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Halo Infinite will bring back the old motion tracker-style radar seen in Halo games before Halo 5 in light of feedback following the game's recent technical preview. This news comes by way of a recent Halo Waypoint blog posted by 343 Industries breaking down all of the feedback the studio received during and following its recent technical preview , as reported by PC Gamer . According to 343, most players missed the old properties of Halo radars, which differ from the game's current Combat Sensor that only displays enemy locations when they're sprinting or shooting a weapon. "The Combat Sensor, or radar, that sits in the bottom left of your HUD follows a different set of rules than previous Halo titles," the blog post reads. "We knew this implementation was going to feel different, maybe even a little contentious, and that's why we wanted to get feedback on it as soon as possible in the Tech Preview." 343 continues in the blog post and says t...

Former PlayStation Boss, Shawn Layden, Reveals He Left the Company to Avoid Burnout

Former PlayStation boss, Shawn Layden, has finally revealed why he left the company, almost two years after his departure. PlayStation abruptly announced on September 30, 2019, that Layden had left the company after 32 years with Sony. The company didn't reveal why Layden had departed — PlayStation simply said he was leaving and that he'll be greatly missed — and Layden himself has remained quiet on the subject. Now, almost two years after his departure, Layden has revealed in an interview with Bloomberg that he left PlayStation to avoid burnout and to put a good pin in his legacy at the company. "It's a young person's activity," Layden said. "I felt: This is a good time to put the pin in my legacy." Layden explained that in the years leading up to his departure, he had helped the company release some of the highest-rated games of the entire PS4 generation — he noted Horizon Zero Dawn and God of War to Bloomberg. He said that leaving PlaySt...

Ghost of Tsushima: A New Update Makes the Foxes Even Cuter

A new Ghost of Tsushima update has made the already-adorable foxes in the game even cuter. Throughout Ghost of Tsushima's map, there are fox dens to find. Upon completing a given fox den, Jin Sakai pets his new furry buddy goodbye (ok, you don't have to pet the fox but come on — who's not going to pet them?). The foxes love it, of course, but a new update makes them even more excited for incoming pets. fox belly rubs are secretly our best new feature 🦊 https://t.co/7Utz5Qe6EX — Andrew Goldfarb (@garfep) September 3, 2021 Famed Twitter account, CanYouPetTheDog , which tracks whether or not you can pet dogs and other animals in games, tweeted about this new update and the new animations foxes in Ghost of Tsushima have, as reported by GameSpot . Sucker Punch Productions' communications person, Andrew Goldfarb, confirmed the new fox-related features on Twitter as well. As you can see in the video above, foxes will now yap in excitement for the pets they're h...

Hoa Wears its Ghibli Inspirations on its Tiny, Sunlight-Dappled Sleeve

Games with Ghibli vibes are becoming more prevalent these days, but so far, the closest I've gotten to feeling like a Ghibli protagonist floating in a summery field of grass has been with Hoa, a new platforming game from Vietnamese studio Skrollcat. Hoa's inspirations are clear the moment the game starts, with a tiny protagonist floating dreamily to an island upon a single leaf before wordlessly beginning to explore. Without exposition, the titular Hoa begins to explore a world of sunlight filtered through green, gentle bug friends, hanging flowers and vines, sparkling cave systems, and soft, natural beauty. It's all done in a hand-painted style clearly nodding to its animated inspirations, and underscored by a tender, fully orchestrated soundtrack that, yes, directly hearkens to the musical vibes of Joe Hisaishi. Creators Son Tung Cao and Son Tra Le tell me how Hoa was inspired by their own personal experiences together. The two met in 2017 at Singapore's Nanyang T...

