IGN Video Games

IGN Video Games

Twisted Metal Live-Action TV Series Is Being Made With Cobra Kai Producer, Deadpool Writers

Posted: 22 Feb 2021 10:05 AM PST

Sony is officially moving forward on a live-action Twisted Metal TV series at last, with the producer of Cobra Kai and the writers of Deadpool on board. A report today from Variety states that the coming action-comedy series will be based on an original story in the Twisted Metal universe from writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, who previously worked on both Deadpool movies, as well as Zombieland. The series will be led by executive producer Michael Jonathan Smith, who also produced and wrote for Cobra Kai. Other production names on board include Will Arnett, Marc Forman, and Peter Principato, as well as both Reese and Wernick. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/05/21/twisted-metal-tv-series-in-development-ign-daily-fix"] Twisted Metal first came out in 1995, and has had a number of sequels follow, with the most recent being Twisted Metal: Black (which originally came out in 2001) launching on the PS4 in 2015 through PSN. The games are focused around demolition derby, with each following a different storyline that somehow revolves around "Twisted Metal," a derby event taking place once a year that grants its winner one wish of their choice. The live-action TV series is reported to center around an as-yet-unnamed protagonist trying to complete a delivery in a post-apocalyptic world, in exchange for a promise of a better life. Not much else is known, though it is said that the clown character Sweet Tooth -- a recurring antagonistic clown who drives an ice cream truck -- will make an appearance. Twisted Metal was first publicly posited as a TV series by Sony in 2019, and this is the first we've heard about it since. A Twisted Metal movie was previously announced back in 2012 but never came to fruition. And unfortunately for anyone who hoped this might spark interest in a new Twisted Metal game, there hasn't been any news to that effect in years, and the series' creator David Jaffe unfortunately shut down his development studio back in 2018 following a cancelled project. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Pascal's Wager: Definitive Edition Comes to Steam in March

Posted: 22 Feb 2021 09:00 AM PST

Pascal's Wager a hardcore action-RPG originally released on iOS and Android devices is coming to Steam on March 12. Pascal's Wager: Definitive Edition will include updated visuals and support for 4K resolution. Pascal's Wager is a Souls-like RPG originally developed for mobile. After selling over 1 million copies, Pascal's Wager is heading to Steam with new features and previously released DLC content. This is also developer TipsWorks first game to be released on PC. Along with updated graphics, Pascal's Wager: Definitive Edition will allow uncapped frame rates, and fully mappable mouse/keyboard and controller keybinds. Check out the new trailer exclusively here on IGN below. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/22/pascals-wager-definitive-edition-steam-launch-trailer"] Set in the fictional land of Solas, players can choose between different members of a traveling group of fighters led by Terrence the Courier. There are five playable characters, each with their own combat style, skill tree, and abilities. Dodge, slash and parry your way through enemies and uncover the mystery behind an unknown disease that's plaguing the land. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=pascals-wager-definitive-edition-screenshots&captions=true"] The Souls-like genre, named after FromSoftware's brutally punishing RPG series, is now filled with plenty of worthy challengers, from the Nioh series to Mortal Shell. Pascal's Wager made waves bringing the genre to mobile, but we'll see how it measures when it comes to PC next month. Pascal's Wager: Definitive Edition is coming to Steam on March 12, 2021, and comes packaged with the expansion The Tides of Oblivion. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt T.M. Kim is News Editor at IGN.

