit that specific niche.
The $200 pair of frames is Razer’s first foray into eyewear, with the largest focus on protecting user’s eyes from the harmful blue light most displays produce. The included lenses filter out 35% of blue light from all your digital devices, while the supplementary polarized lenses feature 99% UVA/UVB protection outdoors.
But these aren’t just regular frames. Similar to Bose’s own smart frames, the Anzu features open-back speakers and Bluetooth connectivity, with a rated five hours of playback time. Razer says that the glasses go into battery-saving mode when folded, which can extend battery life to two weeks. This means you can listen to music, take calls, and bug your smartphone digital assistant just by wearing the frames. Touch controls on the outer rims also provide controls for music playback, assistant commands, and more.
Gallery
The Anzu are water resistant, too, which means you can use them at the gym or not worry if you’re caught in the rain with them on. In public settings the open nature of the speakers will allow anyone near you to hear what’s coming through them, so that’s something to keep in mind if you plan on having calls during a commute.
The Razer Anzu Smart Glasses are available right now from Razer’s website, with both rectangular and rounded styles to choose from. Razer is also offering different sizes (small, medium and large), with the largest weighing less than 48g.
Nickelodeon has greenlit The Patrick Star Show, the SpongeBob SquarePants spin-off series. In addition, the first image from the starfish-starring show has been released.
For the first season, 13 episodes of The Patrick Star Show have been ordered, and the show will debut sometime this summer. The Patrick Star Show will be a family sitcom focusing on the titular character and his family, who have to constantly deal with Patrick’s antics. The SpongeBob Twitter released an image from the show, which you can check out below.
⭐️ This sea star is getting his own show! ⭐️ Living at home with his family, see Patrick host his own TV show right from his bedroom! The Patrick Show coming this summer to @Nickelodeonpic.twitter.com/d3D11kXvdu
“Nickelodeon is diving deeper into Bikini Bottom to give fans a look at our lovable young adult Patrick Star and his entire family with a sitcom only he could imagine up,” said Ramsey Naito, president of Nickelodeon Animation in a press release. “This second original spinoff allows us to expand our reach, tell new stories and connect with our audience around the world who continue to love these characters.”
Longtime Patrick Star voice actor Bill Fagerbakke will continue in the role on the new show. He’ll be joined by new cast members like Tom Wilson (Back to the Future) as Patrick’s father Cecil, Cree Summer (A Different World) as Patrick’s mother Bunny, Jill Talley (Mr. Show) as Patrick’s little sister Squidina, and Dana Snyder (Aqua Teen Hunger Force) Patrick’s grandfather GrandPat.
Executive producing the series are Marc Ceccarelli, Vincent Waller, and Jennie Monica.
It’s another month to look at which games saw the biggest number of downloads on PlayStation consoles in the US and Canada, and unsurprisingly Grand Theft Auto V continues to dominate the top 20 list on PS4. Even with publisher Take-Two Interactive admitting that GTA V has begun to reach a point of oversaturation, it still finds itself at the top of charts regularly and January was no exception.
