You Can Now Earn Rewards For Referring Friends To Pokemon Go

Niantic has launched a new referral program for Pokemon Go, hoping to lure more players back to the augmented reality game. Existing players can share a referral code with a friend who has never played Pokemon Go, or who hasn’t logged into their account in over 90 days, with both players receiving rewards in the process.

The referral system is progress-based, meaning the person being referred back to the game will have to complete certain milestones in order for both players to continue earning rewards. Potential rewards include Pokémon encounters, Rare Candy, Incubators, and more.

While Pokemon Go’s revenue is quite healthy, with 2020 seeing the game take in over $1 billion, player numbers peaked in the first few months of the game, and have fallen further in the last year or so according to estimates.

In order to use the referral program, existing players can generate a referral code by tapping “Invite” on the Friends screen. The new player then inputs that code either during the sign-up process or on their own Friends screen if they already have an inactive account.

A number of other new events are happening in April alongside the launch of the referral program. April will see a new spring-themed event, raids for Tornadus, Thundurus, And Landorus, and a new Community Day featuring Snivy. Check out everything coming to Pokemon Go in April here.

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There’s A Suez Canal Simulator Launching On Steam Soon

In what seems to be incredibly serendipitous timing for the creator of a niche shipping canal game, Suez Canal Simulator is a thing that exists and is due to release within the next month–on April 20, to be exact. The game has appeared just after a grounded ship blocked the canal for roughly a week, causing global logistical delays and a flood of Suez Canal memes.

On March 23, the Ever Given container ship was grounded in the Suez Canal, bringing attention to the global shipping route in a big way. The canal was blocked for around a week while excavators and tugboats worked to free the ship from the sandy banks, resulting in a huge number of memes and even a mod for Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Now, the Suez Canal Simulator will allow you to re-enact a container ship’s journey through the canal–whether you want to pull an Ever Given or prove how easy it is to traverse it properly. The simulator game boasts “600 kilometers of continuous uninterrupted ship tracks for hundreds of hours of enjoyment,” according to its Steam description. “Travel in either direction North or South from 100 kilometers out in the Mediterranean Sea or the Red Sea through the 193-kilometer-long Suez Canal.”

The game will provide plenty of play time for aspiring ship’s captains, with a full journey taking “over 24 hours.”

Not much can be found about the game or its developer prior to March this year, so it’s unclear whether the Suez Canal Simulator is an ongoing project with fantastic timing, or whether the Ever Given crisis spurred its development.

An expansion called the Panama Canal Simulator is promised to arrive in August 2021, however, while the developer has put a call out for any enthusiasts who may want to help add “all the great ships that transit the Suez Canal” into the game as DLC, whether “for free or for a fee.”

Suez Canal Simulator releases on Steam on April 20.

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Outriders Day 1 Guide: Character Classes, Cross-Play Multiplayer, And Everything You Need To Know

Outriders is now out for Xbox Series X|S, PS5, Xbox One, PS4, PC, and Stadia. The game is available for Xbox Game Pass subscribers as well. If you’re just downloading Outriders and you’re wondering where to begin, like which class to pick and how to activate cross-play multiplayer, then you’re in the right place. Below, we’ve compiled a series of Outriders guides that should get you on your way to exploring the planet of Enoch.

In Outriders, you play as one of the last members of the titular group, initially tasked with determining whether the planet Enoch is a suitable home for humanity after Earth’s destruction. But when a freak storm kills most of your crew, no one can stop the signal misinforming the civilian colonists in your group that it’s safe to settle. Although you survive, the storm mutates you, gifting you with extraordinary powers. Now with no choice but to make a home of Enoch, you’re tasked with using your abilities to uncover the secrets of the planet and stop the source of the storm.

Outriders is a third-person shooter, and although there is cover in the game, you don’t want to spend all your time hiding behind chest-high walls. This game is all about aggression–each character class can only heal by killing or damaging enemies, so putting yourself out there to wreak havoc with a variety of firearms is ideal. To compliment your array of weapons, you can also use several superpowered abilities to devastating effect. The Devastator class, for example, can stop bullets in midair and throw them back at enemies, while the Technomancer can pull together discarded metal to forge rocket launchers and miniguns.

