Capcom asked its developers to start work on Resident Evil Village six months before Resident Evil 7 was due for release – which left the team unsure about the direction they wanted to take, before the first-ever first-person Resident Evil game saw a positive reception.
Revealed in our IGN First feature about the making of and inspirations behind Village, director Morimasa Sato explains: “We were still busy developing Resident Evil 7, but my boss told me to start planning for the next entry in the series. At the time, we had no idea how users would react towards the new horror experience and characters of 7 yet.”
It’s not hugely unusual that a major series would see plans for a sequel put in place before the preceding game is released – but Resident Evil 7 was a major departure for the series, meaning Village’s developers were left waiting to see the reaction to it before fully committing to a straight sequel, rather than another reinvention.
“We had no idea how the change of perspective would be received, so at first we were quite worried. But when we released Resident Evil 7 about half a year after the development of Village started, it was received very well. This helped us decide to make Village a direct sequel,” Sato says.
That success meant Village moved forward as a first-person game and continued the story of RE7 protagonist Ethan Winters – but the team had already planned the addition of a village setting, inspired by Resident Evil 4. That mixture of old and new has led to Sato describe the game as the ‘offspring’ of RE4 and RE7, rather than a reboot of one, or a simple sequel to the other. It’s meant as a pure blend of the two.
Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].
Another limited-time Max Raid event is now underway in Pokemon Sword and Shield. This weekend, all three regional variants of Meowth will be featured in Max Raid Battles across both games, and you’ll even have a chance to find Shiny Galarian Meowth.
Until May 2, Kantonian Meowth, Alolan Meowth, and Galarian Meowth will all appear in Max Raid dens more frequently than usual across the Wild Area, Isle of Armor, and Crown Tundra. Not only is this a good chance to catch Kantonian and Alolan Meowth, which don’t normally appear in Sword and Shield, but Gigantamax Meowth and Shiny Galarian Meowth will also be available in five-star Max Raids. Those two will be fairly rare, however, so you’ll need to check Raids often if you’re hoping to catch them.
Alolan, Kantonian, and Galarian Meowth
Gigantamax Meowth was initially only available as an early purchase bonus for those who picked up a copy of Sword or Shield shortly after their launch. It was brought back later as part of a Max Raid event, but it’s still among the rarest Gigantamax forms in the games. Like Gigantamax Pikachu and Eevee, however, Gigantamax Meowth is not able to evolve, but it knows an exclusive move called G-Max Gold Rush that confuses foes and nets you more money after the battle.
The Meowth Max Raid event runs until 4:59 PM PT / 7:59 PM ET / 11:59 PM UTC on May 2, giving you only a few days to catch the Pokemon. Before they can begin appearing in your game, you’ll need to refresh your Max Raid dens. You can do this either by connecting online via the Y-Comm, or by opening Mystery Gift from the menu screen and selecting Get the Wild Area News.
In other Pokemon news, the series’ latest spin-off game, New Pokemon Snap, is now available on Nintendo Switch. Later this year, the hybrid console is getting remakes of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, while a new Pokemon adventure set in ancient Sinnoh called Pokemon Legends: Arceus is slated to release in early 2022.
No Man’s Sky’s latest patch just went live, and it brings with it some welcome tweaks to the player experience. In the new hotfix, developer Hello Games incorporates a variety of changes, including stability improvements, bug fixes, and some minor UI updates.
Specifically, the patch aims to solve a number of issues introduced in No Man’s Sky‘s latest big update, titled Expeditions, which launched at the beginning of April. These include instances where the game would crash for players due to bugs in the profanity filter, creature navigation, the Nexus teleporter, and other situations.
Although players have generally enjoyed the Expeditions update, the No Man’s Sky subreddit nonetheless indicates that players have been frequently encountering problems. Hello Games has been asking for players to submit bug reports through its site, and the subreddit’s thread about issues in Expeditions has gathered several thousand comments.
Since Expeditions launched, players have been digging into the new seasonal multiplayer mode as well as some significant changes to space stations, exploration, and UI. This update is the latest in a series of sweeping gameplay changes that Hello Games has implemented since the game’s launch way back in 2016, which have included adding pets, retooling the opening of the game, and incorporating multiplayer.
People may have missed that Netflix is launching a new weekly anime series hosted by N-ko that will celebrate new shows and films that fans are anticipating!. One tiny catch: N-ko isn’t real, and the show won’t air on Netflix.
