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A new tease for Halo Infinite has confirmed that The Banished will be part of the long-awaited next game in the series.

The short teaser video, which sees a communication device decipher a signal, features a gravelly voice delivering a message to humanity.

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“The hour approaches. Forces occupy the ring. Within hours, it will be under our control. Humanity will burn. The brazen defiance will be all but a memory. No more Prophets. No more lies. We stand together, brothers to the end. We are his will, we are his legacy, we are The Banished.”

The Banished are a mercenary organization set up after a rebellion in the Covenant Empire, the alien antagonists in the Halo series. They are largely made up of Jiralhanae – better known as Brutes to humanity – but also count many of the Covenant races among their ranks, including the Grunts, Elites, and Hunters. The Banished featured as one of the two main playable races in Halo Wars 2, alongside the human UNSC, and so the plot of Halo Wars 2 may have impact or be referenced by Halo Infinite.

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The audio references the Prophets, a leadership race of the Covenant, as well as mention that “we are his will” and “we are his legacy”. Who the ‘his’ is in this is unclear, but may potentially refer to Atriox, the leader of the Banished in Halo Wars 2.

Brutes were not seen as enemies in Halo 4 or 5, so this signals a welcome return for the fan favorites. Now, where’s my Gravity Hammer?

We’ll likely find much more about The Banished’s role in Halo Infinite at the next Xbox Series X event, which has promised to show first-party games running on the upcoming console.

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Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Entertainment Writer. 

Cardy, Joe and Dale are here with a special episode talking full spoilers for The Last of Us Part 2. We breakdown the full plot, talk about what we loved and in some small cases, what we didn’t.

I think it goes without saying, but if you haven’t finished the game yet, DON’T listen to this till you do. Don’t worry, it’s not going anywhere.

Remember, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, please do: [email protected]

IGN UK Podcast: The Last of Us Part 2 Spoiler Special

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• IGN UK Podcast #544: Skate, Squadrons and Surgery!
• IGN UK Podcast #543: Our PS5 Reveal Reactions
• IGN UK Podcast #542: The Last of Us Part 2 Preview Impressions (No Spoilers Don’t Worry)
• IGN UK Podcast #541: Your Snyder Cut Feedback
• IGN UK Podcast #540: Drowning in Snyder Cuts

 

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Ahead of its expected gameplay reveal during Microsoft’s July Xbox 20/20 event, a short teaser for Halo Infinite has been shared on the game’s official Twitter account. The teaser features the ominous warnings from a member of The Banished–a splinter group from the series’ main antagonists, The Covenant.

The Banished first made an appearance in Halo Wars 2, which took place after the events of Halo 5. The Banished rejected the ideology of the Covenant and broke away from their compatriots, led by Atriox. Halo Wars 2 chronicles the conflict between The Banished and the crew of UNSC Spirit of Fire, which eventually spilled over onto a new Halo installation.

How this connects to Halo Infinite is still unclear, but it’s a hint at the direction the sequel might be taking. Developer 343 Industries has spoken before about how it’s trying something new with Infinite, powered by a brand-new engine called Slipspace to do it. Halo Infinite is expected to be one of the highlights at the Xbox 20/20 showcase, although an exact date for the event has yet to be confirmed. Halo Infinite will launch for both Xbox One and Xbox Series X.

Halo 5: Guardians launched in 2015 for Xbox One, although its campaign was not as well-received as others have been in the franchise. In GameSpot’s Halo 5 review, critic Mike Mahardy wrote, “There are signs of a phenomenal shooter here, but certain narrative aspects feel underdeveloped, holding the franchise’s newest sequel back from true excellence.”

Mafia: Definitive Edition, the remake of the 2002 game that follows the rise and fall of mobster Tommy Angelo in the 1930s, is taking lessons from its two sequels and implementing some of their best aspects.

Speaking to USgamer, Mafia: Definitive Edition developer Hanger 13’s president and chief creative office Haden Blackman described how it’s updating so many parts of Mafia, from gameplay improvements to expanding out story bits, like with Tommy’s girlfriend Sarah.

“For example, Sarah, the love interest in the original, she doesn’t get very much screen time, but she’s the heart of why Tommy Angelo is doing what he’s doing,” says Blackman. “At the beginning of the game you learn that he’s trying to arrange a way out of the life and he’s doing it all for his family, so we wanted to make sure that as a player you knew what it was that he was trying to protect. We wanted to make sure that Sarah got more screen time; she’s in the game more, has an understandable kind of role in the lowercase family and uppercase Family.”

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Another focus in this remake is addressing the “valid criticisms” in regards to the repetitive nature of Mafia 3’s side missions. The team wants to add new, meaningful missions without that repetition. Blackman even stated that “almost all of our emphasis was on the missions for Mafia: Definitive Edition.”

Mafia: Definitive Edition will also give players a wide range of options. A big part of the original game was following traffic laws and being extra cautious around police, as Tommy is more of an everyday citizen than a hardened criminal. In this upcoming version, there are settings for police presence and how strict they are to players who break these laws, like riding through a red light. The original settings can be preserved, but this sliders are put in place to give players more choice in how they want to experience this story.

