The Games and Game Services With the Most Downtime in 2018

Whenever PSN, Xbox Live or any other major online game or service goes down, these become some of the most heavily searched topics on IGN. So, we wanted to see how various services, platforms and individual games fared throughout 2018 when it came to staying online. To do so, we asked Downdetector, a website that collects data on online service outages, who experienced the most downtime in 2018.

To determine which games and services go down and for how long, Downdetector “collects status reports from a series of sources. Through a realtime analysis of this data, our system is able to automatically determine outages and service interruptions at a very early stage.” Downtime analyzes reports from sources like Twitter, and detects outages when the number of reports jumps above a relative baseline level.

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For Honor Welcomes Assassin’s Creed’s Ezio To The Battlefield

For Honor is mingling with another Ubisoft property, with a limited-time Assassin’s Creed crossover event. The “For the Creed” event will run from December 20 to January 10 and will feature familiar Assassin’s Creed characters with trappings of the animus.

During the duration of the event, you can play a special 4v4 Dominion mode called “Assassini e Templari” in which you capture zones to lure out one of two commanders: Ezio Auditore da Firenze or Cesare Borgia. Defeating either commander gives you 300 points, and reaching 1000 points and defeating the opposing team during the breaking period will win the match.

The maps rotating in the Assassini e Templari mode will feature animus glitches and soldiers will be themed after the factions in the AC series. Your drop attacks will appear as Leap of Faith and air assassination animations, and game modes will be displayed using an animus theme. Some game modes will also be narrated by Warren Vidic of the Animus Project.

You can also earn some new customization items, like the Odyssey of the Misthios mask from Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, a Haystack emote, Hidden Blade execution, animus effects and battle outfits, Assassin and Templar outfits, and weapons from the franchise. A special For the Creed bundle will be available for 35,000 Steel per hero.

For Honor and Assassin’s Creed seem tonally similar enough that a crossover makes sense. Ubisoft recently played matchmaker for two of its other franchises, with a special event that put Rainbow Six characters and story beats into Ghost Recon Wildlands.

Ubisoft Pulls Leaked Division 2 Alpha Footage

Ubisoft’s The Division 2 held a technical alpha test for the PC over the last week, and many of those who had the chance to play it came away with positive impressions.

The alpha, which was announced last week, took place between December 15-18, and those who had the chance to play it signed a non-disclosure agreement, strictly limiting what they could or could not publicly say about the game. While many leaks arose during this time, Ubisoft has removed much of this as quickly as possible. However, some details and impressions have remained, and they’re largely positive on this post-apocalyptic sequel.

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Steam Winter Sale Is Live: Great PC Game Deals On Thousands Of Titles

It’s that time of year again, when Steam takes a large swath of the PC games in its massive library and drops prices. It’s the Steam Winter Sale, and it’s live between now and January 3. So if you could use some new games in your life and you’re interested in saving money, check out what’s on sale. There’s a good chance you’ll find something worth buying.

But first some freebies. When you check in on Steam between now and January 3, you can click on the Extremely Cozy Cottage of Surprises to receive free digital Steam Community items and DLC each day of the sale. It’s obviously part of a plan to keep you coming back, but that’s just business.

As for the games on sale, there are so many it’s hard to choose where to start. But let’s kick things off with the big games of 2018. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey just came out a few months ago, but it’s already available for the agreeable price of $30. Far Cry 5 is down to $28, while Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age is discounted to $36. And if you want to get creative with your kills, you can’t go wrong with Hitman 2, on sale for $42.

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Some of the biggest indie games of the year are also on sale, including the challenging platformer Celeste for $16, the roguelike Metroidvania Dead Cells for $20, and the hole simulator Donut County for $9.75. And if you want to get mad at your friends, you can pick up Overcooked 2 for $19.

Even bigger savings are available on older titles. For instance, Prey will only set you back $15, while RPG fans can grab Divinity: Original Sin II for $29. Grand Theft Auto V is on sale for one of its lowest prices ever at $15, and Undertale is only $4.

You’ll find more highlights from the Steam Winter Sale below, or you can check out the full list on Steam.

Infinity War Artists on “Those” Thanos and Gamora Scenes

Some of the most enigmatic and visually striking scenes in Avengers: Infinity War are those set in the ethereal realm where Thanos is confronted by the spirit of Gamora.