Watch Dogs Legion Online Hands-On Preview

Posted: 22 Feb 2021 09:00 AM PST

It's easy to look at Watch Dogs Legion and assume that its upcoming multiplayer mode will be a London-flavoured GTA Online. But while it does share some minor common ground with Rockstar's playground, Ubisoft's approach to an online urban sprawl is markedly different. Forget chaotic lobbies and opulent penthouses with 10-car garages, Watch Dogs Legion's online is a focused co-op campaign for four friends. During a hands-on session of the multiplayer modes that will be made available on March 9, I was able to play a handful of co-op missions and sample the raid-like Tactical Operations. These are designed for four players, making Legion's online a relatively small scale affair. The co-op missions remind me a lot of Assassin's Creed Unity's approach to friendly multiplayer, in that they are effectively identical to the fare you find in the main campaign, just redesigned with more participants in mind. Your targets, objectives, and methods remain akin to what you tackled in Legion's story, and so you'll be breaking into corporations, hacking their terminals, and running away with all their precious data. But with up to three extra players in tow, you can more effectively exploit Legion's many overlapping systems. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/22/watch-dogs-legion-online-co-op-preview"] During a quest in which I was assigned to rescue an imprisoned NPC from a construction site, my team was able to hack terminals in tandem, using multiple drones to silently infiltrate and observe from the sky. There's a thrill in taking control of a cargo drone and watching a friendly spider bot hack into a terminal, primed to drop explosives on any guards that may get a bit too close to them. Meanwhile, another player made their way through the site towards the captive NPC, guided by a fourth player using CCTV and drones as spotters. Our target could then be quickly extracted the moment our team effort hack unlocked the door. Of course, it didn't go that smoothly on the first attempt. Achieving a perfect stealth run, especially in a team, takes a few tries, but it was fun to master this multi-layered construction site puzzle. Watch Dogs Legions' multiple methods of approach also meant each attempt played out slightly differently, demonstrating the potential for replays. However, the campaign-like design will likely mean the missions are a one-and-done exercise for all but Legion's most hardcore fans. There is a PvP spider bot arena for up to four players, which is essentially Robot Wars does Quake, and is thus more immediately replayable. It's a barebones mode, though, and feels more like a pleasant distraction than the core of Legion's online. As such, the overall experience could be quite short-lived for many. Even if it is a whistle stop tour, I appreciate the craft that has gone into each of Legion's online missions. The quest chains are not particularly ambitious, but they do fulfil the Dedsec anarchy fantasy; one saw our team break into a compound, steal two bomb-rigged hatchbacks, and then race against the clock to dump them into the Thames river. It's all a bit silly, which lends well to playing with a group of friends. More interesting is each mission's approach to how players are assigned roles. There are no 'formal' jobs or classes, but objectives will require players to split from the group to perform a task while the remainders complete a different job. Splitting players up generates a new layer of tension and demands a higher level of coordination, which is a welcome wrinkle in the mode's otherwise straightforward mission design. "Having groups of players go apart gives them a more interesting, smaller co-op challenge within a co-op experience," explained Lathieeshe Thillainathan, Live Producer on Watch Dogs Legion. "It gave our design team much more interesting puzzles and challenges to build, instead of always building one space for four plays constantly. We felt it was far more interesting to split players up in certain intervals and to push them out." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=watch-dogs-legion-online-mode-screenshots&captions=true"] Those more interesting puzzles are most prominent in Tactical Operations. These are a chain of increasingly challenging missions that effectively work as Legion's answer to raids or heists. The first one immediately splits the team into two groups, as two hacks must be activated simultaneously on opposite sides of the city. During the hack, both duos are assaulted by waves of Albion troops, making it a much tougher situation than the more casual missions. I'd have liked to have played much more of the Tactical Ops, as I can already see how Legion's many systems and operator variants could be used to creatively overcome its challenges. But unfortunately my PC version play session, which took place at the end of January, was marred by technical problems. Disconnections, lag spikes, and server errors made playing difficult across all modes, and this stalled our progress in these longer, tougher challenges. If these problems are present at launch then they will fundamentally undermine the entire experience, so I spoke to Ubisoft to find out exactly what the problems were, and if they will be fixed by launch. "Some of the issues that you specifically hit were from the latest version of our anti-cheat that we had put in," Thillainathan told me. "Our anti-cheat was being a little too aggressive to say the least, and it was kicking you." "We were able to reproduce [the problem] and try to figure out what was happening," Thillainathan continued. "The issues have already gone, we were already in a process of fixing them at a more subtle level, so now we've solidified it and put it into more technical tests." He assured me that current technical testing is going well, but that anything game breaking "will definitely trigger a conversation" about delaying the online mode. With those issues solved, I think Watch Dogs Legion's online mode achieves much of what it sets out to do. It's got enough mission variety to be more than a one-session curio, albeit certainly much less than would be required for it to be a constant mainstay in my multiplayer rotation. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/22/watch-dogs-legion-9-minutes-of-co-op-pc-gameplay"] What it doesn't do, that I wish it did, was fully bring the systemic qualities of Watch Dogs Legion into a multiplayer environment. Play As Anyone does exist in this alternate digital London, but it's a streamlined version. You can recruit, but there's less legwork. There's no danger of permadeath, nor is there the threat of your operatives being kidnapped. These are all elements that I think would create fantastic shared stories for a co-op team. Ubisoft does have good reason for trimming back these elements, though. "We wanted it to be a bit more neutral," said Thillainathan. "For example, Borough Liberation. We felt in an open world setting, with public matchmaking, it just doesn't fit really well. [Online and offline] are essentially two different play experiences you're jumping between." "But the thing I'm happy with is the entire Play As Anyone system comes across in online," he added. "The scheduling, and the recruitment system, and the personalities, all of it comes across." Thillainathan did give me some hope for a more intricate online simulation, though. "Something we want to do post-launch is see what our community likes. Will it create interesting dynamics where you're rescuing each other's operatives?" There's still support to come for Watch Dogs Legion online - this first drop doesn't include the series' classic Invasion mode - and so there's hope for the game to increase in complexity and offer more opportunities in the future. As for what we get on March 9, it's a slice of cooperative madness that could be drained faster than an English cup of tea, but one that still has enough satisfying flavours to make it worth dipping back into to raise chaos with a new gang of Dedsec cyber warriors. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. 