Battlefield Mobile: Android-Only Play Tests Will Start This Fall in Select Regions

Android-only play tests for Battlefield Mobile will begin this Fall in two countries: Indonesia and the Philippines. EA announced this news on its Battlefield mobile play test FAQ page , adding that as EA continues with testing, more regions will be added to the play tests. EA didn't mention which regions, however. "We'll be steadily rolling out Battlefield Mobile starting with a series of smaller play tests in Indonesia and the Philippines," the blog post reads. "The first of these begins Autumn 2021, and will only be available on Android devices. As we continue testing, we'll expand the size of these tests [and] add new regions." EA says that when the play tests grow broader in scope and size, it will launch a page that allows would-be players to pre-register for the game and sign-up for future play tests. According to the FAQ page, players will need to have a device running on Android 7.0 or a later version of Android. At the start of the play...

Microsoft Flight Simulator: Top Gun Maverick Expansion Release Date Shifts to Match the Movie's New Release Date

The Top Gun: Maverick expansion for Microsoft Flight Simulator has technically been delayed as a result of the movie's recent delay. Asobo Studio and Microsoft have been clear from the start that Flight Simulator's Top Gun expansion would be released alongside the release of Top Gun: Maverick in theaters. As such, the release date was theoretically the same as Top Gun: Maverick's release date. Now, due to Top Gun: Maverick's delay, the Flight Simulator expansion has been delayed as well, as reported by Eurogamer . "Paramount Pictures recently shifted the release date of Top Gun: Maverick to Memorial Day weekend, May 27, 2022," a blog post on the official Flight Simulator page reads. "As we have previously announced, the Top Gun: Maverick expansion for Microsoft Flight Simulator for Windows 10 PC, Steam, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox Game Pass will be released alongside the movie. We look forward to sharing more information." This news comes just...

Brendan 'PlayerUnknown' Greene Wants to Create the Biggest Sandbox Open-World Game Ever

Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene, the creator of PUBG, wants to create the biggest sandbox-style open-world game ever with his new studio . The PlayerUnknown Twitter account posted a five-minute video today featuring Greene talking directly to the camera about his studio's aspirations, as reported by Eurogamer . In it, Greene discusses his fascination with open-world games, how he wants to create games on scale seldom seen, and more. pic.twitter.com/dipZpUSeNY — PLAYERUNKNOWN (@PLAYERUNKNOWN) September 3, 2021 "And since [getting lost in the open fields of Chernarus in DayZ], I've held this deep fascination with sandbox-style open-world games and the freedoms that they give players, but I always just wished they were a bit bigger," Greene says in the video. "So that's our mission as a studio. We want to create realistic sandbox worlds on a scale that's seldom attempted — worlds hundreds of kilometers across with thousands of players inter...

Overwatch League's 2022 Season Will Use an Early Build of Overwatch 2

Activision Blizzard is currently facing serious ongoing allegations of harassment and mistreatment of marginalized workers . To learn more, please visit our timeline as well as our in-depth report on the subject . The 2022 season of Overwatch League will use an early build of Overwatch 2. This news comes by way of DotEsports , which also reports the fifth season of Overwatch League is expected to begin on time next April, as announced by the league's vice president, Jon Spector. I've seen a lot of speculation regarding a 2022 start date for OWL. We can confirm that our plan is to begin next season in April 2022. We will share more details about 2022 roster construction timelines soon and more info generally on our 2022 season as we get closer to April. — Jon Spector (@Spex_J) September 3, 2021 After rumors of a year-long hiatus for the league began to ramp up, Blizzard recently confirmed them to be false . The company said that while a release date for the 2022 ...

Game Scoop! 641: Tech Demos Are Cool

On this episode of Game Scoop! the Omega Cops chat Welcome to Raccoon City, Game Informer’s enlightening interview about crunch at Naughty Dog, that REALLY COOL Dead Space Remake Tech demo that has us all saying “nicely job”, and the latest gameplay showing from the Marvel/2K game that everyone is talking about, Midnight Suns. Plus video game 20 questions if we get around to it. Scoop! Watch the video above or hit the link below to your favorite podcast service. Listen on: Apple Podcasts YouTube Spotify Stitcher Find previous episodes here! source https://www.ign.com/articles/gamescoop641

