Xbox One X and Xbox One S Digital Edition to End Production

Microsoft has announced that in the lead-up to the Xbox Series X, the company will cease production on the Xbox One X and the Xbox One S All-digital edition. The standard Xbox One S will still be manufactured and available for purchase.

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In a statement to IGN, a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed, “As we ramp into the future with Xbox Series X, we’re taking the natural step of stopping production Xbox One X and Xbox One S All-Digital Edition.”

Check out Microsoft’s full statement below:

“At Xbox, we’re making massive investments to forge the future of gaming—a future that puts the player at the center of the Xbox experience. We continue to build great games for Xbox One. We continue to build out Game Pass, now with more than 10 million members across Xbox console and PC. We’re previewing Project xCloud in 15 countries so gamers can play games with their friends on any device. And we’re working hard on the next-generation of console gaming with Xbox Series X—the fastest, most powerful console we’ve ever built which includes backward compatibility with thousands of Xbox games and all Xbox One accessories. As we ramp into the future with Xbox Series X, we’re taking the natural step of stopping production on Xbox One X and Xbox One S All-Digital Edition. Xbox One S will continue to be manufactured and sold globally. Gamers can check with their local retailers for more details on Xbox One hardware availability.”

Microsoft cited the development of its next-gen game console, the Xbox Series X, as well as continued support for digital services like Xbox Game Pass and XCloud as reasons for ending production on the One X and One S digital.

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Previously, the Xbox One X was deemed Microsoft’s most powerful console, capable of rendering graphics in native 4K while uprezzing older games. IGN reviewed the Xbox One X and awarded the system a 9 writing, “The Xbox One X is a very impressive collection of hardware crammed into a sleek case. It runs cool and quiet as it delivers performance a step above any of its console competitors.”

For everything on the upcoming Xbox Series X, including specs and games, check out IGN’s Xbox Series X comparison.

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Matt T. M. Kim is a reporter for IGN.

Call Of Duty 2020: Alleged Alpha Listing Appears On Microsoft Store

A listing for an alleged alpha version of Call of Duty 2020 has appeared on the Microsoft Store.

You can check out the listing for The Red Door here, a game listed as a “Shooter” created by Activision. The description for the game reads: “There is more than one truth. If you go looking for answers, be ready to question everything and accept that nothing will ever be the same. The Red Door awaits, do you dare step through it?” The game also has an approximate size of 81.65 GB, and is rated Mature.

As noted by VG247 we’ve seen The Red Door before, when it appeared on the PS4 Database website with a Content ID that contained the string “COD2020.” It’s not clear what exactly is going on here, but it could be Activision sharing in-development builds of the game, a practice that is common in the games industry – last month we saw an early build of Gods and Monsters leak onto Google Stadia. 

Call of Duty news account Modern Warzone tweeted today that they had received a “threatening email” from Activision after using the image from The Red Door listing, which suggests that there is some credibility behind this leak, and Activision’s control over it.

Back in May, a series of reports suggested that this year’s COD game was titled Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, and that the game would return the series to the late 20th-century historical setting it had previously inhabited. All of this suggests that Activision is raring up to reveal this year’s Call of Duty game, so watch this space for more news on that front.

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

Destiny 2: Beyond Light Has Been Delayed to November 2020

Destiny 2: Beyond Light has been delayed from its original release date of September 22, 2020, to November 10, 2020.

In a blog post, Bungie explained how “the past few months have been a challenge and will continue to be during this pandemic. We’ve learned to create together in a new way, by having to work apart from one another. Despite these hurdles, we’re still committed to the same level of quality that our fans expect.”

Beyond Light is the first chapter in a new trilogy of expansions for Destiny 2 that will also include 2021’s The Witch Queen and 2022’s Lightfall.

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Destiny 2’s latest season, Season of Arrivals, will also be extended to November 10, 2020, and Bungie promises more information for it and Beyond Light “over the coming weeks.”

Beyond Light will have Guardians traveling to Europa, Jupiter’s frozen moon, to “brave the unrelenting glacial frontier, infiltrate the Golden Age Braytech facility, and uncover the secrets that lie deep under the ancient ice.”

Stasis, a brand new elemental power, will join Arc, Solar, and Void in this new expansion and a new six-person raid, which takes place in the Deep Stone Crypt below the frozen tundra of Europa, will also become available with Beyond Light.

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Alongside Bungie’s announcement of Destiny 2: Beyond Light last month, it revealed that Destiny 2 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X will run at 4K, 60 FPS. Also, those who own the base game and any expansions will be able to upgrade to the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions for free.