Reverse-Engineered GTA 3 And Vice City Fan Project Taken Down

Posted: 22 Feb 2021 07:47 AM PST

A fan project that reverse-engineered the source code of Grand Theft Auto 3 and Grand Theft Auto Vice City has been taken down, seemingly by Rockstar's parent company. You can see the project in action in this YouTube showcase video, which shows all of the improvements brought to the game due to the team's reverse-engineering efforts over many years, such as fully-featured debug menus and modernized video settings. As reported by Eurogamer, accessing the repository for Re3 or ReVC on GitHub will now lead users to a "Repository unavailable for DMCA takedown" page. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/04/15/new-grand-theft-auto-in-development-at-rockstar-games"] The DMCA itself is available to read here, which appears to come from the copyright holder Take-Two Interactive Software, the parent company of Rockstar Games. The project would have allowed fans to thoroughly mod the game and port it to various platforms, now that the game was fully decompiled and understood. The project lead told Eurogamer that the DMCA could be from a troll, but it was "better to assume it was real" going forward. Asked about the move by IGN, Rockstar declined to comment. In other GTA-related news, a report has alleged that a new Grand Theft Auto game is in development, with the studio reportedly making changes to fix crunch culture. Here's every IGN Rockstar game review, to tide you over until then. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

EA Patents Technology To Let Players Stream Full Games Before They've Downloaded?

