DC Comics and DC Universe employees are said to have been heavily impacted by WarnerMedia’s recent restructuring, with several high-profile layoffs taking place at both divisions.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the comic book powerhouse experienced a major shake-up on Monday, as sources claimed that “roughly one-third of DC’s editorial ranks” faced losing their positions, with editor-in-chief Bob Harris said to be amongst those that have exited as part of the corporate realignment.
Other employees that have reportedly been affected by the companywide layoffs include senior VP of publishing strategy and support services Hank Kanalz, VP of marketing and creative services Jonah Weiland, VP global publishing initiatives and digital strategy Bobbie Chase, senior story editor Brian Cunningham, and executive editor Mark Doyle, who oversaw the rollout of DC’s Black Label graphic novels. Amid the streamlining, Jim Lee remains DC Chief Creative Officer.
DC Universe, the subscription service dedicated entirely to DC content, is also said to have been impacted by the company’s restructuring efforts, with the “majority of staff” reportedly being laid off in a move that insiders claim was “widely expected as WarnerMedia shifts its focus to new streaming service HBO Max,” with some DC Universe shows already having made the move over to the HBO Max streaming platform.
The DC-themed online convention is scheduled to begin at 10 am PT on Saturday, August 22. The event will then run for 24 hours and is open to DC fans all over the world. The DC FanDome site will even offer multiple language options, including Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean and Spanish.
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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.
SpongeBob Squarepants’ best friend is on his way to getting his own spinoff series called The Patrick Star Show, which will see the pink starfish become the host of his own late-night talk show.
According to Deadline, Nickelodeon is in the process of finalizing deals for a 13-episode order of The Patrick Star Show, a new animated series coming from the same creative team as the original SpongeBob Squarepants show.
The new series will reportedly center around Patrick and his family, with Bikini Bottom’s shirtless invertebrate heading straight for stardom as the presenter of his own late-night talk show, which will apparently be in a similar vein asThe Larry Sanders Show and Comedy Bang! Bang!
SpongeBob veteran Bill Fagerbakke will continue to voice the main character, but will be joined by “a largely new cast voicing new characters, with SpongeBob cast members expected to make occasional appearances, reprising their roles.”
No further details were shared about the other cast members that have signed up to dive into the underwater universe, even though the series’ voice actors have reportedly already started to record their lines for the project behind the scenes.
The Patrick Star Show joins a growing slate of SpongeBob Squarepants spinoffs, including Nickelodeon’s Kamp Koral prequel series, which is set to follow the adventures of a 10-year-old SpongeBob during his summer at sleepaway camp.
It’s 2B. That’s it, that’s the story. Seriously though, the latest update for Final Fantasy XIV is an exciting one, which includes the second chapter in the Nier Automata crossover raid series. And with FFXIV’s patch 5.3, we dig deeper into the interconnected storyline that merges the lore of Nier and FFXIV itself. For those who are deep in FFXIV and are looking forward to doing the Nier raid themselves; this article does contain some light spoilers for the questline.
Following the events of The Copied Factory, which was the first entry in the 24-player Nier-themed alliance raid included in update 5.1, many questions surfaced. Why was 9S attacking us and why did we have to fight? Who really is 2P and is she just a reflection of 2B with an inverse color scheme? With the new pre-raid quest we have a slightly clearer picture.
The Dwarves–FFXIV’s people centered around the Nier crossover story–had set up a carnival for themselves. Meanwhile, two Dwarven engineers revive 2P following the Copied Factory fight that had us allied with her. While having a grand old time, the Dwarves are attacked by a number of YoRHa flight units. Several androids reveal themselves in black outfits and it seems as though 2P was ready to fight them.
Such was not the case; the unnamed androids switch to white outfits, showing their true colors and revealing that 2P is with the attacking party. Just before 2P strikes one of the Dwarves, 2B shows up to protect them and engages in a quick duel. Afterward, 2P and her fellow white-clad androids take to their flight units and escape, thus ushering you into the raid itself, The Puppet’s Bunker.
I haven’t done The Puppet’s Bunker raid yet as the update just went live this morning, but I’m eager to run it later. FFXIV’s 24-player alliance raids can be long or difficult on release day since players are still learning the specific mechanics, but I’ll be sure to update this article if more neat story beats are revealed during the raid.
