Microsoft’s xCloud recently exited its testing phase and is now available to Android users with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, but the service isn’t available to iOS users at all. This followed an abruptly cut short test on iOS that only included one game as opposed to the several options Android users had. But this isn’t just Microsoft showing preference toward one ecosystem. Instead, it has to do with Apple’s policies.
Why xCloud Isn’t On iOS
Previously, Apple had extremely restrictive policies on the App Store that essentially barred game-streaming services from appearing at all, which is why Google Stadia has also not been available on iOS since its launch. However, it recently updated its policies to explicitly permit game-streaming services to operate via the App Store.
So, all is good now, right? Not quite. The issue is that these services will need to have separate apps for each individual game purchased in order to comply with Apple’s 30% profit-splitting policy. It’s a similar issue to what we’ve seen with Epic Games and Fortnite, as Epic wished to circumvent the App store for microtransactions and sell these items directly to players.
Microsoft refused this solution, calling it a “bad experience for customers” in a statement to GameSpot. It emphasized that all of these games should be available within one app for ease of use rather than clogging up a device with dozens of different streamable games.
Games would also have to be submitted individually to Apple before being approved for the service, much like games purchased from the App Store for local play. It’s a different system than what Apple requires for movie and TV streaming services like Netflix, which allow users to easily access all their content within one app.
Could xCloud Still Come To iOS?
Quite possibly. Apple’s latest policy concession wasn’t a coincidence, as it came after public pressure has been mounting against the company. Should Epic Games manage to win its lawsuit against Apple, in which it argues that Apple is essentially operating a monopoly by making the App Store the exclusive home of digital content on iOS, we could see big changes.
Should the court agree, it would seemingly open the door for other companies, Microsoft included, to operate independently of the App Store. If this happens, it could hypothetically offer game streaming on its own store with a similar experience to that on Android devices. However, that is a big “if,” and it could be months before we learn if this will be possible.
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Following September 16’s PS5preorder fiasco, which saw the console go on sale at several retailers without proper warning, Sony has offered an apology. It also promises that you haven’t missed out on your chance to get the system this year if you couldn’t snag a preorder earlier.
Writing on its official Twitter account, PlayStation said its preorders could have gone “a lot smoother” and that it would be releasing more of the systems for preorder in the next few days via retailers.
Let’s be honest: PS5 preorders could have been a lot smoother. We truly apologize for that. Over the next few days, we will release more PS5 consoles for preorder – retailers will share more details. And more PS5s will be available through the end of the year. pic.twitter.com/h1TaGsGBun
Big stores such as GameStop, Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, and Target already began selling the console, with many running out of stock in mere minutes. Some of these stores, including Walmart, have allocated a small amount of systems in the few days since, and Sony also held a lottery of sorts to determine who could order the PS5 directly from the company.
The issue was that Sony said it wouldn’t be opening up preorders until the following day and had even told The Game Awards producer Geoff Keighley that there would be ample warning before they went on sale.
In contrast, Microsoft said the exact time it will begin preorders on the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S already: September 22 at 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET. That may not mean everyone who wants one can order one, but it at least levels the playing field. The new Xbox and PS5 are scheduled to release just two days apart on November 10 and 12, respectively, with the top-end models both costing $499.
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Start planning out space for your PS5 games on the system’s SSD now, because they are going to take up a lot of room. In fact, it might not be too long before you have to start deleting games if the file sizes Sony has revealed are anything to go by.
On the PlayStation Direct website, which lets you buy PlayStation games and accessories directly from Sony, Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Demon’s Souls both have their file sizes estimated. In the case of Spider-Man: Miles Morales, the standard version of the game takes up 50GB, while the Ultimate Edition, which packs in a copy of Spider-Man: Remastered, takes up 105GB. Demon’s Souls, meanwhile, is a full remake of the 2009 PS3 game and takes up about 66GB.
With updates down the line, these file sizes could get even bigger. Games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare have drawn some controversy this generation for ballooning file sizes of well over 100GB, and with higher-resolution textures and more detailed game worlds, that only looks to become more of a problem for PS5. The system’s 825GB capacity is lower than the PS4 Pro, and though it will support expansion cards to increase that storage space, those are expensive and likely out of many users’ budget range.
The PS5 is releasing on November 12 in two versions: a $499 standard console and a $399 digital edition. The systems are otherwise identical, so you won’t be losing out on power or other features if you choose to go with one over the other.
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Following the PlayStation’s 5 frustrating preorder process, Sony has apologized and has promised that more will be available to preorder in the next few days and that more will be available “through the end of the year.”
“Let’s be honest: PS5 preorders could have been a lot smoother,” PlayStation said. “We truly apologize for that. Over the next few days, we will release more PS5 consoles for preorder – retailers will share more details. And more PS5s will be available through the end of the year.”