The Chip Shortage Affecting Gaming 'Will Remain Very Tight' Until at Least Next September

The chip shortage currently affecting all parts of gaming is not likely to let up until the end of next year, according to Toshiba. In a new report from Bloomberg , the publication writes that Toshiba Corp., one of the major companies that creates power-regulating chips found in graphics cards, gaming consoles, and more, says the chip shortage will likely continue through the end of 2022. IGN previously reported on this chip shortage , citing that Intel believes it could drag on into 2023, and this new Bloomberg report seems to reaffirm this timeline. Toshiba director, Takeshi Kamebuchi, told Bloomberg that "the supply of chips will remain very tight until at least September next year." Kamebuchi also said that some of Toshiba's customers won't be fully served all of the chips they need until 2023. However, Toshiba doesn't mention which customers, so perhaps Sony and Microsoft won't find themselves waiting until 2023 to get the chips they need for their...

New Destiny 2 Update Adds Cross-Play Voice Chat

A new Destiny 2 update goes live today and it enables cross-play voice chat, a little over a week after cross-platform play was added to the game. Bungie posted the patch notes for today's 3.3.0.1 Hotfix coming to Destiny 2 and in them, the company lists cross-play voice chat as now enabled in-game, as reported by GameSpot . This voice chat feature comes just after the launch of Season 15, which is called the Season of the Lost, on August 24. At the bottom of the patch notes, in the "General" section, you'll find "Cross Play voice chat enabled" as a bullet point. However, Bungie lists some communication privacy issues that aren't working as intended for Xbox players. Here's what those issues are: Xbox players will still hear voice and receive invites from anyone even if privacy settings are set to "friends" or "in-game friends." Xbox players will still hear voice from non-Xbox players even if "You can communicate o...

Take-Two Is Suing Reverse-Engineered GTA 3 and Vice City Fan Project Creators

Take-Two Interactive is suing the creators of reverse-engineered Grand Theft Auto 3 and Grand Theft Auto Vice City fan projects. This news comes by way of VideoGamesChronicle , which reports that the lawsuit was filed in California and names 14 programmers who were working on the project. IGN reported back in February that this project had received a DMCA takedown from Take-Two , the parent company of Rockstar Games. The lawsuit claims that the people on the project "are well aware that they do not possess the right to copy, adapt, or distribute derivative GTA source code, or the audiovisual elements of the games, and that doing so constitutes copyright infringement," according to VGC. It's important to note that the team isn't actually using GTA 3 or Vice City source code — they instead recreated it using newer coding languages. This project doesn't contain any Rockstar assets, either, so players that wish to use this reverse-engineered source code will act...

IGN UK Podcast #608: A Far Cry From The Forgotten City

This week the IGN UK podcast heads to Yara, the setting of Far Cry 6. Matt's spent a few hours in its jungles, and so tells Dale and Jesse exactly what he thinks of it so far. There's also chat about House of Ashes, the next game in the Dark Pictures Anthology, as well as more thoughts on time loopers Twelve Minutes and The Forgotten City. All that doesn't mean that we don't have time for an Endless Search and listener feedback, so listen all the way through for the full package. Want to submit your own Endless Search, food opinion, or a bit of other nonsense? Feel free to get in touch with the podcast at: ign_ukfeedback@ign.com. IGN UK Podcast #608: A Far Cry From The Forgotten City IGN UK Podcast #607: DokeV's Llama Would Batter a Xenomorph IGN UK Podcast #606: Lucy's Unfortunate Train Ride and Other Stories IGN UK Podcast #605: Darth Maul + Rio Ferdinand = Darth Merkin' IGN UK Podcast #604: Welcome to British Sitcom Smash IGN UK Podcast #603: J...

Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 7 Ends The Alien Invasion With One Final Mission

Fortnite is ending its Chapter 2 Season 7 Invasion event with a grand finale called Operation: Sky Fire. This is a live, one-time event with no replays so you’ll want to start tuning in on September 12 at 1 pm PT/4 pm ET if you want to take part. Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 7 Invasion began with an alien invasion. Players were tasked by Doctor Slone to fight back the alien menage along with Imagined Order. Now you’ll infiltrate The Last Reality in one final mission. The Operation: Sky Fire event playlist will be available 30 minutes before the event start so you’ll need to queue in for a spot on the 16-person team. Epic Games is insistent that this event will not happen again and recommends players, particularly content creators, to record their game. Epic is also recommending you finish up your quests before Chapter 2 Season 7 ends and has provided a to-do list for players before Operation: Sky Fire Starting on September 9, players should gather and spend Bars at the Bargain ...

Report: Game Boy, Game Boy Color Games Are Coming to Nintendo Switch Online

A new report claims that Nintendo is going to add Game Boy and Game Boy Color games to its Nintendo Switch Online service. This news comes by way of Eurogamer , which corroborates a report from Nintendo Life that games from these two Nintendo handhelds might finally come to the company's online Netflix-like service. Nintendo Life reported earlier this week that Nate the Hate podcast host, NateDrake , had revealed that Nintendo might be adding Game Boy and Game Boy Color games to its online catalogue. The publication confirmed this with its own sources, adding that these games could be coming "really soon." Now, Eurogamer writes that its own independent sources say the same. The publication also revealed that its sources say games from other retro platforms are on the table as well. As noted by Eurogamer, a 2019 datamine by OatmealDome of the NES Switch app revealed that SNES titles would be coming to the service before Nintendo made the official announcement. Ni...

Lost Judgment: Sega Details DLC Roadmap, Includes New Story Content

Sega has revealed its DLC roadmap for Lost Judgment, which includes a story DLC, a new fighting style, cosmetic items, and more. Sega says players who preorder the Digital Deluxe and Ultimate Editions of Lost Judgment will have access to additional content at launch and beyond. Right now there's no word on pricing or availability for standard edition owners. In Spring 2022, Lost Judgment is getting a major story expansion with The Kaito Files. In this additional content, Masaharu Kaito, Takayuki Yagami's partner, takes center stage as the playable character. Sega says this expansion adds about 10 hours of content to Lost Judgment. On October 26, the School Stories expansion comes to Lost Judgment. In this expansion, Yagami's friends join the boxing ring minigame as extra opponents. Yagami can also take his boxing moves to the street with a new fighting style. Before the additional story content launches, players can expect the Quick-Start Support and Detective Esse...

WRC 10 Review

2021 officially marks the 49th season of the World Rally Championship, making WRC 10’s 50th anniversary content… a fraction premature. Of course, after nearly two years of total turmoil it’s hard to blame anyone for wanting to celebrate their birthday early – the World Rally Championship included. To mark the moment, WRC 10 arrives armed with the most retro content to grace developer KT Racing’s series so far, with a new mode featuring cars and stages representing five decades of rally racing history. Combined with a deep career mode, the result is the spiciest and arguably the strongest official WRC game to date – though that’s a narrow victory, since it still hasn’t changed dramatically since the already very good WRC 8 and WRC 9 , and it’s still making some of the same minor mistakes. That big 50th Anniversary mode is an important part of this year’s game, and it’s by far the biggest injection of historical content to the series since KT Racing started adding classic cars in W...

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: Who Is Shang-Chi?

Marvel's Shang-Chi movie has arrived! Simu Liu (Kim's Convenience) stars as the title character of the film, which is called Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Destin Daniel Cretton directs Shang-Chi, while Crazy Rich Asians star Awkwafina also stars. But who is Shang-Chi, and why is he regarded as one of the greatest warriors in the Marvel Universe? Here's why they call him the Master of Kung Fu! Shang-Chi: The Basics Shang-Chi may be the son of one of the worst villains in the Marvel Universe, but he himself ranks among its greatest heroes. Shang-Chi has devoted his life to perfecting his martial arts abilities. Rather than using those talents for fame and fortune, he travels the world and rights wrongs. Sometimes he works alone. Other times he fights alongside heroes like Spider-Man, Daredevil or the Avengers. But wherever he goes, Shang-Chi inspires hope in the hearts of the innocent and dread in anyone foolish enough to challenge him in battle. Shang-Ch...