Posted: 22 Feb 2021 06:42 AM PST

EA has patented technology that seeks to let players stream and play full games before they've been downloaded. As spotted by GameRant, the patent can be found on the United States Patent and Trademark Office here, where you can see a diagram of the system in action. The plan involves the creation of a "dynamic video game client" that provides a stream of the game to players from a remote simulation engine, upon request. "The dynamic video game client can utilize a state stream game engine in combination with a game application streaming service to provide users with the ability to begin playing games quickly on a huge range of devices," the patent reads. What this means is that you could request to play a video game you own without it being downloaded on your local system, propped up by a remote online stream akin to Google Stadia or other cloud-based services. It's not quite clear whether you will be downloading the game in the background during this process, but it is implied that this is the problem EA is trying to solve. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2017/11/17/star-wars-battlefront-2-review"] The patent copy can be found here, where it explains how this technology seeks to solve the "time consuming" installation process, sidestepping the wait to let players jump into the action. EA's patent observes the growing issue of games getting larger and taking longer to install. "Due to the large size of games, it can take a significant amount of time of a user to begin playing a game after it has been purchased," the patent reads. "This download process can be quite frustrating if a user is interested in playing a new game with friends or has a limited amount of time to play the game." Players will likely still need to have a decent internet connection in order to manage the simulated game stream, but it means that players could jump into a game as soon as they buy it, rather than waiting for it to install or download first. In other EA news, the company recently completed a $1.2 billion acquisition of Codemasters, which it will be treating as an "independent group," going forward. During an earnings call, it was revealed that the company had made $3 Billion from its Star Wars games and that it has no plans to slow down future development efforts with the licence. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Google, Id and Bungie are the Subject of a Stadia Lawsuit

Posted: 22 Feb 2021 06:31 AM PST

Google, Id Software, and Bungie are the subject of a class action lawsuit that claims the companies misled customers by saying Stadia games could be played at a 4K resolution. Reported by ClassAction.org, the lawsuit was filed last year in Queens County Superior Court, but has now been transferred to a New York federal court. The lawsuit, brought by plaintiff Jacqueline Shepherd, centres around claims by Google ahead of Stadia's release that the streaming platform would be "more powerful than both Xbox One X and Playstation 4 Pro combined", particularly in its ability to stream games at 4K resolution. However, upon launch, it became clear that many Stadia games weren't pushing a true 4K image, but upscaling from lower resolutions. By allowing pre-orders before launch, and not offering full information about the platform's ability to push 4K, the plaintiff alleges that, "Google made false and misleading claims concerning the streaming quality of Stadia's service in order to generate increased revenue for the Google Stadia division." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/the-unexpected-reason-terraria-on-stadia-is-canceled-ign-now"] The plaintif includes Id Software and Bungie in the suit because of their advertising for Doom Eternal and Destiny 2 on Stadia, which included mentions of 4K resolutions – but neither game ran at true 4K upon release. The plaintiff alleges that Id, in particular, "wrongfully generated millions of dollars in revenue as a result" of those claims. Id has denied any liability or wrongdoing. The plaintiff is seeking financial compensation for a number of different factors, as well as an order that forces Google to display the true resolution and frame rate of every game sold on Stadia. The class action seeks to cover any person in the US who, from June 6, 2019 onwards, bought a Stadia Founder's Edition, Stadia Premier Edition, or Stadia Pro subscription because of information that Stadia was more powerful than other consoles, or would run all games at 4K. It's unclear how far the lawsuit will progress, but we'll update you as we learn more. Stadia recently shut down all of its internal development studios – reportedly in part due to Microsoft's Bethesda acquisition – but says the service will receive more than 100 games in 2021. That won't include Terraria, however, as the developer has boycotted Goggle after being locked out of a number of Google accounts. [poilib element="accentDivider"] 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 newstips@ign.com.

Persona 5 Strikers: Here's What Comes in Each Edition

Posted: 22 Feb 2021 06:25 AM PST

Persona 5 Strikers is set to release for PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC on February 23. Naturally, anyone lucky enough to have a PS5 can play the PS4 version via backwards compatibility, but it won't feature any next-gen upgrades. You don't have to wait to lock in a copy for yourself, because the game is available for preorder at a number of retailers (see it at Amazon). It's available in two editions: a standard one and a digital deluxe edition that comes with downloadable extras. Depending on where you get it, you may also get a preorder bonus (see below). And if you're wondering whether the game is worth playing, be sure to check out IGN's glowing Persona 5 Strikers review to find out why we called it "essential for fans of the original."