Demo Progress

Developer People Can Fly have said that all progress made in the Outriders pre-release demo will follow you into the main game. Just be sure to download the game to the platform where you played the demo–Outriders has cross-play multiplayer, but not cross-platform progression.

Day 1 Update

Publisher Square Enix has revealed several updates scheduled to go live in the first few weeks of Outriders’ release. The first is a Day 1 update, which is planned to go live just prior to Outriders’ launch time but may be delayed and come out the day of, requiring an additional download.

The Day 1 update is aimed at addressing bugs and the uncomfortable level of camera shake during cutscenes. Following this, Outriders is scheduled to get a post-launch patch that will add additional options for controller settings, improve loading times on Xbox One and PS4, implement cross-play multiplayer improvements, and more.

Picking A Class

When you first play Outriders, you’ll go through an exposition-heavy prologue that also introduces you to the basic controls and shooting mechanics. Following that prologue, your Altered abilities will awaken, allowing you to pick one of four classes. Choose carefully, even if you can adjust your character’s appearance throughout the game, you’re stuck with your class until you make a new character.

So that raises the question: Which Outriders character class is right for you? If you’re looking to fight up close, going for the Devastator or Trickster is probably your speed–the former controls gravity as Outriders’ resident tank class, while the latter manipulates space and time as the game’s take on a rogue. For a more long-range option, go for the Technomancer, which can create and control advanced machinery in a support or summoner role. The Pyromancer falls in between the other three as a mid-range class, commanding fire as Outriders’ mage.

Solo Play

Despite each of Outriders four classes fitting into squad-based roles, you can play Outriders entirely solo (though, as a warning, the game requires you to connect to the internet even if you have no plans of playing with others). All four classes can tackle Outriders’ campaign on their own, though we advise you pick the Trickster for solo play. The class’ ability to easily teleport in and out of trouble and create a shield for itself relatively easily makes it an ideal choice for playing on your own.

Cross-Play Multiplayer

Outriders supports cross-play multiplayer, so you can party up with your friends regardless of which platforms you each decide to play on. You can team up with up to two other people for a squad of three. That said, you won’t be able to jump into multiplayer immediately. There are a few steps you’ll have to complete first.

In order to enable cross-play multiplayer, you’ll need to complete the prologue–that means becoming fully Altered, picking your class, and reaching Outriders first hub area: Rift Town. Once you’ve done that, you can turn on multiplayer and team up from the lobby screen or by visiting the matchmaking terminal in Rift Town’s garage. That terminal will be packed up and follow you as you explore the world, being set up wherever you make camp.

Farming For Legendary Loot

You’ll naturally come across rarer and more powerful gear in Outriders by just playing the game. Chances are you’ll stumble upon legendary loot without needing to grind for it. But if you want something cool and shiny to equip before setting out in the campaign, there are a few missions and boss fights in the early hours of Outriders that make for ideal farming locations for legendary loot.

PC Specs

If you’re planning on playing Outriders on PC, it’s good to know whether your machine can run the game. Developer People Can Fly has outlined the full PC specs, so you know what type of experience you’re getting based on your rig. For the recommended experience (1080p resolution and 60fps), the developer advises you to have at least a GeForce GTX 1060 6GB or Radeon RX 480 8GB graphics card, an i7-7700 or Ryzen 5 1600 CPU, and 16GB of RAM. To install the game, you’ll also need 70GB of available storage space.

Now Playing: Outriders – Official “This is Outriders” Overview Trailer | Square Enix Presents

YouTube Is Experimenting With Removing Public Dislike Numbers From Videos

YouTube’s most disliked videos of all time include classics like Justin Bieber’s Baby, Rebecca Black’s Friday, and the Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare reveal trailer–but a new update may take away viewers’ ability to tell how many users disliked any given video. YouTube says it is currently testing the change, which wouldn’t remove the dislike button, but would make the metric visible only to creators.

Only select users are part of the experiment to begin with, with YouTube sharing a screenshot of what the new interface will look like for the testing group. The number of likes would still be displayed under the thumbs up button, while the “dislike” button no longer has a number attached.

