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WWE 2K Battlegrounds isn’t just bringing a different look and feel to the mainline WWE 2K wrestling sims, it’s also bringing a story-based campaign.

Speaking to IGN, executive producer Sean O’Connor explained that the spin-off game’s Campaign mode will see legendary WWE agent Paul Heyman on the search for the next WWE Superstar, with help from ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin. Players will pick from 7 new hopefuls – specially designed for the game – and compete to earn a contract across multiple maps and arenas.

“It’s told through these really cool comics, “says O’Connor, “and you take them through trying to earn a contract, and eventually get to Wrestlemania.”

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O’Connor adds that the mode isn’t just a linear set of matches: “I can’t even remember exactly how many matches and nodes there are – it’s kind of a branching thing. There’s some things you can do off on the side and earn different rewards, or you can just do the golden path straight through the middle to finish it sooner if you want.”

Playing the campaign will earn you new elements to use throughout the rest of the game, too. Per O’Connor: “We unlock a lot of arenas, vanity items for your created characters, different power-ups, things like that as you go along through the campaign.”

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As for what the game will actually play like along the way, Battlegrounds will mix familiar wrestling moves with slightly wilder moves and even power-ups like Flaming Fist, Ice Breath, and an Earthquake that can destroy the ring itself. The game takes inspiration from WWE All-Stars, among other WWE games over the years.

“We’re trying to be over-the-top, arcadey, easy to pick up and play,” explains O’Connor. “A lot of stuff to master, though, so you can really take your game to the next level. It goes very much with the art style […] where it’s kind of a wider appeal – it’s clearly not realistic, right? And our moves are not realistic, as you’ve seen. Think about throwing somebody into a crocodile! That’s not very realistic, but it’s super fun and it’s super over the top, and the power ups play really well into that as well.”

WWE 2K Battlegrounds will come to PC (via Steam), Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PS4 and Stadia on September 18. We learned that release date, and a lot more new details today.

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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].

WWE 2K Battlegrounds will launch for PC (via Steam), Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PS4 and Stadia on September 18.

The over-the-top throwback wrestling game will feature over 70 playable wrestlers at launch, both Superstars and Legends. Executive producer Steve O’Connor told IGN that more wrestlers will be added as free updates after launch. There’s also a Superstar Creator function to build your own character. Mauro Ranallo and Jerry Lawler provide commentary.

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The game includes 4 modes:

• Campaign: 7 new wrestlers (created specially from the game) are competing for a WWE contract – you’ll pick one and fight across multiple maps (unlocking them as you go), with guidance from ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin and Paul Heyman along the way. You can learn more about the Campaign mode in our explainer article.
• Exhibition: Local and online multiplayer matches featuring up to four players.
• King of the Battleground: An online last-man-standing mode sees four players begin in the ring, with four more waiting outside it to enter. You’ll need to take them all down to win.
• Online: Aside from King of the Battleground and Exhibitions, online tournaments are also promised.

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The game will feature 8 locations to fight across, which include ludicrous interactive elements (from helicopters to alligators), and a variety of melee weapons. You’ll also be able to customise your own arena.

So far, confirmed wrestlers include:

• The Rock
• ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin
• Ronda Rousey
• Roman Reigns
• Drew McIntyre
• Charlotte Flair
• Becky Lynch
• Asuka
• Daniel Bryan
• Kofi Kingston
• Randy Orton
• Andre the Giant
• Undertaker
• Mankind
• Shawn Michaels
• Yokozuna
• Sgt. Slaughter
• John Cena
• Nikki Bella
• Sasha Banks
• Braun Strowman
• The Fiend Bray Wyatt
• Big Show
• Samoa Joe
• Kalisto
• Edge (Pre-order/Digital Deluxe edition bonus)

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Battlegrounds will be the only WWE 2K game this year, after the mainline simulation series went into extended development due to negative feedback on the last installment.

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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].

 

A report has surfaced that suggests Xbox is telling third-party developers that Xbox Series X upgrades of their current-gen games should be free.

VGC, which cites “publishing sources with knowledge of Microsoft’s next-gen policies,” says that Microsoft has been encouraging “companies working on cross-gen games” to offer upgrades at no additional cost. This could make use of Xbox’s Smart Delivery program, where you only need to purchase one version of a game to enjoy it across the entire Xbox hardware range.

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So far we’ve seen that third-party games like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Cyberpunk 2077 will offer next-gen upgrades at no extra cost, but this push from Microsoft will attempt to stop other publishers and developers from charging full-price for next-gen versions of cross-gen games, or for an upgrade to be provided as a paid DLC option.

EA is offering games under a different Dual Entitlement scheme, which is making sure players who buy FIFA 21 or Madden NFL 21 on current-gen consoles will also be able to play upgraded versions on Xbox Series X and PS5 at no extra cost, should they make the jump in hardware.

Microsoft has not made free next-gen upgrades mandatory yet, so if developers don’t adopt the Smart Delivery policy, they have other options, such as selling “cross-gen bundles” of Xbox One and Xbox Series X games at a higher price point. We’ve already seen that NBA 2K21 will a cross-gen bundle option, although its standalone Xbox Series X and PS5 editions will come in at a $69.99 price point.