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

DC’s Black Adam Casts Atom Smasher For Dwayne Johnson Superhero Movie

Dwayne Johnson’s highly anticipated (and sort of mysterious) Black Adam film with DC Entertainment has added a new cast member in To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before’s Noah Centineo, Entertainment Weekly reports. Centineo will be joining the cast as Atom Smasher, a relatively obscure DC superhero with some comic book history shared with Black Adam himself.

Details about the film are still sparse, but it will be part of DC’s FanDome virtual event, which happens on August 22. So we can expect more information about the plot and its connections to other DC movies–like 2019’s Shazam, which only vaguely referenced Black Adam as an Easter Egg–to be revealed then.

For now, though, the comics offer us some clues about what we might see. Centineo’s character is Albert Rothstein, who was the godson of the original, Golden Age Atom, Al Pratt–not to be confused with the Atom you’re probably much more familiar with thanks to DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow, Ray Palmer. Don’t worry too much about the finer points there–both the Atom and Atom Smasher share very similar abilities, including size manipulation, and both have connections to the Justice Society of America.

Rothstein’s relationship with Black Adam was explored thoroughly during the early-’00s JSA title by Geoff Johns which featured several story arcs about Black Adam’s “reformation” as a superhero rather than a villain (or anti-hero, depending on your own moral compass). A dyed-in-the-wool idealist, Albert was at first entirely resistant to any sort of redemption for Adam, but was eventually swayed as Adam began to pressure Albert to question the JSA’s strict sense of morality. Ultimately, his friendship with Adam forced Albert to some darker, less heroic places–by which we mean war crimes. You know how those pesky things tend to happen when you’re trying to wrangle international diplomacy with superheroes and villains.

It’s unclear whether or not Albert’s story will take a similar turn for the movie, but it seems like a safe bet to start dusting off those old JSA issues in preparation for any future reveals.

Black Adam is slated for release on December 21, 2021.

New Halo Infinite Teaser Unveiled Ahead Of July Xbox Event

Ahead of next week’s Xbox Games Showcase, which will focus on Series X titles, the company has posted a new Halo Infinite teaser to its Twitter account.

The teaser sees a machine emblazoning the number “117” on the front of some green-colored armor. The number is a reference to John-117 (better known as Master Chief), the protagonist for the majority of the Halo franchise. Unfortunately, there’s nothing else to the teaser other than that “117” number.

The upcoming Xbox Games event, which takes place on July 23 at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET, will feature a detailed look at Halo Infinite. The Halo Infinite reveal during the livestream will focus exclusively on the game’s campaign, developer 343 Industries clarified in a blog post. Unfortunately, Xbox isn’t talking about Series X hardware during the broadcast, though the next-gen console is still slated to arrive this holiday season despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, with Halo Infinite being a launch title.

In other Halo Infinite news, a Mega Bloks set that seemingly contained a spoiler for the upcoming Halo entry has been debunked by 343 community director Brian Jarrard. According to Jarrard, any Halo Infinite product that comes out between now and when the game launches this holiday is simply “part of the road map.”

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Netflix Planning More TV Shows And Movies Than Ever In 2021, Even With COVID-19 Production Shutdowns

While most movies and TV shows have yet to go back into production due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Netflix isn’t planning on slowing down when it comes to releasing new content anytime soon. In its latest letter to shareholders, the streaming service claimed that it expects to not only keep releasing new TV shows and movies in 2021, but that it expects to release even more than it did in 2020.

However, viewers will see more content in the second half of year, rather than the first. The letter reads, “For 2021, based on our current plan, we expect the paused productions will lead to a more second half weighted content slate in terms of our big titles, although we anticipate the total number of originals for the full year will still be higher than 2020.”

That doesn’t include acquisitions, which Netflix also promised were coming. Among the films set to arrive on the service are titles like Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7. There’s also a Spongebob Squarepants film that will be available around the world on Netflix, though not in the United States or China.

As for when Netflix’s projects will be able to fully resume production, the streaming service revealed that’s currently underway. The second season of a Korean series is currently shooting in that country, while many other countries–including Germany, France, Spain, and Poland–are seeing productions resume. In the United States, Netflix has resumed production on two movies and two stop-motion animated projects in Oregon, while work in other states is expected to begin soon.

As for the rest of 2020, Netflix has plenty more to come. The most notable release is likely the upcoming second season of The Umbrella Academy.

Now Playing: Best Shows And Movies To Stream For June 2020 – Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu, Disney+, Shudder

Netflix Reveals Its Most-Watched Content So Far In 2020

Netflix had a gigantic Q2 and first half of the year, with some 26 million new paid subscribers added. The uptick in subscribers was driven by the COVID-19 crisis that’s keeping people at home. But what are they watching? Netflix also released updated streaming numbers for its Q2 releases.