The show will air on Netflix’s anime YouTube channel and N-ko is a VTuber, an anime figure voiced by a real person. While the show will exist in part to remind anime fans about what’s coming to Netflix (like Yasuke), and convince them to either subscribe to the streaming service or prevent them from canceling, it’s so much more.
Whereas YouTube is a dumping ground for other entertainment and streaming companies, it’s an entirely new ecosystem for Netflix. The company uses a number of YouTube channels as primary entertainment sources. The N-ko Show will exist as its own primary entity on YouTube, ideally finding an audience within the booming VTuber space. While Netflix still exists as a competitor to Netflix, something CEO Reed Hastings pointed out in 2019, what if instead of trying to simply compete, Netflix used YouTube even more?
“We do wonder in the fullness of time, ‘Can we be as big as YouTube?’” Hastings told analysts during an earnings call in June 2019. “YouTube is seven times larger than us, roughly, in viewing hours, and a phenomenal service. Of course, it’s free. So the real question is, can we produce enough content that people are willing to pay for?”
Why not both? Being on YouTube and creatinh original, specific content tailor made for an entirely different audience can either go really, really well — or really, really poorly. Brands stepping into a creator-led space famously hasn’t always succeeded in the past. Like Steve Buscemi waltzing into a high school wearing a backwards cap and carrying a skateboard, brands stick out like a sore thumb. Netflix, it appears, is keenly aware of this divide.
Instead of making Netflix try to work on YouTube, the company is establishing its own YouTube presence that’s inline with the platform’s culture. The question remains — is it working?
Why is YouTube so important to Netflix?
Netflix has dozens of YouTube channels, all designed to accomplish different goals. There’s a Netflix account for each different country, tailoring regional content to subscribers in those locations. There are Netflix channels dedicated to film and genre entertainment for anyone looking to watch behind-the-scenes interviews with the cast of their favorite show or stay up to date with trailers. There are Netflix business accounts designed to highlight the company’s work culture. Netflix’s channels collectively boast tens of millions of subscribers.
These are inline with traditional brand usage on YouTube. It’s a place to promote, and companies don’t go out of their way to try and make the page anything more than simple promotion. Then, there are channels like Netflix Anime and Netflix Jr. The former is working with staff members to create a VTuber who can tap into a rapidly growing part of YouTube’s global culture; the latter, which has just under seven million subscribers, is creating constant livestreams and exclusive content for kids who spend more of their time on YouTube.
It’s a change in strategy, but more importantly, it’s a change in identity. There are a few core qualities that Netflix works hard to not lose sight of with every new strategic move. Much like how HBO “isn’t TV, it’s HBO,” Netflix isn’t your mom and dad’s television service, it’s a whole new world. Netflix has to remain:
Cool
Cheap
Hip
Intimate
As Netflix naturally moves further away from being the internet-first underdog and settles into its position as one of the world’s most successful and dominant entertainment companies, it gets harder to retain those qualities. The establishment is by proxy never cool; producing ridiculous levels of content and outbidding hungry competitors means the cost of the platform rises; courting every type of consumer takes out the hip value that more-online focused entrants like Twitch may have; and it’s harder to feel intimate when the platform has to appeal to as wide a consumer base as possible.
One platform that’s remained cool, cheap, hip, and intimate by design is YouTube. Sure, it belongs to one of the world’s most successful conglomerates, but it’s creator-led. YouTube still feels young because every new generation of teenagers over the last 15 years has thought of YouTube as theirs, reshaping the culture to make it feel new every few years. YouTube is a massive corporation that feels cool, cheap, hip, and intimate because it’s guided by the enthusiasm of its creators and their fans.
This is where Netflix comes in. Netflix is executing a strategy based on enthusiasm. They’re (Netflix would like you to think of the company as a person, not an it) just like you. They love anime and VTubers. They’re parents who also want a never ending livestream to put on for kids while working from home. They’re comedy nerds who want to make supercuts of Ali Wong’s best jokes. Netflix has done this for some time — including uploading full Dave Chappelle specials and episodes of Patriot Act to YouTube for free. It’s seemingly worked; now Netflix is just doing more.
And, if they just so happen to catch your eye with a new special you haven’t seen or an anime that you want to watch airing exclusively on Netflix, and that in turn gets you to continue streaming Netflix before bed or reactivate your account, it’s worked.