Cool, catchy headline, but honestly I just wanted to mention about how great it is to see our beloved android make an appearance, become part of the FFXIV universe, and be a companion you fight alongside. For more on Square Enix’s MMORPG, be sure to read my latest interview with FFXIV director and producer Naoki Yoshida. You can also check out my recent interview with Nier creator Yoko Taro where we talk about his latest game, SinoAlice, and his seemingly stubborn demands. And if you’re looking to get into the game, read up on how the FFXIV free trial has expanded to included much more content.
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With success comes recognition, and with recognition comes brand synergy. With ‘fumble royale’ Fall Guys currently dominating the Steam charts, brands are, er, falling over themselves to become a part of the 2020’s unexpected gaming success story.
Fan art for popular games is par for the course, and you only need to take a look at the Fall Guys Twitter account to see some fantastic fan creations for bean-ified costumes. It just so happens that some of those fans run social media accounts for often completely unrelated companies.
On the “incredibly mundane” end of the costume spectrum, we’ve also seen Walmart Canada suggesting a costume in which your glorious, whooping fantasy avatar dresses as a Walmart employee, which made me a bit sad to think about:
Hey, @FallGuysGame. How do we get a Walmart vest cosmetic into your game?
— Walmart Canada Gaming (@WalmartCAGaming) August 6, 2020
As for costumes I actually might spend my hard-earned crowns on, please see this hideous, chair-based creation from racing equipment creator GT Omega. I wouldn’t buy it because I think it looks nice, I just think it’d completely change the meta in team games:
Of genuine worth, though, are the charities designing their own skins, aiming to let you rep good causes as you fail at Slime Climb again. Get Well Gamers UK had this sleek little number designed – I’d love the addition of a charity skins section, with money going to the causes involved:
Of course, games companies are getting in on the act too, with Konami risking the ire of the entire Internet by formally submitting a set of Metal Gear Solid-themed skins:
So far, Fall Guys’ actual tie-in costumes have included Hotline Miami and Half-Life, so there is a precedent set – it’ll be interesting to see what crossovers we see appear as Fall Guys continues its wobbly march of domination.
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].
In the year 2000, actor David Arquette joined WCW after filming the wrestling movie Ready To Rumble. During his stint with the company, he won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, which displeased some wrestling fans. Now, there’s a documentary following the actor as he returns to professional wrestling, trying to redeem himself in the eyes of fans.
You Cannot Kill David Arquette is a documentary from directors David Darg and Price James. You can check out a new trailer for the upcoming film below, which sees Arquette taking quite the beating in the ring.
The 48-year-old actor is training hard in the video with DDP, who has given former wrestlers like Scott Hall and Jake Roberts a new lease on life with his training regimen. Arquette doesn’t want to seem like a joke to the fans of professional wrestling, and is doing what he can to get redemption. He hasn’t been seen on a televised weekly wrestling show since 2010, when he teamed with Alex Riley on Raw to take on Randy Orton. In 2018, Arquette made his return to wrestling on the Wendy Williams Show and has been in the independent scene ever since, even appearing on an episode of Being The Elite.
While most movie theaters are currently closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, You Cannot Kill David Arquette will be appearing in drive-in theaters on August 21. If you don’t have a drive-in near you, don’t worry because the movie will be available on digital platforms on August 28.
As for Arquette acting again, it was announced he’ll be reprising his role of Dewey Riley in Scream 5, which does not have a set release date yet. Arquette will be joining plenty of the original cast, including Courtney Cox, whom the actor was married to until 2013.
If you want to dive deeper into the weird world of wrestling, check out GameSpot’s weekly podcast Wrestle Buddies. Each week, Mat Elfring and Chris E. Hayner talk about the fun side of wrestling, from silly gimmicks to their favorite PPVs. And in case you’re wondering, the Wrestle Buddies are very pr-David Arquette in wrestling and mention it quite a bit. Also, they occasionally interview wrestlers. New episodes arrive every Thursday, and you can check it out on Spotify, Stitcher, and Apple Podcasts.
The Last of Us Part II’s new Grounded difficulty and Permadeath mode are available Thursday, Aug. 13 to players as part of a free update, alongside other options and improvements.
As teased by a pair of trophies added to the game yesterday, players can now earn two new rewards: one for beating TLoU II with Permadeath enabled, and another for beating the game on Grounded difficulty. These two trophies will not be necessary to earn the Platinum, however.
Grounded is a returning hardest difficulty mode, featured in the original The Last of Us as well. That version of Grounded stripped away several key elements for players, severely reduced resource availability, and made foes all the more difficult to defeat. Meanwhile Permadeath can seemingly be enabled on any difficulty, and as the screenshot below shows, TLoU II will keep track of what killed you, what difficulty you played on, what aspect of the game you were tackling, and how long and to where you lasted.