Even if the numbers are sort of whack–requiring only a small amount of watch time to count as a view–they still showcase which shows on Netflix claims are most popular.

Mindy Kaling’s coming-of-age series Never Have I Ever was a standout success–it was seen by 40 million households over its first four weeks. 40 million is also the number of homes that watched the new Steve Carrell comedy Space Force over that same period of time.

In terms of movies, the new Chris Hemsworth movie Extraction was Netflix’s biggest release of all time, with 99 million homes watching it over the first four weeks. 27 million homes worldwide watched Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods, while The Wrong Missy attracted 59 million homes to watch it over its first four weeks.

The animated movie The Willoughbys (38 million households over its first four weeks) was also a big success, Netflix said.

The streaming network also pointed out that some of its older titles from its newly released Black Lives Matter Collection–such as 13th, American Son, and Dear White People–saw increases in viewership.

Local language content, like Dark (Germany), Control Z (Mexico), Extracurricular (Korea), The Woods (Poland), and Blood & Water (South Africa), also “continue to be highly impactful,” Netflix said.

La Casa de Papel (Money Heist)’s Part 4 was released on April 3, and it was seen by 65 million homes worldwide over its first four weeks.

Some of Netflix’s upcoming content includes Season 2 of The Umbrella Academy, The Kissing Booth 2, Project Power, and Enola Holmes, all of which are due to release later in July.

Despite the impact of COVID-19 on Netflix’s ability to produce content, the network is planning to launch even more new content in 2021.

Black Adam Casts Noah Centineo as Atom Smasher in Shazam Spinoff

Noah Centineo has been cast as Atom Smasher in the upcoming DC movie, Black Adam.

Centineo, famous for his role as Peter in To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before and its subsequent sequel, will act alongside Dwayne Johnson in Black Adam as the DC hero, Atom Smasher, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

Centineo and Johnson will be directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. While this is Centineo’s first time working with the director, Collet-Serra previously directed Johnson in Disney’s The Jungle Cruise, due out next year.

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As for what to expect in terms of story, Black Adam’s villainous role in DC stories has evolved into something more anti-hero-like, although that take on the character isn’t confirmed.

Atom Smasher’s involvement in the story is an unknown, but it was recently reported that Black Adam will bring the Justice Society of America to the screen, a team that has counted Atom Smasher among its members. The hero, born Albert Rothstein, is known for changing their atomic makeup to change his size and strength. In the DC Comics, Adam and Rothstein eventually formed a bond after the former joined the JSA’s ranks.

We could be learning more at DC’s upcoming virtual DC FanDome event.

Noah Centineo in The Perfect Date. (Credit: Netflix)
Noah Centineo in The Perfect Date. (Credit: Netflix)

Black Adam has been gestating for a while with Johnson’s role in the DC universe going all the way back to 2003, when he was rumored to play Shazam, the hero counterpart to Black Adam’s villainous role in the comics. In 2007, he spoke with IGN about the role but that version of the movie didn’t go anywhere beyond 2009.

Fast forward to 2014 and Johnson began to talk more about Shazam. He announced later that year that he was no longer in talks to play Shazam but that instead, he would portray Black Adam. Shazam! and Black Adam were split into two separate movies, with Shazam! opening to strong reviews and box office in 2019. Late last year, Johnson announced on Instagram that Black Adam would be arriving to theaters on Dec. 22, 2021.

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Then the coronavirus struck and threw the entire film industry for a loop. As to when we can expect to see Johnson’s anti-hero and Centineo’s Atom Smasher in Collet-Serra’s Black Adam, a release date delay has not been made but at this point, it’s not out of the question. Johnson recently said Black Adam hopes to begin filming in August or September.

Beau Flynn of FlynnPictureCo. is producing Black Adam with Johnson and Dany and Hiram Garcia’s Seven Bucks Productions. Black Adam joins Shazam! as part of DC’s collaboration with New Line.

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Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.

Daily Deals: Save Big On a Ryzen 3900x, Samsung QLED TV Sale and More

Welcome to our Thursday Daily Deals. Today we have a nice mix of things, but kicking it off is the Ryzen 3900X, which is down to it’s lowest price yet. On top of that, you get Assassin’s Creed Valhalla with your purchase, a bundle we simply can’t resist. If you’re not looking for a CPU, then check out our deals on Samsung QLED TVs, SSDs, and plenty more.

App users: Don’t see the deals below? Click here.

Deals for July 16th

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More Video Game Deals

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