Luckily, it appears people will have another chance to secure one for this holiday season. To help ensure you can get a PS5, be sure to follow our PS5 preorder guide and IGNDeals on Twitter for up-to-the-moment alerts on preorders.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
To celebrate Batman Day on September 19, HBO Max has released a list of all its streaming Caped Crusader content — from live-action to animation to Batman-adjacent (like 2019’s Joker) — for those looking to spend a few hours absorbing a gallon of Gotham-y goodness.
All-things-Batman on HBO Max:
Batman, 1989
Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero, 1998
Batman & Robin, 1997
Batman and Harley Quinn, 2017
Batman Begins, 2005
Batman Beyond: The Return of the Joker, 2000
Batman Forever, 1995
Batman Returns, 1992
Batman v Superman: Ultimate Edition, 2016
Batman vs. Dracula, The, 2005
Batman vs. Robin, 2015
Batman vs. Two-Face, 2017
Batman: Assault on Arkham, 2014
Batman: Gotham Knight, 2008
Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders, 2016
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1, 2012
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 2, 2013
Batman: The Killing Joke, 2016 (HBO)
Batman: Under the Red Hood, 2010
Batman: Year One, 2011
Beware the Batman, 2013
Harley Quinn (S1 & S2), 2019
JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time, 2014
Joker 2019 (HBO)
Justice League (2017), 2017
Justice League vs. Teen Titans, 2016
Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, 2010
Justice League: Doom , 2012
Justice League: Gods and Monsters, 2015
Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, 2013
Justice League: The New Frontier, 2008
Justice League: Throne of Atlantis, 2015
Justice League: War, 2014
Lego Batman: DC Super Heroes Unite, 2013
Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League vs. Bizarro League, 2015
Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: The Flash, 2018
Lego Justice League: Cosmic Clash, 2016
Lego Justice League: Gotham City Breakout, 2016
Necessary Evil: The Super-Villains of DC Comics, 2013
Suicide Squad, 2016
DC is also hyping Batman Day promotions and activities (like making your own Bat-Signal) over at BatmanDay.com, including free online issues of Batman: Curse of the White Knight #1, Batman: The Adventures Continue #1 and Batman Tales: Once Upon a Crime.
Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.
The X-Files-themed Outside In Trusts No One is the seventh volume in the Outside In series of uniquely eclectic critical essay collections on your favorite fictional worlds. When a book contains 156 essays of bewilderingly different styles and approaches, it’s hard to find just one to represent it, but here is just such an excerpt for you to check out!
The new book, according to publisher ATB Publishing, celebrates “over 25 years of The X-Files, and nearly 50 years of Kolchak: The Night Stalker.” Kolchak, of course, was the 1970s spiritual antecedent to The X-Files which inspired creator Chris Carter to make his show. More from ATB:
“Outside In Trusts No One is a collection of 156 reviews, one for every story of each show. Well, we say ‘reviews,’ but we mean that loosely: Within these pages, you’ll find recipes, union meetings, restaurant ads, time loops, mixtapes, personal ads, a thesis, Venn diagrams, musicals, plays, role-playing games, building-code reports and a color-by-numbers game. Not to mention insightful and thoughtful articles, examining the worlds of shadowy conspiracies, UFOs and monsters of the week from just about every aspect imaginable… and then some!”
Previous volumes of the Outside In series have covered classic and modern Doctor Who, Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly. The eighth book, Outside In Wants To Believe, will conclude the examination of the extended X-Files universe in 2021 with the remaining seasons of X-Files not covered in the current volume as well as the spin-offs Millennium, Lone Gunmen, and Harsh Realm. Future volumes already planned will tackle Twin Peaks, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Babylon 5, and a revisiting of classic Who to celebrate 10 years of the Outside In series.
Outside In Trusts No One will be released on October 13, but pre-orders are open now at www.atbpublishing.com/xfiles.
Read on for an excerpt from the book, based on the eighth episode of Season 1, “Ice.”
Amazon’s The Boys has introduced a brand new live-action superhero universe populated by its own heroes and villains (most of whom are a bit of both). And while many of the show’s characters are clearly meant to be parodies of iconic Marvel and DC characters, there’s one character in particular who remains shrouded in mystery. Who the heck is Black Noir? Is he meant to be the show’s answer to Batman, or is there more to this silent, black-clad hero than meets the eye?
The answer to that latter question is a definite yes. Read on to learn more about Black Noir’s true nature and secret identity…
But beware of major spoilers for the comic book version of The Boys!
