Special guest “Lord Cognito” from the Iron Lords Podcast joins us to discuss our reactions to the DC FanDome reveals of Gotham Knights and Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad. Plus: our Battletoads impressions, Black Myth: Wukong’s amazing debut, 343’s track record with Halo, and more!
Subscribe on any of your favorite podcast feeds, or grab an MP3 download of this week’s episode. For more awesome content, check out the latest episode of IGN Unfiltered, featuring an interview with Geoff Keighley, the creator and host of The Game Awards:
It’s already been an incredibly fun year of Xbox coverage, and the best is yet to come. Join us! Oh, and feel free to leave us a video Loot Box question below using Yappa and you might be featured on an upcoming episode!
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Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s Executive Editor of Previews. Follow him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan, catch him on Unlocked, and drop-ship him Taylor Ham sandwiches from New Jersey whenever possible.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will add spirits from Paper Mario: The Origami King soon, crossing over Nintendo’s massive fighter with the company’s latest Switch hit exclusive. Three spirits will be available to nab: Origami Peach, Mario’s helper Olivia, and the game’s villain Olly.
As revealed by the Japanese Twitter account for Smash Bros., the spirits will be available from Friday, August 28 until Tuesday, September 1.
There’s already a Paper Mario spirit available in the game–although if past precedent stands, the fact that he’s not included in this crossover is likely to spark rumors that the character will join the roster as a fighter.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s spirit board continues to be a home for many crossovers, having received spirits from Octopath Traveler, Cuphead, Warframe, Trials of Mana, and more. These are often limited-time events, though.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate also recently added a new free stage, and has five more DLC fighters on the way, although they have not been unveiled yet.
This year’s Gamescom will be an entirely online event that will begin officially with Opening Night Live on Thursday, August 27. Another event happening alongside that will be the Indie Arena Booth 2020 showcase. In addition to a multi-day stream showcasing different games from independent developers from across the world and panels focusing on diversity and accessibility in gaming, the Indie Arena Booth will also allow viewers to access a new virtual showcase, an all-digital convention featuring many different games to play online.
Lasting from August 27 to August 30, the Indie Arena Booth Online is a virtual space where users can explore different levels, buy merch for upcoming games, chat with devs and other players, and play the slate of over 180 games. You can check out a quick preview of what the strange, but still unique virtual space looks like on the official website. Pre-registration is open for all on the official site as well, and the online virtual space is free to join.
At first glance, it seems like an extremely bizarre idea, which calls to mind films like Ready Player One, but it certainly gets to the heart of the indie spirit–which is to offer up imaginative and creative ways to engage with games. This will be an an event focused on indie developers, and there’s quite several games to check out. The full line-up includes some recent releases like Haven, along with a number of games that haven’t yet been released like Boyfriend Dungeon, Bravery Network Online, Star Renegades, and much more. There’s a great number of games that will be on display during the online event, and you can check out the full list here.
In addition to the online play session, the livestream for the Indie Arena Booth will highlight developers and panelists to talk games and the industry’s current state.
Here’s the full stream schedule here:
Thursday, August 27: 1-2 p.m. PDT / 10-11 p.m. CEST
Friday, August 28: 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. PDT / 5-9:30 p.m. CEST
Saturday, August 29: 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. PDT / 5-9:30 p.m. CEST
Sunday, August 30: 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. PDT / 5-9:30p.m. CEST
Some of the panels will for the Indie Arena Booth Online also include the following:
Diversity and Accessibility with Andrea Rene: Friday, August 12PM / 9PM CEST
Indie Arena Booth Online Awards Show: Saturday August 30, 8:30AM PDT / 5:30PM CEST
GameSpot will be covering the many breakouts and highlights from Gamescom 2020, which includes some of the cool games shown at the Indie Arena Booth. For more on Gamescom, be sure to check out our roundup of events and games of note that will be at the show.