Preorder Persona 5 Strikers

persona-5-strikers-1PS4

Nintendo Switch

PC

The standard edition of Persona 5 Strikers comes with the following digital items:
  • Soundtrack with over 40 songs
  • Digital art book
  • Behind-the-scenes video

Persona 5 Strikers Digital Deluxe Edition

digital-deluxe The digital deluxe edition of Persona 5 Strikers comes with the digital items from the standard edition, as well as four days' early access (starting February 19), plus the following: Persona Legacy Background Music
  • Music from Persona 1 and Persona 1 PSP remake
  • Music from Persona 2 Innocent Sin and Persona 2 Eternal Punishment
  • Music from Persona 3 and Persona 3 Portable
  • Music from Persona 4 and Persona 4 Golden
All-out Attack Pack
  • Boost Skills Pack
  • Basic Affinity Skills Pack
  • Ally Buff Skills Pack
  • Armor Pack
  • Persona Points
  • Enemy Debuff Skills Pack

Persona 5 Strikers Preorder Bonuses

persona-5-strikers-steelbook-best-buyIn addition to the digital bonuses that come with all versions of the game (see above), some retailers are offering exclusive bonuses for placing your preorder with them.

What Is Persona 5 Strikers?

Persona 5 Strikers catches up with the Phantom Thieves as they head out on a summer vacation following the events of Persona 5. As you can imagine, things don't go quite as expected and they get roped into investigating mysterious cases in cities across Japan. The combat this time around is Musou-style, which means you take on hordes of enemies in real time. But the turn-based combat of the game's predecessor isn't completely gone, as you can pause the action to plot out your next moves. You also get a chance to play as each of the Phantom Thieves as you take on waves of enemies.

Other Preorder Guides

[poilib element="commerceDeal" parameters="slug=other-preorder-guides&type=list"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert at IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed. [widget path="ign/modules/recirc" parameters="title=&type=articles%2Cvideos&tags=us-shopping&count=3&columnCount=3&theme=article"]

Valheim Hits Record High Concurrent Players for a Survival Game on Steam

Posted: 22 Feb 2021 05:39 AM PST

AEW Console Game Aiming for Release in 'About a Year', Says Kenny Omega

Posted: 22 Feb 2021 03:32 AM PST

The All Elite Wrestling Game is aiming to release in "about a year" according to AEW Executive Vice President Kenny Omega. Omega revealed the news in an interview with talkSPORT. "I would say in a perfect world, give it about a year's time," Omega said. talkSPORT says this suggests a release window of "first quarter of 2022," based on when they conducted the interview. It was revealed back in November of 2020 that AEW had multiple video game projects in the works under the AEW Games banner.  The console game Omega is referring to here is being developed by Yuke's and the mind behind WWF No Mercy, Hideyuki "Geta" Iwashita. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/11/11/all-elite-wrestling-the-game-official-teaser"] Elsewhere in the talkSPORT interview, Omega said that the biggest challenge the team is facing is working out a way to represent "the current wrestling style in a way that still makes it feel like the games of old." He added: "Let's make sure we're able to make it feel like this is wrestling in 2021, but it still feels like No Mercy, but it still can be fun for not only the wrestling fan, but the casual gamer who picks up a controller and drops his friend on his head." Omega told talkSPORT that the team doesn't want a launch like Street Fighter 5 or Cyberpunk 2077, but the interview notes that the game will feature "constant updates." "As great as it is on launch, as our roster grows – let's say we add a pay-per-view name, add a new arena, let's say we sign whoever, anybody! – we want to be able to support those new additions as well," added Omega. We learned in January that the AEW console game will feature campaign, multiplayer, create-a-wrestler and "other unusual modes," as revealed by Omega in an interview with IGN Japan. As well as the console game, AEW Games is working on two mobile titles, a wrestling management game and an AEW-branded casino game. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Valheim: How to Stay Warm and Stop Freezing