Take The N-ko Show. Between May and mid-July in 2018, the number of VTuber centric channels on YouTube doubled from 2,000 to 4,000, according to The Japan Times. That number has grown exponentially since then, and caught the attention of YouTube’s internal culture and insights team. YouTube’s team found that views on VTuber channels grew to over 1.5 billion views per month by October 2020, according to a paper published last year.
It’s becoming a big business. There’s also a direct overlap with VTuber viewers and anime fans. For Netflix, a company not shying away from its plans to increase the amount of anime that is distributed across the streaming service, it’s an obvious way to appeal to a demographic executives see as key. Relying on Netflix’s anime team, who are also VTuber fans, makes it feel even more authentic. Just look at the ratio of upvotes to dislikes on the announcement video.
“Whether you’re a lifelong fan like me or just discovering anime for the first time, anime connects people of different cultures and backgrounds,” Rob Pereyda, YouTube’s head of anime, wrote in a blog post. “A big part of being an anime fan is having a community to belong to where you can discuss favorite characters, recommend titles, and enjoy incredible stories together.”
Naturally, there’s a good chance this all blows up in Netflix’s symbolic face. YouTube creators and YouTube obsessives know good, authentic content from brands spewing ads under the guise of originals. There’s also, however, the chance that it could work. YouTube’s audience skews younger; they’re engaged with what they’re seeing, their appetite for more never goes away. Why try to compete with that audience when Netflix can court them?
Netflix has more than 206 million subscribers. Despite analyst concerns that it’s slowing down, the fact remains that it’s still growing. Netflix doesn’t need to sell people on the idea of its streaming service anymore. People know and understand what Netflix provides. What the company needs to do is connect. There’s arguably no better platform to showcase what Netflix can do, and no better site to connect with future subscribers of tomorrow, then on YouTube. A VTuber original YouTube series might just be the perfect swing.
The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors. GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.
The dead speak! You can get a replica prop lightsaber modeled after the Sith Lord’s at a significant savings, but only today.
May the 4th is coming, a date when we celebrate great Star Wars mainstays like the noble and heroic Jedi Knights. But what if you think Jedi suck? Then you may just be a more of a Sith person, and as such you might want to pick up a replica lightsaber of Emperor Palpatine, one of the most renown Sith to ever stage a galaxy-wide coup.
GameStop’s Deal of the Day features Emperor Palpatine’s Black Series Force FX Lightsaber, a prop replica modeled after the Darth Sidious lightsaber’s appearance in Star Wars Episode III: Attack of the Clones. The discount brings it down by just over 50%, but it’s only available for today.
The Force FX Elite combines LEDs and sound effects to create a realistic lightsaber effect, including progressive ignition. The Black Series replicas include a real metal hilt with a display stand and removable blade.
Rocket League’s National Football League DLC and limited-timed mode have been brought back to the soccer-with-cars game to celebrate the ongoing NFL Draft.
This includes the NFL Fan Pack and the Gridiron limited-time mode, both of which are available in the game now. Additionally, there are brand-new NFL-themed items available to unlock by completing new challenges. Double XP is also available all weekend.
It’s @NFL Draft Weekend and we are celebrating with the return of the NFL Fan Pack and Gridiron LTM! Check it out IN GAME NOW! Plus, earn NEW @NFL items by completing new challenges as well as 2XP ALL WEEKEND LONG 🏆 pic.twitter.com/k8KoxJeuKD
The Gridiron mode is a 4v4 mode where the ball is replaced by an NFL football. When you come into contact with the football, it attaches to the roof, simulating a ball-carrier in the NFL. The Fan Pack, meanwhile, is a store bundle that comes with decals for all 32 NFL teams. It’s not exactly clear, however, what the brand-new NFL items are.
The NFL Draft began on Thursday, with the Jacksonville Jaguars selecting Trevor Lawrence as the No. 1 overall pick. The Draft continues through Saturday.
Click To Unmute
Size:
Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?
Despite assurances that it would be microtransaction-free, two more paid cosmetic packs have been added to store pages for Doom Eternal across platforms. The packs include skins that were previously offered to players for no cost. Doom Eternal’s first paid cosmetic pack, the Rip And Tear Pack, was released nearly two months after the game’s original release and includes preorder exclusive content.
The Series One Cosmetic Pack includes items that were available to players during Doom Eternal’s first season. Players can purchase various nameplates, icons, weapon skins, and character skins by purchasing the pack for $9.