They also left us with a handful of questions: Is this Soul World? Is it all a figment of Thanos’ power-addled imagination? We can’t say for sure, but those moments leave a strong impression. IGN had a chance to interview Digital Domain’s Kelly Port and Marvel Studios’ Dan DeLeeuw about the process of creating and depicting this mysterious realm — and to help us set the record straight on what it actually is.

“We just explore quite a few different things and play around with the idea that it was a sort of vault, or as if we were in the Soul Stone, for example,” said DeLeeuw. “But I think it ended up taking me playing around with the spread water as if… we had a lot of blood involved.”

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Telltale’s The Walking Dead’s Final Episodes Coming to the Epic Games Store

Skybound Games has announced it is partnering with Epic Games to release future episodes of Telltale’s The Walking Dead: The Final Season on the Epic Games Store.

Though the season will be exclusive to the Epic Games Store for all future purchases, fans who already bought the season on PC through a different platform will still be able to receive the final two episodes through their original point of purchase. The final episodes will also become available through the PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch’s online marketplaces as originally intended.

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VR Livestream with Ben and Chastity!

Sorry! Your browser is not one that we can support in chat any longer. Its either too old or your IT guy really did a job on it and its ‘too safe’ for us. We thought a lot about this and its just too darn hard to support your browser while we support newer browsers that play so much better with others on the internet. We really hope you can upgrade. If Mel the IT guy riding high on his little power trip sez no then we got nothin for ya man.

You can still watch the live stream so at least you have that going for you. Which is nice…

We strongly suggest
Chrome
We’re totally cool with
Safari (no private browsing)
We deal with
Firefox
Oh and there’s
Internet Explorer (10 and newer)

Halo Infinite Confirmed To Have 4-Player Split Screens, Halo Reach Customization and More

343 Industries announced new features coming to Halo Infinite during a Mixer stream, including the long-awaited 4-player split screen mode.

Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President and Head of 343 Industries, Bonnie Ross, said at DICE 2017 that all future FPS Halo games will have split screen modes, but it was not officially confirmed for Halo Infinite until now.

Halo 5: Guardians not having the classic split screen multiplayer was upsetting to fans, and 343 said the decision to not include the mode, “was one of the most difficult ones we’ve ever had to make as a studio.”

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Razer Announces Xbox One Wireless Mouse And Keyboard, Coming Next Year

Razer has unveiled its newest wireless keyboard and mouse, which are specifically designed to work with Xbox One. Called Razer Turret, the mouse and keyboard set retails for $250 USD.

There’s nothing stopping you from using the Razer Turret on a PC, but the mouse and keyboard come with certain features that make it ideal for Xbox One. The Turret comes with both Razer Chroma and Xbox Dynamic Lighting, which pair up and cause the keyboard to light up in sync with the games you play. There’s also an Xbox dashboard key that allows you to immediately return to your console’s home page.

The wireless mouse and keyboard offer up to 40 hours of play on one charge, with the keyboard and mouse having a lifespan of 80 million keystrokes and 50 million clicks respectively. Part of the keyboard can also extend, providing a smooth surface for the mouse–which is stylized after Razer’s Mamba Wireless–so you can play with the Turret on your lap without a desk or a table if you prefer.

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November’s Xbox One update added mouse and keyboard support to the console. However, support was not implemented for every game. The update simply adds the option, and developers can decide whether or not they want to implement the control scheme in their game when it comes to Xbox One. Fortnite, Warframe, and War Thunder were the first games to support mouse and keyboard controls on Xbox One with Minecraft, Bomber Crew, Deep Rock Galactic, Strange Brigade, Warhammer: Vermintide 2, and X-Morph: Defense following in late November. Children of Morta, DayZ, Minion Master, Moonlighter, Vigor, Warface, and Wargroove are scheduled to be updated with mouse and keyboard controls at a later date.

The Razer Turret is available for pre-order on the Microsoft Store, but it doesn’t have a definitive release date beyond Q1 2019. There’s currently a limited-time offer on the Turret where you net a $25 USD Xbox gift card with a pre-order.

Aquaman Review

Aquaman’s greatest superpower isn’t controlling the seas or communicating with fish – it’s the ability to embrace and absorb his own inherent cheesiness and use it to make himself more entertaining to watch. His first solo movie is often corny, but it owns all that with the audacity and fearlessness to just go for it. This James Wan-directed DC film declares to the world that this is a giant B-movie where krakens are voiced by screen legends and characters ride seahorses into battle, and it’s not going to pause to let you dwell on any of that. It’s precisely because it’s so damn zany, unafraid to embrace its comic bookiness, and is just plain out there that Aquaman is a blast.

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