Game Director Trying to Regain the Rights to Lost PlayStation Exclusive

The Tomorrow Children was shut down not long after its release in 2016 but, five years later, director Dylan Cuthbert is trying to regain the rights to the lost PlayStation exclusive in the hopes of a re-release. The Tomorrow Children is a Soviet-inflected multiplayer experience that Cuthbert has compared to the likes of Animal Crossing and Death Stranding – it received a mixed reception upon launch but built up a cult following. Sadly for developer Q-Games, it was shut down entirely just a year after release because of server running costs – and due to its online-only nature, it's been totally unplayable since. In an IGN Japan video to celebrate the game's 5th anniversary, Cuthbert played through a developer build of the game, and responded to requests from fans for the game to be re-released – something he likes the idea of, in theory: "Unfortunately, right now the IP is Sony's, really. So I'll keep trying to get the IP back, and if I do get the IP back, t...

King's Bounty 2 Review

King's Bounty 2 is a tired sigh of a Euro-style tactical RPG. Not the kind you make when you're frustrated or relieved, though; it's more like when you sit down after walking up a long flight of stairs and feel sort of distantly content. For the most part, it's fine. The tactical combat is actually pretty enjoyable, the music is great, and the world looks nice. But it feels janky and unpolished in a lot of technical aspects, and the mediocre storytelling rarely got me motivated to see how the next step of the adventure might unfold. In a lot of ways, this long-overdue sequel is comparable to RPGs like ELEX or The Technomancer: a mid-budget contender that really wants to be something like a blockbuster BioWare game but doesn't really have the resources or the expertise to get there. King’s Bounty 2 is a bit less ambitious than either of those other two, and probably the better for it – it doesn’t try to do anything wild and sticks to the fundamentals. But from the...

Riot Hires ex-Netflix Exec to Develop Original Films, TV, and Animated Shows

Riot Games is joining forces with an ex-Netflix executive to continue developing its new entertainment division. Brian Wright has been hired as Riot's Chief Content Officer. Wright will help develop original film, TV, and animation projects for Riot Entertainment. In addition, Riot Games says Wright will work to bridge the relationship between the gaming and entertainment industries. At Netflix, Wright worked on bringing more original content to the platform, including Stranger Things, 13 Reasons Why, and more. Wright says he's "beyond thrilled" to join Riot Games, adding, "I can't wait to bring more vibrant stories to players and fans around the world.” Riot Games is known for developing and publishing League of Legends and Valorant, and the company is developing Arcane, an upcoming animated series in the League of Legends universe . The show is coming to Netflix this fall. Last month, we learned the creators of American Vandal are working on a mocku...

What's the Best 3D Sonic Game? - NVC 576

Welcoooome to Nintendo Voice Chat! Sonic takes center stage this week, as the panel discusses IGN's Sonic Colors Ultimate review , as well as the best 3D Sonic games in the series. Join host Casey DeFreitas, reviewer Mitchell Saltzman, Sonic superfan Logan Plant, and the wonderful Brian Altano, as they take a look at some of the Blue Blur's most divisive outings. And, it's the start of a new recurring segment on NVC! The Nintendo 64 turns 25 this month, so we're putting together a lineup of the games we'd want to see on a theoretical N64 Classic Edition. Plus, stick around to hear about the first new GBA game in 13 years , more impressions of No More Heroes 3 , and more. Timecodes! 00:00:00 Sonic Colors Ultimate discussion 00:22:22 Big Brain Academy is back 00:29:00 Picking the N64 Classic lineup 00:40:40 More news 00:58:45 What we're playing NVC is available on your preferred platforms! Spotify Apple iTunes Stitcher Podbay PlayerFM Podbean ...

Sony's Horizon Forbidden West PS5 Upgrade Strategy Straight Up Sucks