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Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart has been targeted for the first half of 2021, but Sony has now announced a release date for the upcoming PS5-exclusive shooter-platformer. It’s coming on June 11, and will cost $70 for the standard edition and $80 for the Digital Deluxe edition.

As noted in the announcement, preordering either version will get you the Carbonox Armor and Pixelizer weapon. Participating retailers will sell physical editions with these preorder goodies included as a voucher. Both the Carbonox Armor and Pixelizer have been updated for the PS5, with the Carbonox armor showing off high-definition textures and ray-traced reflections.

The Digital Deluxe edition will also include five more armor sets, 20 Raritanium for upgrading your weapons, a sticker pack for use in the photo mode, and a digital artbook and soundtrack.

Insomniac noted that this is a new Ratchet story revolving around alternating dimensions, which is how Clank gets separated from his usual pal Ratchet and instead meets up with a new Lombax. The blog may be slyly teasing her name, yet to be revealed, by telling fans to, “Hang in there, you’ll be feeling rosy soon.”

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is a showpiece exclusive for the PS5, and was a major part of Sony’s early console presentations. The dimension-swapping mechanic that appears to be at the heart of the game relies on the PS5’s SSD for quick loads, so it’s one of the relatively few first-party PS5 games that isn’t also slated for PS4.

February’s a romantic month, and to celebrate Borderlands 3 will be joining in on the festivities with the return of its Broken Hearts Day event. Much like last year’s event, players will be tasked by Maurice the Sentient Saurian to travel the galaxy, find love, and possibly even some sweet loot.

Maurice’s research on human courting rituals has resulted in enemies spawning floating hearts which when destroyed, add positive buffs to players such as increased health regeneration, a higher chance of obtaining rare loot or turning the floor around enemies into lava puddles. Broken Hearts Day will be live from 12:00 PM PT today and will run until February 25.

A number of gear adjustments have also been added in the latest hotfix, which buffs damage to Legendary weapons such as Kaoson, Garcia, and Impaler. Today’s hotfix also brings the Gear Rush mini-event to an end.

Gear adjustments

Hail

• Increased weapon damage

Crit

• Lowered the chance that the weapon would drop on reload

Bouncing Pair Grenade Mod

• Increased damage

Kaoson

• Increased weapon damage

Garcia

• Updated weapon to fire correctly in multiplayer. Players will notice that the weapon will now only fire two shots before reloading in both solo and co-op
• Increased weapon damage

Impaler

• Increased damage dealt

Void Rift

• Increased Spike damage
• Increased Black Hole singularity damage

Black Hole

• Increased damage dealt

It has been an interesting couple of days for Borderlands 3 developer Gearbox. Having joined the Embracer group in a $1.3 billion acquisition deal, Gearbox still plans to continue and publish the Borderlands series alongside 2K Games. Borderlands 3’s Designer’s Cut update launches in March, adding a new series of murder mystery levels and a raid boss challenge amongst other cosmetic additions.

The cult-classic Tales From The Borderlands will also return to digital stores on February 17, and if you’re looking to jump into Gearbox’s weird universe of vaults and bandits now’s a good time to do so as Borderlands 3 is heavily discounted this month.

Post Malone will be performing at a virtual concert to celebrate Pokemon Day on February 27.

The Pokemon Company announced the news with a trailer (below), which shows Post Malone transforming into a digital avatar of himself after thanking Pokemon fans for their support and brandishing a Pokeball. The animated version of Malone suggests the concert could be a hybrid between live-action and virtual performance.

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According to Billboard’s interview with Malone, the concert will take place on Feb 27 at 7 PM EST, and will be streamed live via the Pokemon YouTube channel, Twitch channel and 25th Anniversary website.

“Don’t miss your chance to be front row for the Virtual Experience on Pokemon Day,” the YouTube video description reads. This is all part of a collaboration between Pokemon and Universal Music Group called P25 Music. We reported back in January that Katy Perry will also be teaming up with The Pokemon Company to act as the “premiere collaborator” for this promotion. According to Billboard, Malone’s concert “serves as the series’ kickoff,” with more details about P25 coming at the end of the concert.

In other Pokemon news, check out this pillow that lets you put your head in Gengar’s mouth.

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

Sony has shared some new details on MLB The Show 21, including the baseball game’s multiple different type of play styles, an upcoming technical test, and more.

Sony will divulge new info on MLB The Show 21 every Tuesday and Thursday during February through weird videos with puppet versions of a baseball coach and cover star Fernando Tatis Jr. Each episode will focus on a different part of the game, and the first one talks about the “tailored and focused” gameplay options.

MLB The Show 21 has multiple different styles you can choose from–including casual, simulation, and competitive–depending on what mood you’re in. Casual is described as an easier mode of play with an emphasis on learning the basics. Simulation is an “authentic” MLB experience with true-to-life player and team ratings. Competitive, meanwhile, is the most challenging and realistic, putting a focus on stick skills. Competitive is the default for online play.

The video also touches on some of the improvements to gameplay in MLB The Show 21, which includes fly ball catches, catches at the wall–including robbing home runs and reaching over the wall–and catches made based on the axis you’re running. Pitching mechanics are also getting updates, but Sony is holding back the details until March, unfortunately.

Sony also confirmed there will be a limited technical test for MLB The Show 21. Sony will invite a small group of players to start testing the game beginning on February 23 for the purpose of stress testing servers, matchmaking, and cross-play. You can sign up here for the technical test.