Posted: 22 Feb 2021 01:30 AM PST

Soulja Boy Is Planning on Releasing Another Video Game Console

Posted: 21 Feb 2021 08:01 PM PST

Following a failed attempt in 2018, rapper Soulja Boy, perhaps best known for his song Crank That (Soulja Boy), is apparently gearing up to release another new game console. On February 20, Soulja Boy tweeted "coming soon @SouljaGame." When you go to @SouljaGame, the newest Tweet reads that they are "building a new console from scratch, all new design. All new games. All new deals. Let's make history." There is also an Instagram account that has three images of this upcoming console, and not only does it look similar to an Xbox One S or Xbox Series S, the photos are also accompanied by a controller that looks very much like PS2's DualShock 2. As previously mentioned, Soulja Boy began selling SouljaGame branded consoles and handhelds in 2018, but they were quickly discovered to just be off-brand emulators that could be found elsewhere. SouljaBoy stopped selling these systems less than a month after he began, admitting that he "had to boss up, I didn't have a choice." The day before he stopped selling them, he wrote, in a now-deleted Tweet, "for anyone that thinks Nintendo is going to sue me... Nothings going to happen everything is legit. My console isn't going anywhere trust me." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/01/02/soulja-boy-stops-selling-his-souljagame-console"] While this new SouljaGame may have to go against the PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch, it also will have tough competition from the 4K, 240FPS KFConsole that comes packaged with a Chicken Chamber that will keep your chicken warm as you game. Image Credit: Brad Barket/Getty Images. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com. Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

CD Projekt Red Is Using DMCA to Remove Tweets That Share Stolen Game Code

Posted: 21 Feb 2021 07:25 PM PST

Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Project Red is issuing DMCA takedowns to Twitter users who are sharing stolen code. As reported by Vice, CDPR notified at least two Twitter users of the takedowns after they shared illegally obtained source code of Gwent: The Witcher Card Game. This game code was part of the big cyberattack that CDPR suffered earlier this month that also saw the source code of The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 stolen. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/09/cyberpunk-2077-and-witcher-3-source-code-stolen-ign-now"] "Description of infringement: Illegally obtained source code of Gwent: The Witcher Card Game. Posted without authorisation, not intended to be released to the public," the DMCA takedown notice read. One of the users who received the above notice mentioned that their Tweet got taken down as it contained a torrent to download the source code for Gwent. The user also stated that, "Let's just say it wasn't anything I didn't expect." Tweets by three other users were also issued DMCA takedowns, and those Tweets have been replaced with a message saying that they have "been withheld in response to a report from the copyright holder." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/20/cyberpunk-2077-reviews-one-month-later-the-review-crew"] This source code could have been part of the the files that were reportedly sold in a dark web auction for a sale price that may have reached upwards of $7 million. DMCA takedowns have been a huge problem for Twitch streamers, and it even caused a hilarious moment when Metallica's BlizzCon concert was replaced with the most non-heavy metal music possible to avoid any copyright issues. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com. Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Blue Fire: How to Complete Every Void Challenge

Posted: 21 Feb 2021 04:31 PM PST

Persona 5 Strikers Shibuya Walkthrough

Posted: 21 Feb 2021 01:55 PM PST

24 Things You Need to Know About Monster Hunter Rise

Posted: 21 Feb 2021 01:50 PM PST

As a longtime fan of the Monster Hunter series, I await news of each new installment with baited breath, eager to see where Capcom is taking the franchise. With Rise, it has once again reinvented the formula in some significant and exciting ways. So far, as part of our ongoing IGN First coverage of Monster Hunter Rise, we've covered how Rise connects to the series' past, we've looked at customising Palamutes and some of the most powerful weapons, and we've explored the links to Japanese folklore, alongside a whole lot more. Be sure to also check out IGN's Monster Hunter Rise wiki for our wyvern riding guide, our Wirebug tips and our list of confirmed monsters.