The gaming side of YouTube is no stranger to the “targeted dislike campaigns” described in the tweet, with the aforementioned mass-disliking of the futuristic Infinite Warfare trailer as one example. On another occasion, gamers organized in order to mass-dislike a Jimmy Kimmel video in which he said that watching other people play games makes no sense.

YouTube’s announcement of the experiment has been generally disliked by the YouTube community, with many replies and quote-retweets on Twitter criticizing the move. Even high profile YouTubers such as Jacksepticeye and RubberNinja have expressed doubts about the change, while other users have pointed out how easily committed dislikers will get around the restrictions.

It’s yet to be seen whether YouTube will roll out this change more broadly across the site. It is currently testing multiple versions of a user interface without dislikes on small groups of users.

Randall Park Will Make His Directorial Debut With Shortcomings Adaptation

It’s hard to miss Randall Park these days; he’s in a ton of stuff and is a consistent scene stealer. But now, Park is stepping behind the camera to bring a graphic novel to life. Park will helm the adaptation of Shortcomings, a graphic novel by cartoonist Adrian Tomine, Deadline reports, with Roadside Attractions and Imminent Collision producing.

Shortcomings follows the life of a group of young Asian Americans living in the Bay Area in the early 2000s as they explore relationships both with each other and outside, navigating questions about race and culture.

“I am such a huge fan of Adrian’s work, and I’m very excited to team with him and Roadside Attractions on this updated, modern take of Shortcomings,” Park said in an official statement. “In these characters, I see version of Asian Americans in my own life, the ones I love and the ones I just kind of tolerate.”

“Shortcomings is a book that’s very close to my heart, and I have long resisted the idea of any adaptation that didn’t feel true to the style and spirit of the material,” said Tomine, who is also penning the screenplay for the adaptation. “Randall, Roadside Attractions, and Imminent Collision immediately impressed me with their passion, insight, and vision for this film. They have been invaluable partners in the process of translating Shortcomings both to the screen as well as to the current time, and I’m honored to be a part of this collaboration.”

“With his adaptation of Shortcomings, Adrian has proven himself not only a brilliant cartoonist but also a talented screenwriter. When Randall came to us with a true artist’s vision for telling this story cinematically, everything clicked into place,” said Roadside Attractions’ senior VP Jennifer Berman.

The project is in early development, and Deadline says the team will be looking to sell the project in the coming weeks, meaning the project is still a ways off. In the meantime, you can catch him on Young Rock, read up on how Park forgot about his hilarious Office cameo (and the awkward interactions it has led to in his real life), or how he got ready to reprise his role as Jimmy Woo in Marvel Studios’ WandaVision.

Emma Stone on Cruella and Joker Comparisons

Cruella star Emma Stone has laughed off early comparisons between Disney’s upcoming Cruella and Warner Bros.’ 2019 monster hit Joker but has praised fellow Oscar-winner Joaquin Phoenix, who earned an Academy Award for his performance in the role.

“It’s very different from Joker in many ways,” Stone explained to Total Film. “I would never even remotely compare myself to Joaquin Phoenix. I wish I was more like him.”

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Cruella director Craig Gillespie appreciates that the public may have spotted some basic parallels but explained that Cruella is a different type of film in a number of ways.

“There are some really deep, emotional things that Cruella’s dealing with that send her to the villainous darker side. So in that sense, it is [similar],” says Gillespie. “But it’s definitely its own thing. Just to sort of reframe Cruella, I thought it was important to show this darker side of her. But there’s going to be a lot of fun, a lot of humor in it. There’s a lot of absolutely delightful banter and rhythm to the style of it, which is different from Joker.”

Disney recently confirmed that Cruella will be available on Disney Plus Premier Access the same day as its theatrical release, on May 28.

Reports that Stone was in early talks to play the iconic Disney villain and Dalmatian aficionado in a live-action film first emerged way back in January 2016.

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Luke is Games Editor at IGN’s Sydney office. You can find him on Twitter sporadically @MrLukeReilly.