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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Jude Law is reportedly in talks to join Disney’s live-action film Peter Pan & Wendy as the classic villain Captain Hook.

According to Variety, director David Lowery has tapped Law to board the Jolly Roger and set sail for Neverland in the studio’s upcoming live-action Peter Pan adaptation, Peter Pan & Wendy.

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If Law signs the parchment for the role, he will follow in the buccaneering footsteps of Dustin Hoffman in 1991’s Hook, Jason Issacs in 2003’s Peter Pan, and Garrett Hedlund in 2015’s Pan, to play the dastardly antagonist on the big screen since Disney has reportedly set its sights on a theatrical release for the Peter Pan film, rather than a Disney+ debut like 2019’s Lady and the Tramp remake.

As Captain Hook, Law would be creating terror on the high seas for Alexander Molony and Ever Anderson who have been tapped to star as Peter and Wendy in the live-action film. Molony is set to add a feather to his cap, both literally and figuratively, starring as the eternally youthful Lost Boys leader while Anderson is expected to embark on the fantastical adventure as the eldest Darling child.

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Peter Pan & Wendy will be directed by David Lowery and produced by Jim Whitaker, with a script co-written by Lowery and Toby Halbrooks. Lowery and Halbrooks previously worked together on Disney’s remake of Pete’s Dragon.

The 2016 version of Pete’s Dragon fared well with critics and audiences alike. IGN awarded the film a high score, calling it a “beautiful new take on a beloved film” with a “great cast, a believable dragon and beautiful cinematography.”

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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

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Will Poulter’s acting career has been on a trajectory recently that he only noticed when a friend pointed it out to him. Poulter, who recently starred as ’80s game developer Colin Ritman in interactive Black Mirror Netflix movie Bandersnatch, has now moved on to playing a character in a video game that is also focused on choices and consequence–The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope.

GameSpot’s Kurt Indovina caught up with Poulter recently as part of Play For All, and you can watch the interview in the video below. In it, Poulter reflects on the connections between Bandersnatch and Little Hope. “I thought, you know, the project that you played a games developer in was also a multi-strand narrative, choose-your-own adventure,” he says. “I had sort of a little bit of a mind blowing moment. I feel like the folks on Black Mirror may still be watching me, to be honest.”

Poulter says that the going from Bandersnatch to Little Hope, the follow-up to Man of Medan, was a lateral move. “I think the crossover–at least from a creative standpoint, if I sort of hold the two projects up side by side—is that they’re both inherently cinematic,” he says. “Little Hope, like a lot of games across the Dark Pictures Anthology, is very filmic. There’s a real emphasis on authentic performances, and on a really intriguing film-like narrative.”

Poulter is playing three characters in the game–Andrew (present day), Anthony (1970s), and Abraham (1692), and they’re all connected across time. He says that the characters are all quite similar to one another, at least in terms of performance, but he tried to set them apart in their characterizations, but scenes where the characters directly communicate with each other across time were “a bit of a brain scramble.”

The process of filming the game’s motion capture was very different–and it was the first fully motion-captured performance he’s ever given–but in some ways it was more straightforward than working on the Netflix film. “Honestly, I found entertaining all the different kind of potential choices when it came to shooting Bandersnatch really, really difficult,” Poulter reflects. “And that was because we shot out of continuity. Whereas with Little Hope, although we had to entertain lots of different choices, luckily we were kind of able to pretty much shoot in in sequence.”

According to Poulter, shooting a motion capture performance for the first time was a “fun exercise in imagination,” and more intense than many of his previous acting experiences. “The pace that we move that was pretty was pretty intense,” he says. “That was something that I wasn’t used to. I thought TV pace was was heavy, but game game making pace is like sprint work.” He says that director Nick Bowen encouraged him and the other actors in the game to “go for authenticity,” and to avoid “anything too theatrical” in their performances, despite the horrors their characters encounter.

Poulter says that he’s not much of a gamer himself, but if he was to play another game character, he’d like to be Sonic the Hedgehog. “Maybe that’s just because maybe that’s because I’ve never been fast,” he quips. “I’d like to know what it’s like.”

Watch the full interview for more details on Little Hope and Poulter’s performance in it. The game is due to release for PS4, Xbox One, and PC before the end of the year.

GameSpot’s Play For All–a celebration of all things gaming–is ongoing. Join us as we bring you the summer’s hottest news, previews, interviews, features, and videos, as well as raise money for COVID-19 relief efforts and Black Lives Matter with the help of our friends from around the gaming world. Check out the Play For All schedule for more.

The upcoming Ghost of Tsushima takes place hundreds of years before the Sengoku period of classic films like Seven Samurai, but that isn’t stopping developer Sucker Punch from injecting a tribute to famed director Akira Kurosawa into the game. As an interview with Entertainment Weekly reveals, the game’s “Kurosawa Mode” is a bit more than just a black-and-white visual filter.