Additionally, Naughty Dog has added a host of graphics, audio, and gameplay modifiers that can now be included in your playthrough. (Check out some in the gallery above.) These elements include:
As we prepared to take on Risk of Rain 2‘s final boss, we took a moment to take stock of our Survivors. My co-op partner had three syringes filled with glowing green slime jutting out of his hip, a sword at his side and a crown on his head. A leech was suctioned onto my head, a teddy bear stuck to my shoulder and John Lennon glasses stretched around the front of my domed helmet. Each of these baubles represented a perk we had acquired over the course of our headlong rush to the final boss. This is the kind of game Risk of Rain 2 is. At the end of a run, you can see every advantage that you have collected, all hanging off of your once-simple character model like fuzzy dice on a car mirror.
And, as it launches into 1.0, Hopoo Games’ third-person shooter roguelike has a year-and-a-half of early access in its rearview. I didn’t play the game during pre-release, so I can’t testify to how much content this version adds to what was already there. But I can say that Risk of Rain 2 is a breakneck experience that builds and builds and builds. This is not a game of peaks and valleys. Risk of Rain 2 is all climb until you reach the summit. That’s its greatest strength–and its only real notable weakness.
Each run begins with your Survivor emerging from an escape pod onto a hostile alien world. This landscape is largely empty. Lo-fi music plays. It’s generally pretty chill and evocative for the first few seconds. But then you’re assaulted by a horde of low-level creatures. At the top right corner of the screen, a meter slowly moves right, upping the difficulty from Easy to Medium to Hard (and up and up and up until the difficulty bar just reads “HAHAHAHAHA”) as a run progresses. Each level ends when you find and activate a teleporter, summoning a boss monster, which you must defeat to use the portal. In between entrance and exodus, Risk of Rain 2’s world is full of interesting decisions and secrets. You may want to sacrifice half your health at the Altar of Blood for rewards down the line. Or you might summon double the boss monsters for a shot at double rewards. Get lost long enough in your search for the teleporter and you may find an underground passage where you can find a hidden code etched on a tablet, which can be used to access a secret realm. As you explore, the world is gradually filling up with enemies; the music is, smartly, slowly building to an all-out guitar-wailing crescendo.
That difficulty slider never stops ticking up, so it’s in your best interest to find and defeat each boss as soon as possible. The catch is that if you run headlong into a boss fight, you’re likely to get stomped. Each boss is a bullet sponge on its own, and the standard enemies don’t stop attacking just because you’re in a boss fight. To turn the tables in your favor, you need to kill enemies to collect money, then take that money to the various crates that litter each level for an unlockable boon.
This is where Risk of Rain 2 is at its fascinating best. As in most roguelikes, each run is the process of creating a build and leaning into different strengths and weaknesses as you progress. So, if you want to transform the glass cannon Huntress into a non-glass cannon, you can buy and equip healing perks that help to shore up the class’ defensive deficiencies. Or, you could go all-in on offense, collecting damage modifiers until you’re taking boss monsters out in a matter of seconds.
Unlike other roguelikes, Risk of Rain 2 doesn’t require many sacrificial choices. In similar games, I frequently find myself doing cost-benefit analysis upon finding a new weapon. Should I swap out the slow, but powerful Broadsword, in favor of the Blood Sword, which will leave my enemies bleeding out? But, in Risk of Rain 2, your core weapons never change.You will, at times, need to decide what special attack you want equipped. But, the majority of the upgrades you pick up along the way are additive. The nuances of your build are determined by the perks you pick up along the way. And, gloriously, everything stacks. So, a perk that causes enemies to suffer bleed damage can stack on top of a perk that causes fire damage, reducing your enemies into a bloody, burning mess of flying damage numbers. Or you could buy two bleed perks and watch the numbers bounce off at twice the rate.
This makes the shooting here substantially more engaging than it would be otherwise. Risk of Rain 2 is a roguelike first and foremost, but its third-person shooting wouldn’t feel out of place in a loot-shooter. Boss opponents here require an armory’s ammo to take down. Normal enemies similarly can absorb a full clip before expiring, and their animations don’t really betray the damage they’re taking. Or, at least, if they do, they’re covered up by the flashy numbers that fly off enemy bodies like fireworks. I was generally unimpressed by the act of pulling the trigger.