In some ways, Black Noir definitely fills the Batman archetype on The Boys. If the Seven are basically this universe’s Justice League, Homelander is Superman, Queen Maeve is Wonder Woman and Black Noir is Batman. He’s a hero who settles problems by punching them. He’s secretive and antisocial and seemingly oblivious to how uncomfortable his presence can be to everyone around him.
That said, the Batman comparisons only go so far with this character. Even Batman speaks and forms relationships with his fellow heroes, whereas we’ve never heard Black Noir say one word on the series. Batman also has a life completely separate from the League, whether he’s playing the part of billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne or defending Gotham City from costumed psychopaths. We’ve been given no reason to believe Black Noir has a life outside The Seven, nor have we ever seen his face.
Tek Knight is more a Batman spoof than Black Noir.
As it happens, there’s a completely different character in the world of The Boys who’s a more direct analogue to Batman – Tek Knight. Tek Knight has all the faux-Batman characteristics you’d expect. His abilities are derived from technology rather than Compound V (hence why Butcher and his team never targeted him). He’s a rich playboy with a disgruntled ex-butler and a former sidekick with whom he shared a decidedly homoerotic relationship. Tek Knight features prominently in the third story arc in the comic, “Get Some,” where he’s implicated in the murder of a gay man and suffers from a brain tumor that leads to all sorts of NSFW shenanigans.
Black Noir’s Shocking Secret Identity
There’s a very good reason we never hear Black Noir speak, nor see his face. His secret identity is at the heart of one of the biggest plot twists in the comic series. Black Noir is actually a clone of Homelander. If and when we finally see his face, he’ll most likely be played by Antony Starr.
Black Noir unmasked. Art by Darick Robertson. (Image Credit: Dynamite Entertainment)
Essentially, Black Noir is designed to be Vought’s contingency plan against Homelander, should their most famous creation ever lose control or pose too great a liability to the company. Though he hides it well in his current guise, Black Noir has all of Homelander’s abilities, and even greater super-strength to boot. His orders are simple – remain close to Homelander at all times, and wait until the day the order to kill his “brother” finally comes. That order finally comes in the climax of the comic, as Homelander attempts a hostile takeover of the U.S. government and comes face-to-face with the one person in the world stronger than himself.
What Vought didn’t account for was that Black Noir’s mission would drive him completely insane. After years of being forced to remain close by his target and never getting the kill order, Black Noir has gone completely mad. He’s like a robot that can’t reconcile its faulty programming. That probably explains some of his more eccentric behavior in the TV series. That and the fact that, like Homelander, he surely never had a normal childhood.
It’s important to keep in mind that just because Black Noir is depicted as a Homelander clone in the comic doesn’t mean the TV series will follow suit. Showrunner Eric Kripke may have an entirely different twist in mind, one that will surprise even the fans who have already read the original story. After all, The Boys TV series has already diverged from the comics on a number of fronts.
There’s already some evidence the show is taking a similarly loose approach on the Black Noir front. The comic eventually reveals that it was Black Noir, not Homelander, who raped Butcher’s wife Becca. Unless there’s some clever subterfuge going on, the TV series seems to implicate Homelander himself in that crime. It’s also worth remembering that Becca dies in the comic, a result of her unborn child manifesting his powers for the first time. The TV series instead reveals Becca is alive, in hiding and raising Homelander’s son.
The Amazon series may still build to the eventual reveal that Black Noir is a Homelander clone. Or it could go in a completely different direction (a Butcher clone? He was actually Mesmer the whole time!?). Either way, it’s at least safe to assume the series has a deeper purpose to keeping this character shrouded in mystery. Whoever’s under that mask, it’s going to involve a big payoff.
Funko, makers of collectible figures for basically every known pop-culture property in history, are releasing a line of Retro: Transformers Pops on December 20 and I am completely on-board.
I’m a big fan of the original, G1 Transformers. Every time Hasbro puts out a new version of those old toys, I leap into action to preorder one (still waiting on the Blaster I preordered).
These might be my favorite Funko Pops, ever? Not just because they’re based on G1 Transformers, either. Although that helps substantially. But something about those chibi-style robots in disguise works so well in the Funko-style.
The almost remind me of Gundam SD, in a weird way, but whatever it is, I am drawn to them. Soundwave was the first Transformer toy I ever owned, and he’s always had a special place in my heart. To this day I can’t hear a vocoder without getting a little nostalgic.
The Funko Pop Retro: Transformers line up comes out December 20, 2020, and the figures cost a manageable $11 a pop. See what I did there? Dad energy.
If you’re interested in other preorders, check out our guide to increasing your chances of getting a PS5 preorder, as well as when and where to preorder the Xbox Series S and Series X.
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Seth Macy is Executive Editor, IGN Commerce, and just wants to be your friend. Find him on Instagram at sethgmacy.