If you’re going to get a back to school laptop, you might as well get one that can play games as well. If your current rig isn’t good enough for big upcoming PC titles like Cyberpunk but you still need the portability, Dell is offering some great deals right now. This is one of the very few times we’ve ever seen a brand new RTX 2070 gaming laptop go for just over $1K. If you’ve got deeper pockets, you can save up to $1500 (50% off) Alienware’s flagship Area-51m desktop replacement as well.
______________________________ Eric Song is IGN’s deal curator and spends roughly 1/4 of his income on stuff he posts. Check out his latest Daily Deals Article and subscribe to his IGN Deals Newsletter.
The John Wick film series is famous for, among other things, a tremendous body count–John alone kills 77 people in the first movie, getting revenge for the death of his dog and then some. But this wasn’t always the case–the movie almost featured much fewer deaths.
Talking to GameSpot sister site Comicbook.com, John Wick trilogy director Chad Stahelski has revealed that the first draft of the script contained only three deaths, although that likely doesn’t include Wick’s puppy. Stahelski says that star Keanu Reeves sent him the script on a Friday, and he took the weekend to read and think about it. “It was much more contained,” he recalls. “I think only three people died in the original script, two were in a car crash. It was very, very minimal, and it was slightly different.”
However, Stahelski had a different idea, and wanted to make a movie that resembled a piece of Greek mythology: “a surreal action movie so it wasn’t so grounded and gray, just something different.”
The movie changed a great deal once he came on board, and the sequels feature even more kills. However, Stahelski says that they don’t set targets for these things. “The way I choreograph with my guys and stuff, we just choreograph motion and set pieces and we try to get this balletic kind of dance, live performance feel to everything,” he says. Because Keanu Reeves has “gotten so much better with the choreography,” it’s been necessary to bring in more stunt people for him to kill to show off his moves.
Christopher Nolan’s new movie Tenet is coming to theatres in the US on September 3, and the mind-bending action film is getting some promotional help from none other than Tom Cruise. In a piece of viral marketing, Cruise and his Mission Impossible director Christopher McQuarrie head to a cinema to take in the film on the big screen.
Cruise and McQuarrie remark that it’s good to see movies again in a theatre, following shutdowns due to COVID-19. Indeed, the movie business will be watching intently to see how Tenet performs in theatres, and it could impact how the rest of the industry reacts. Cruise and McQuarrie are wearing masks, and they appear to have gone relatively unnoticed in what appeared to be a public screening of the film.
Tenet stars John David Washington as a man recruited by a shadowy organization known as Tenet and challenged with taking down the evil villain, Andrei Sator, who is played by Kenneth Branagh. Robert Pattinson and Elizabeth Debicki also star in the film.
Tenet was delayed multiple times before Warner Bros. selected September 3 as its new release date for the US, following a premiere in Australia on August 26. Unlike other Warner Bros. films, like Scoob!, the movie studio held its ground and is moving forward with a theatrical release instead of putting the video up for sale or rent on home video stores.
For lots more on Tenet, check out GameSpot’s Tenet review. You can also watch our interview above with Pattinson and Debicki, who tell us about their favorite video games.
Paradise Killer, the ultra-quirky open-world murder mystery game from developer Kaizen Game Works, is coming very soon–and will have a previously unannounced Switch version. The game will launch for PC and Switch on September 4, and it looks like our kind of weird.
You play as Love Lady Dies, an investigator searching for a murderer on an island that regenerates constantly every few millennia, trying to become a perfect “paradise”. There are alien gods and court trials involved. It’s a lot.
The game will release with a 20% launch discount. On Switch, this discount runs from now until September 11, and on PC, it’ll be active from launch on September 4 through to September 18. This will bring the game down from $20 to $16.
A new trailer has been released, showcasing the game’s voice cast, huge setting, and mystery elements. Check it out below.
To celebrate the launch of Paradise Killer Nintendo Switch pre-orders will have a 20% discount from now until September 11. On Steam, the game will have a 20% launch week discount from launch on September 4 until September 18.
GameSpot previewed Paradise Killer during LudoNarraCon 2020, digging into the gameplay and describing it by saying “it’s singular and weird and has more style in an item description screen than some games have in their entire runtime.”