What makes Risk of Rain 2 interesting is the way that your choices affect what the shooting does. In addition to the process of stacking perk on top of perk until your build sways like a late-game Jenga tower, there are other choices to make during a run and before it even starts. Initially, you only have access to the Commando, a bubble-helmeted space warrior, with a stable (if unremarkable) pistol, a burst fire ability and a powerful plasma shot. This Commando is a solid all-rounder. On the other hand, MUL-T, a bulky robot you unlock after playing five runs, has a massive health bar and painfully slow default movement speed. I say “default movement speed” because he can pull his metal limbs into his boxy body and boost into enemies like a dumpster speeding down a mountain. There’s a substantial roster of Survivors, and so far I’ve only unlocked a little over half. I’ve learned the basics of their skillsets, but the prospect of learning to master their skills and synergies is exciting.
That variety is echoed in the roster of enemies. The act of shooting can be a little dull, as you take on bullet-sponge after bullet-sponge. But, the diversity of enemy size, movement and abilities helps keep combat fresh. You’re frequently switching between different abilities as you’re confronted by different monsters. I often used the Commando’s burst fire to take out the fiery eggs that fly over your head like a flock of angry, spherical sea gulls. And, when I got swamped by enemies as MUL-T, I could launch a bomb into the crowd, then use my boost to barrel through them like a bowling ball. The variety of enemies is smartly complemented by the variety of each Survivor’s base skills.
The game’s greatest asset is also its greatest weakness. As you progress through the difficulty ranks, enemies begin to spawn with ridiculous regularity. At certain points, they can mob and destroy you easily, biting huge chunks out of your health bar at a time. So, staying alive requires constant vigilance. Runs can often last for an hour or longer. While other roguelikes include a brief respite between missions during which you can buy upgrades and tinker with your build, the only break you’ll get in Risk of Rain 2 is the brief load that separates one hostile alien world from another. Other than that, you can sleep when you’re dead. It all contributes to a game that feels like it never stops crescendoing. And that’s exciting! But it also meant that I often felt spent after a single run. There is no real rest to be found here.
Risk of Rain 2 is lo-fi beats to relax to with the bass boosted until the subwoofers catch fire. And explode. And bleed? What begins as a chill loot-shooty time quickly escalates to a frantic fight for your life where everything is burning and there’s a big red target on your back. The lack of any strategic layer between the action did leave me feeling burned out. But the additive nature of the game’s builds give Risk of Rain 2 the feeling of a pebble skittering along a rocky cliff. When the avalanche begins, enemies would be well advised to get out of your way.
The next Bioshock may not be taking place in previous settings Rapture or Columbia, if recent job listings are any indication.
Twitter user MauroNL3 pointed out on Twitter that the studio behind the next BioShock game, Cloud Chamber, has several job listings that seem to hint at what the team is looking to do with the next game in the series. The listings ask for experience with Unreal Engine 4 and experience in scripted cinematic sequences, amongst other things. The listings also mention a “new and fantastical world.”
“We want you to help us breathe life into a new and fantastical world,” several job listings read. “Together, we will set the stage for a stunning narrative and systems-driven experience.” The latter part is par for the course of BioShock but the former is what indicates a shift away from Rapture or Columbia, considering the team is specifically looking for people to breath life into a “new” world.
A senior cinematic artist job listing mentions “Wes Anderson-like precision and panache in your camera positioning and movements” and the ability to “create and implement systemic, in-game, scripted cinematic sequences.” The listings seem to indicate, as you’d expect, that the game will indeed be a first-person shooter like the BioShocks that came before it.
“Develop an FPS combat paradigm that is accessible, satisfying, and allows for a high degree of player expression and experimentation within a highly reactive world,” a principal combat designer job listing reads. “Look beyond direct conflict, accommodate various play-styles and design encounters that can be resolved through player ingenuity.”
There are a few other details to gleam from these Cloud Chamber job listings. A senior cinematic animator job listing requires a “good understanding of anatomy and caricature” and “exceptional skill in animating the human bipedal figure, organic forms, quadrupedal, and mechanical objects.”
While the listings seem to indicate the series won’t be returning to Rapture or Columbia, the environment-related job listings don’t reveal much else. The listings ask for experience with specific software and programs but don’t hint at what kind of environment we can expect in the studio’s BioShock game.
There is a chance that these job listings are for a separate project, however – while all of the job listings make clear that the company is making a new BioShock game, one entry for a senior world designer is looking for someone to work on an “unannounced AAA first-person action game”. It’s unclear whether the role has been open since before BioShock 4 was confirmed and its description hasn’t been updated accordingly, or if Cloud Chamber is beginning work on another game simultaneously.