Finally, Sony announced that it is bringing back its Feature Premieres broadcast series of MLB The Show 21 where it will divulge new details and provide an extended look at the game and its new features. These will take place every Thursday at 3 PM PT beginning on March 11. Here is the schedule for what’s coming:

Feature Premiere Schedule

• Tailored Gameplay, Pinpoint Pitching, and Hitting engine updates
• Complete Fielding Overall (yes we are specifically talking about plays at the wall)
• Ball Player introduction, more variety, and ways to play and ever before
• Franchise and March to October empowers you to make decisions for the future
• MLB The Show goes Next Gen
• Diamond Dynasty streamlined with new paths to rewards

MLB The Show 21 launches on April 20 for PlayStation and Xbox consoles as part of a new arrangement between the two companies and Major League Baseball.

Amazon’s running a substantial “Buy 3 for the Price of 2” sale right now, and there are some good deals hidden among the eligible products, among them the complete set of D&D 5e core rulebooks.

Since the free item is the least expensive, per the promotion, you essentially get the Dungeon Master’s Guide for free when you buy the Player’s Guide and the Monster Manual. Total cost before taxes: $69.98. Nice.

D&D Core Rulebook Deal

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The Buy 3 for the Price of 2 promotion has been going on for a few days now, and there is quite a wide selection of items. If you’re looking to set yourself up with the complete D&D 5e core rulebook set as part of the deal, I wouldn’t wait very long. Items, particularly popular items, seem to drop in and out of eligibility pretty fast. For example, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War for Xbox Series X was eligible this morning, but at the time of this writing has already disappeared from the deal.

There’s also nothing stopping you from mixing and matching. The rules are simple: buy 3 eligible items for the price of 2 eligible items. So if you wanted to buy just the Player’s Handbook and then something like Sonic Mania + Sonic Team Racing for Nintendo Switch, you could pick up Apocalypse Now: Final Cut on 4K Blu-ray for free. That’s just one example, I’m not here to tell you how to live your life.

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Seth Macy is IGN’s Executive Editor, IGN Commerce, and just wants to be your friend.

 

 

This story contains shots from upcoming WandaVision episodes and discussion that some may consider as spoilers. Proceed with caution. 

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A new featurette for WandaVision has dropped a few seconds of footage from upcoming episodes which shine a light on how some plot threats may play out as the show races towards its finale.

There are three segments of particular note. The first features Kathryn Hahn’s Agnes, seemingly waking from her ‘sitcom’ state of mind, asking Vision – who is dressed in his Avengers costume – “Am I dead?”

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“Why would you think that?” asks Vision, to which Agnes replies “Because you are.” The exchange suggests that Agnes may be unaware of what’s been happening to her, or believes that the experience is some kind of afterlife scenario. Additionally, this may be how Vision discovers that he was killed by Thanos in Infinity War, and escalate his friction with Wanda.

A scene in the final seconds of the featurette sees Wanda say “This is our home”, to which Vision says “Then let’s fight for it.” The implication here is that Wanda and Vision will come to a shared understanding over Wanda’s creation of Westview, and fight against SWORD – or perhaps a new antagonist – to keep the false reality in place.

We also, in perhaps the most major tease, see the Mind Stone and Wanda interacting with it. The scene shows shards of the stone erupting from it, and Wanda bathed in its yellow light. This seems to suggest that the stone is being destroyed, but could – in classic Marvel trickery – be a scene played in reverse. Many theories have suggested that Wanda has recreated the Mind Stone in an effort to resurrect Vision, and that may be what we’re seeing here.

Naturally, we won’t know what any of this truly means until the relevant episodes of WandaVision are made available on Disney+. Until then, you can read our latest theory about the show, appropriately titled The Mind Stone Is the Key to Everything. And to catch up on where we are so far, check out our WandaVision Episode 5 review.

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

Developer Techland is still adding new content to its zombie sandbox Dying Light, and this week sees the release of two new in-game updates: The Viking: Raiders of Harran Bundle, which adds Nordic-themed weapons, shields, and, skins, and a free Ox Warrior bundle in celebration of the Chinese New Year.

Players can join two new characters–Björn the Warrior and Björn the Berserker–in the Raiders of Harran DLC, earning new gear for their arsenals such as the Ragnarok heavy double-axe, the Aesir one-handed sword, and the Asgard’s Protector shield in the $4 DLC. Each weapon and shield will come in two variants, one applying fire damage and a standard version with craftable mods.

You’ll even be able to customize your buggy with two skins, one of which will allow you to use your “Earth boat” to spew deadly flames at the undead hordes.

With Chinese New Year being celebrated this week, Dying Light is joining in on the festivities with the in-game Lunar Event that offers a new Gold Dao sword weapon, King mods, Ox Cannon weapon, and the Ox Warrior character skin. This content will be free and is available in the in-game shop on PC, Xbox One and PS4.

Techland’s support of Dying Light has resulted in some interesting DLC that has kept the game alive for multiple years. In addition to the studio reviving one of its old titles as DLC with the Hellraid add-on, a Left 4 Dead crossover has also been a popular feature for two years running. As for Dying Light 2, that sequel’s current status is still a mystery.

Originally scheduled to release in Spring 2020, the game was delayed indefinitely last year, with Techland writing, “We need more development time to fulfill our vision.” Techland cut ties with freelance writer Chris Avellone after accusations of sexual assault and harassment surfaced, which also resulted in the writer being removed from Paradox Interactive’s Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2.