The second pack, the Doomicorn Master Collection Cosmetic Pack, dresses up the Slayer as a pretty pink unicorn. It also includes other skins, new podiums, animations, and other cosmetic items. The pack was originally available in March 2020 for free to anyone that had a Twitch Prime account. It now retails for $5.
The Doomicorn Cosmetic Pack was previously offered to Twitch Prime subscribers for free
Prior to Doom Eternal’s launch, fans of the series were assured that the game would be microtransaction-free, specifically when it came to skins and other cosmetics. That guarantee came straight from Hugo Martin, the game’s creative director. “Eternal is a $60 game, not a free-to-play game or a mobile game–we are giving you a complete experience with no store just like you’d expect,” Martin said on Facebook.
“Unlocking skins with XP is a part of the experience if you care about that stuff or you can completely ignore it and it will have no impact on your experience at all and it’s all free.”
The launch of these cosmetic packs has also apparently come with some issues according to consumers. Reviews for both packs on Steam report that purchasing one pack, for example, the Doomicorn Master Collection Cosmetic Pack, will result in the other being added to your library.
Doom Eternal is now available to any Xbox Game Pass subscriber, along with a slew of other titles from Id Software, Bethesda, and more.
Developer Mediatonic has made some big announcements about the future of Fall Guys. The Nintendo Switch and Xbox versions of the whimsical battle royale game will no longer release on schedule this summer, while cross-play is now a confirmed feature that’s coming down the road.
“We’ve realized that our previously announced Summer 2021 Switch and Xbox release schedule is unfortunately just too soon for us to include all of the tasty new features we’re working on,” the studio said in a blog post.
“While we want to launch on these platforms as quickly as possible, we believe the Switch and Xbox releases are really going to be worth waiting for and we’re super grateful for your patience,” the statement went on to say. “This delay gives our team some time to add features like cross-play, so when we add new platforms, players will be able to stumble in harmony with their pals, regardless of their platform of choice.”
While the Switch and Xbox versions of Fall Guys have been delayed, Mediatonic said it continues to expand its development team to “deliver top-notch future content.”
“Fall Guys will keep rolling out new Seasonal content releases, fresh Shows, Costumes, Rounds and all the other delicious things you know and love. The rapidly approaching Season 4.5 update is no exception, with both a fiendish new Round and a funky fresh Final heading your way, plus delicious Fall fashion for your Season 4 wardrobe,” the studio said.
A new release date for Fall Guys on Switch and Xbox has yet to be confirmed.
Dave Bailey, the co-founder and CEO of Mediatonic, believes the team has “just scratched the surface” of what’s possible for Fall Guys. The original pitch for the game was to create the “greatest game show on Earth,” and Mediatonic plans to deliver on that ambition.
“When you think about it in that way, there’s a million different ways we can take this and I hope people will see that come through in future,” Bailey said.
In other news, Mediatonic has been acquired by Fortnite studio Epic Games, giving the company yet another battle royale game. Fall Guys is still available on Steam, though fans are wondering if a day may come when the game moves to the Epic Games Store.
Fall Guys launched on PlayStation back in 2020 as a console exclusive.
Resident Evil Village could have skipped last-gen platforms entirely, with the developers waiting to make sure it ran well enough before committing to making a PS4 and Xbox one version.
Resident Evil Village is gorgeous on next-gen platforms and PC, but recent demos and IGN’s own hands-on time have indicated that the game also looks great and runs smoothly on last-gen platforms, the PS4 and Xbox One. However, according to producer Tsuyoshi Kanda, Capcom did not decide to release the game on last-gen platforms until after Village was announced in June last year.
“We developed Village as a game for next-gen hardware, but in order to make it accessible to more players, we went through a lot of trial and error to somehow provide a comparable experience on last-gen hardware,” Kanda told IGN. “In the end, we were able to deliver a high-quality product for last-gen hardware as well. That being said, if the quality hadn’t been sufficient, I don’t think we would have released it.”
“If there was a big difference in graphical quality or framerate, it would not have been something we could deliver to players, so we did our best to make sure it would be satisfying on any platform,” added director Morimasa Sato.
Fans were pleasantly surprised with the quality of the PS4 Pro footage IGN exclusively revealed earlier this month, which was captured by us from a preview build of the full game. With the recent demos, players have been able to directly test a cut-down version of the game on their platform of preference.
If you’re not sure whether to get Village on last-gen or next-gen consoles, don’t worry, as Kanda emphasizes that the last-gen versions can be upgraded to next-gen free of charge, if you buy a next-gen machine later.