If this news about the next BioShock game has you wanting to jump back into the series where it began, be sure to use our interactive BioShock map to find every collectible, Big Daddy, Little Sister, and more. Be sure to couple that with our BioShock walkthrough, which will help you ensure that you don’t miss a beat during your playthrough.
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Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes, where you’ll see him talk often about how much he loves the BioShock series.
While very much an RPG, Cyberpunk 2077 is also a first-person shooter. Furthermore, it’s a first-person shooter with melee weapons. And if you’ve ever played anything with swords in first-person, you’ll know video games don’t have the best history with that combination. It’s something developer CD Projekt Red is very much aware of, and still working on getting just right.
In an interview with VG247, senior gameplay designer Pawel Kapala explained that the studio is not “100% happy” with where melee combat is right now, but believes that in the months leading up to release the team will make the required improvements.
“We’re spending a lot of time trying to perfect that, and we basically, we’re not 100 percent happy, mostly with visual feedback on the hits, on the melee,” Kapala said. “So, we’re still working on it.”
“It wasn’t an easy task, since we basically come from a pedigree of creating TPP games,” he added. “It was also a big part of our development to actually figure out, how do you do melee in a first-person perspective? We’re working on it.”
Kapala also acknowledged that the feel of melee combat wasn’t great in the demo presented to journalists as part of the recent round of Cyberpunk 2077 previews, but notes that it’s “much better than it was”.
First person melee is notoriously difficult, and even accomplished games that use it – such as Dying Light and Arkane’s Dark Messiah and Dishonored games – still don’t always feel quite as natural as swordplay in third-person perspective games. Hopefully weapons like the Mantis Blades will feel satisfying in the launch version of Cyberpunk 2077.
There are new cooperative missions you can initiate from your Galaxy Superyacht, dozens of new vehicles, new Open Wheel race tracks, new Casino Adversary modes, and more.
The 15 new cars are split across three dealerships: four at Legendary Motorsport, five at Southern San Andreas Super Autos, and six at Benny’s. The weekly podium car you can win at the casino has also been changed to a Sheava ETR1 worth $1,995,000.
The images below show all of the new vehicles and their prices, courtesy of Twitter user NuroCitrix.
Elsewhere, Galaxy Superyacht owners can host six new co-op maritime missions, ready to launch from the bridge of your vessel or by calling the captain from your iFruit Phone. You can play solo or invite an Organization for backup as you embark on new adventures through August 19. By hosting and completing all six missions, you will unlock a unique sea-faring outfit.
In total, there are nine new Open Wheel race tracks, from racing across Land Act Dam to dodging turbines in RON Alternates Windfarm. Two new Open Wheel race cars are also included, and Rockstar has made a few improvements to Open Wheel gameplay, including the ability to change tire type when pitting and new visible tire wear and body damage indicators.
The Los Santos Summer Special Update also introduces the Open Wheel Race Creator, allowing you to design and craft your own custom tracks using a bevy of creation tools. There are over 60 new props at your disposal, including racetrack archways, pit-stops, paddocks, and more.
Galaxy Superyacht owners finally have another reason to step aboard.
New Business Battles have also been implemented as part of the update. These revamped competitions take place at new locations across the map and dish out massively increased rewards. You might stage a cooperative assault on an idling aircraft carrier or fight and hack your way through several factories to reach the nucleus and earn bundles of cash. Winning a Business Battle between now and August 19 will earn you the Pink Dot Tech Mask as well.
The Diamond Adversary series brings eight high-stakes modes to The Diamond Casino and Resort, including tense fan favorites like Every Bullet Counts and Slasher, as well as competitive mayhem in Hardest Target and Resurrection. The casino has also added two new arcade machines as QUB3D, which last featured in Grand Theft Auto IV, appearing, along with a game called Axe of Fury.
Aside from new content, the update also makes a few quality-of-life improvements. Lester’s calls have been changed to text messages to reduce spam, requesting a Pegasus Vehicle is more convenient, and it’s possible to return any of your personal vehicles to storage.
Prime Gaming subscribers who have connected their account to the Rockstar Social Club can now earn the latest weekly $200,000 bonus. You can also grab the Vespucci Canals Nightclub location for free, along with access to a special discount that gives you 70% off the Grotti X80 Proto and 80% off the Bravado Gauntlet Hellfire.
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