Gunplay will also a big change from the original, as it pulls a lot from Mafia 3 and its more cover-based gunplay mechanics. Whereas Clay was a former soldier and Tommy was just a cab driver, Hanger 13 wanted that difference to be felt in the gameplay. Combat is a “little bit more lethal” for Tommy and “every bullet matters.”

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Mafia: Definitive Edition will be released on August 28, 2020, on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Steam. Mafia II: Definitive Edition and Mafia III: Definitive Edition are available now, and players who purchase the Mafia: Trilogy will get all three games, and the first Mafia will unlock when it is released.

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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.

Nintendo has announced a new Maximus Cup event for Tetris 99. The competition takes place next weekend and gives you a chance to earn another crossover theme, this one based on the recently launched Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition.

Like most other Maximus Cups, next week’s event is a point-based competition. You’ll earn a different number of points depending on how well you place during a match; if you can amass at least 100 points before the Maximus Cup ends, you’ll unlock a Xenoblade Chronicles theme for Tetris 99. You can get a glimpse of the new theme below.

The Xenoblade Chronicles Maximus Cup kicks off at 12 AM PT / 3 AM ET on July 3 and runs until 11:59 PM PT on July 6. You’ll need to have a Nintendo Switch Online subscription to participate. Memberships cost $4 USD for one month, $8 USD for three months, and $20 USD for one year. Nintendo also offers a $35 USD annual Family Plan that covers up to eight Nintendo Accounts.

If you do already have a subscription, you can download and play Tetris 99 online for free. The game also offers a $10 USD “Big Block” DLC that adds a handful of offline modes, including Marathon and a Local Arena that supports up to eight players.

Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition launched on Switch last month. The game is a remastered version of the classic Wii RPG and features touched up visuals, improved UI, and a new epilogue story called Future Connected. You can read more in our Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition review.

GameSpot has officially kicked off Play For All–a celebration of all things gaming. 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.

Hot on the heels of announcing Fortnite‘s next concert-style event, Epic Games is preparing for something else that strays outside the confines of what you’d expect from a battle royale game–or any game, really. This Friday, June 26, you’ll be able to jump into the game to watch a full Christopher Nolan movie as part of Fortnite Movie Nite.

As with many of Fortnite’s entertainment-centric events, this will take place in Fortnite: Party Royale, the special playlist where combat is disabled. Depending on where you live, you’ll see one of three different Nolan films: Inception, Batman Begins, or The Prestige. Those in the United States will be able to see Inception at three different times over the course of the day: 8 AM ET, 8 PM, and 11:55 PM. Those in the UK get a single showing of The Prestige at 5 PM BST. Australia doesn’t currently have any showings scheduled.

These will be the full-length version of the movies. Fortnite recently had a Nolan tie-in when it premiered a new trailer for his upcoming movie, Tenet, and at the time it was announced that full screenings for older movies of his would be held in the game. Epic has enjoyed a great deal of success with these forays outside of typical gameplay–the Travis Scott event attracted 12.3 million concurrent players at one point, setting a new record for the game.

Watching a movie inside of the game seems like a much different sort of thing, both due to the length and nature in which you’d be watching–not to mention the prospect of watching it on your phone. If nothing else, we know how David Lynch would feel about that.

Fortnite Movie Nite Schedule

United States

• Inception — 5 AM PT / 8 AM ET
• Inception — 5 PM PT / 8 PM ET
• Inception — 8:55 PM PT / 11:55 PM ET

United Kingdom

• The Prestige — 5 PM BST

Night City Wire, June 25’s Cyberpunk 2077 broadcast, will include a new trailer, new gameplay footage, and a developer walkthrough of a new feature, braindance. Developer CD Projekt Red has also implied that there will be more Night City Wire episodes in future.

The developer broke down the upcoming showcase on Twitter, which will be aired at 9am Pacific / 12pm Eastern / 5pm UK tomorrow, June 25 (that’s June 26 at 2am AEST).

Join us tomorrow, June 25 at 6PM CEST, at https://t.co/cBU8yS6pfc for the first, 25 minute episode of #NightCityWire, where we are going to show you a brand new trailer, present fresh gameplay footage and chat with the devs in detail about one of the game features, braindance. pic.twitter.com/2RReyCMkce

— Cyberpunk 2077 (@CyberpunkGame) June 24, 2020

Night City Wire is a part of IGN’s Summer of Gaming, and you can watch it live with us tomorrow, along with full pre- and post-show discussions.

We’ll also have a full hands-on preview with the game going live directly after the show, as announced when Cyberpunk 2077 was delayed to November 17 to allow for more bugfixing and game balance work.

If that’s not enough new Cyberpunk for you, you can check out the upcoming new tie-in comic book series, Trauma Team.

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The delay will likely place Cyberpunk 2077 near the launch of Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5. Even though CD Projekt Red has confirmed owners of the Xbox One and PS4 versions will be freely upgraded to ‘robust’ next-gen editions, it has not committed to when these new versions will be available.

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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].