Look out for a Paradise Killer review on GameSpot closer to release.
Oculus, one of the companies that has helped pioneer virtual reality over the last handful of years, is being consolidated underneath a new name. As part of a rebranding effort to combine multiple departments, Facebook has decided to group it with other AR/VR ventures under the name Facebook Reality Labs.
The news comes on the heels of the renaming of Oculus’ annual event, Oculus Connect, which will now take place on September 16 under the its new title, Facebook Connect. This event is rumored to feature the reveal for the next Oculus Quest iteration, and it’s unclear now if new products in Facebook’s VR line will continue to bear the Oculus branding.
In a post on Tech@Facebook, the move was described as a means to make clearer which VR projects were owned by Facebook. The social media company purchased Oculus in 2014 and has allowed it to operate under that name since.
“Much like Facebook’s recent corporate rebranding, our emphasis is on clarity — visually identifying us as a part of Facebook while looking toward the future of the next computing platform that puts people at the center,” the post reads.
Facebook Reality Labs as a brand has been around for some time already, as Facebook continued to push in multiple directions with various VR and AR ventures. Just last week Facebook announced that it would require new Oculus owners to sign into their devices with Facebook accounts, while existing Oculus account holders will have to migrate by 2023.
The Oculus Quest remains one of the best VR headsets you can buy today, with great support for Half-Life: Alyx if you can tether it to a PC. It’s also the last headset that Oculus released, launching over a year ago in May 2019.
Star Wars Battlefront 2 is getting a new patch tomorrow, August 26, and it’s a small one. The update takes aim at some nasty issues that have been affecting the game’s Imperial Heroes, specifically Darth Maul, Darth Vader, and General Grievous.
Darth Vader’s damage reduction traits could be built up over time, which was allowing him to survive more than the developers intended. General Grevious’s Claw Rush currently hits more times than it should, so that’s getting nerfed. And Darth Maul should be able to block after performing his Spin Attack now. The patch will go live at 12 PM PT / 3 AM ET on August 26.
Battlefront 2’s final major update came back in May 2020, and it brought the Supremacy and Instant Action modes to a number of new maps, including Hoth and Tatooine. It also added Rise of Skywalker-themed costumes for major heroes, including Kylo Ren and Darth Maul.
The full patch notes for the August 26 update are listed below:
Fixed an issue that would allow players to build up Darth Vader’s damage reduction traits.
Fixed an issue where General Grievous’ Claw Rush attack could hit opponents multiple times in a short time.
Fixed an issue where Darth Maul would not be able to block after performing Spin Attack while blocking.
Fixed an issue where inaccurate VFX would play around Boba Fett’s jetpack while he is ragdolled.
Fixed an issue where Boba Fett’s jetpack icon would not be greyed out while his abilities are blocked.
Updated in-game EA Access and Origin Access logos with EA Play logos.
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The Kate McKinnon-led series about Carole Baskin and the “Tiger King” Joe Exotic has received a multi-platform series order, according to Deadline. The NBCUniversal show, whose working title is Joe Exotic, will be rolling out across three different NBCU platforms: NBC (a broadcast network), Peacock (a streaming service), and USA (a basic cable network).
No air date or other casting choices–aside from McKinnon–have yet been announced. The limited series, originally announced back in November, revisits the now familiar story popularized by the Netflix series Tiger King, in which an animal breeder and a big-cat enthusiast have a quickly escalating rivalry. There is another high-profile adaptation in the works, with Nicolas Cage as Joe Exotic. All these adaptations, including the Netflix one earlier this year, have been inspired by the second season of Wondery’s true-crime podcast Over My Dead Body.
The NBC version will be written by Etan Frankel (Friday Night Lights, Get Shorty), who will also executive produce along with McKinnon and also Wondery’s Herman Lopez, Marshall Lewy, and Aaron Hart.
The role also marks McKinnon’s second time starring in a series adapted from a podcast. She also plays Elizabeth Holmes in the upcoming Hulu drama The Dropout, inspired by the podcast telling the story of the ill-fated Silicon Valley technology company, Theranos.
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