According to co-creative director Nate Fox, the team behind the game studied Kurosawa’s work to determine the correct color-grading to approximate the style of the filmmaker’s most iconic works. (“How deep were the blacks? How bright were the whites?” Fox said.) Sucker Punch also exaggerated the game’s wind effects and toyed with the audio to get a more cinematic feel.

Ghost of Tsushima releases on July 17. The reviews for the game go live on July 14 at 7 AM PT 10 AM ET / 3 PM BST, so keep an eye out for GameSpot’s Ghost of Tsushima review to go live then. In the meantime, you can read up on some new details on the game’s katana combat, including the game’s use of stances. That interview also revealed that Ghost of Tsushima’s defense system works very similarly to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, with well-timed blocks turning into parries that disable opponents momentarily, opening them up for a deadly counterattack.

Since it’s reveal during the PlayStation 5 showcase, it has been difficult for many, myself included, to get Bugsnax out of our heads. That’s both thanks to the earworm of a song that debuted in the announcement trailer and the unexpected, peculiar trailer itself, which offered a tease of what Bugsnax will be, while leaving plenty of mystery about what the game actually is.

And while there’s still, purposefully, plenty left as a mystery ahead of its planned holiday 2020 launch on PS5 and PS4, I spoke with Phil Tibitoski and Kevin Zuhn of developer Young Horses, to learn a bit more about the game itself, what goes into making a titular bugsnak, and how that catchy tune came to be. Watch our full interview below at the 39-minute mark.

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What is Bugsnax?

Well, we still don’t entirely know what the experience of Bugsnax will hold completely, and that’s by design. We’ve only just gotten its announcement — even though Tibitoski teased the idea six years ago — but we at least know what sends players to this island full of creatures combining both bugs and snacks. Though the team has spoken a bit about Bugsnax’s central conceit in the past, the developers elaborated on the narrative-focused adventure.

“You’re this journalist who has received an invitation from Elizabert, the character you see in the trailer. She’s told you, ‘I’ve discovered these bugsnax, come to this island and report on the story, interview me.’ …But when you get there, she’s gone. Nobody knows where she is. And so you’re on this quest to find her, find out what happened to her, but on the way you meet all of her friends, the other people who are living on the Island with her,” Zuhn said.

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“It’s a pretty narrative-driven game. And while you’re going through the island and finding all of these people who followed Elizabert to the island, you’re finding out what exactly they need and what their problems are and trying to help solve them through bugsnax,” Tibitoski added.

And while the trailer presents a seemingly cheerful vibe, its final moments hint at something darker happening Snaktooth island. While Zuhn and Tibitoski wouldn’t let slip what those darker aspects might be, they did point to the studio’s last game, Octodad, as emblematic of their approach to Bugsnax.

“With Octodad, it was a pretty cute and fun and almost toy-like game on the surface, but there were some themes in it and some stuff in the story that was actually… deeper than that surface level appearance. And I think you can expect a similar level of depth from Bugsnax,” Tibitoski said.

How Bugsnax Works on PS5

Being a game coming so early in the life of the PS5, Bugsnax is aiming to take advantage of many of the new features the console’s controller, the DualSense, introduces.
“Previously on pretty much any console that has vibration or rumble, it’s a nice feature that sometimes can make things more immersive, but I haven’t felt anything quite as intricate and sensitive as the DualSense’s haptic feedback,” Tibitoski said.

“In our game, being in first person, running on different terrain, jumping in and out of water or running into bugsnax, you can feel the difference between running on grass versus running in water versus running on sand or snow. There’s weather in our game and if there’s a thunderstorm and things of that nature, you can feel where the sound is coming from through the vibration.

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In addition to using the DualSense’s speaker to play the sounds various bugsnax make,Young Horses is also using the DualSense’s adaptive triggers in the process of trapping bugsnax.

“[We’re] even using the light on the controller to display how endanger you are of a bugsnak escaping from a trap. We’re also using the adaptive triggers,” Tibitoski said. “Different traps have different functionalities and some of those are best exhibited through, tension in those triggers or rumble in them to make you feel like you’re really using them.

For more on Bugsnax, stay tuned to IGN. Or just hum the theme song in your head, as I did while writing this entire piece.

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Jonathon Dornbush is IGN’s Senior News Editor and host of Podcast Beyond! Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush.

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope has received a release date of October 30.

The next entry in the anthology series will arrive later in the year on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. The game can be played through solo or online with another player via its shared-story multiplayer system.

This is the second entry in Supermassive Games’ The Dark Pictures Anthology following 2019’s Man of Medan.

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This entry in the series focuses on an abandoned New England town and stars four college students haunted by Little Hope’s murky past. The game’s cast includes Will Poulter (Midsommar, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch) and Pip Torrens (Preacher, The Crown.) To learn about the witch trials that inspired the game’s plot, you can check out this dev diary from Supermassive Games.

We reviewed The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan last year, calling it an “unnerving horror adventure.” For more on Little Hope, check out our preview of the game from earlier this year, in April.

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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.