And now, 24 of the most important things you need to know about Monster Hunter Rise.

1. You Can Zip Around Like Spider-Man With Wirebugs

Monster Hunter Rise introduces vast new maps, and a new way to traverse them: the Wirebug. These tamed insects let hunters shoot out bioluminescent strands to dart up sheer cliffs, swing through the air, and hurtle every which way. Unlike Spider-Man's web shooters, they never run out (they simply have a short cool-down timer) and they don't need to affix to a surface – you can dangle from anchor points in mid air.

Wirebugs also enhance the move set of every weapon class, enabling rapid repositioning and devastating new 'Silkbind' attacks.

Hunters carry two Wirebugs as standard, though you can often temporarily recruit a third in the wild. Maps are also dotted with Great Wirebugs – effectively cannons to propel you vast distances in a hurry.

[caption id="attachment_2474879" align="alignnone" width="1280"]Sling that bug! Sling that bug![/caption]

2. Meet The Palamute: The Hunter's Best Friend

Another way to traverse the vast new environments of Rise is the Palamute – a whole new class of AI companion. Like the feline Palicos, the canine Palamutes can draw enemy aggro and dish out attacks, but they also let you ride them. While on dogback you can guzzle restorative potions, sharpen your weapon, or just catch your breath while putting some distance between yourself and the magnificent beasts you're hunting.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/09/customizing-monster-hunter-rises-palamutes-ign-first"]

3. The Hunting Horn Rework Makes It the Ultimate Support Weapon

Since its introduction in the PSP era the Hunting Horn has been something of a contradiction: a support weapon class that's extremely technical to use. Each attack corresponds to a note, and playing short tunes delivers buffs to all nearby allies. Certain hunting horns can nullify monsters' status effects, like ear-piercing roars and the down-draft from their mighty wings. It's always been a rewarding weapon class to learn, but few made the effort – player data gathered by Capcom shows that of the 14 weapon classes in World, the Hunting Horn ranked dead last, the most-used weapon of 2% or fewer players.

That's about to change. For Rise, the Hunting Horn has been completely reworked, with more streamlined controls and handy on-screen guides displaying which note combos activate which buffs. A new age of belting dragons with giant lutes is almost upon us!

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/11/monster-hunter-rise-frost-islands-weapon-showcase-ign-first"]

You can see the Hunting Horn in action towards the end of the video above.

4. Wyvern Riding Lets You Control Monsters

Use enough Silkbind attacks during a quest and you will reduce your prey to a 'mountable state', allowing you to leap on its back and control it like a giant puppet!

Alternatively, you can collect an endemic life form, the Puppet Spider, which can reduce a monster to a mountable state instantly.

Pulling on glowing silken strings, you can make a monster run, dodge, and attack other large monsters, or simply run into sheer cliff faces. Fill up your wyvern riding gauge and you can unleash the Mounted Punisher, a devastating special attack that inflicts massive damage.

[caption id="attachment_2474880" align="alignnone" width="1920"]You're my wyvern now. You're my wyvern now.[/caption]

5. Endemic Life Forms Now Confer Valuable Bonuses

Monster Hunter World introduced endemic life forms – adorable little creatures that scurried around minding their own business. Endemic life forms helped to build the illusion that you were trekking through a complex ecosystem, but in World they were little more than optional collectables. Not any more – now each and every one offers a valuable bonus: buffs to attack and defence, consumables to use in combat, and some even cough up valuable ores and armour spheres to upgrade your gear. Veteran hunters may wish to jump straight into the action, but rookies will do well to traipse about the map tracking down these colourful critters to get that extra edge in combat.

6. Monster Blight: Give Them A Taste of Their Own Medicine!

The most electrifying new use for endemic life is the opportunity to inflict Monster Blight – a new type of status ailment that can leave monsters charged with electricity or engulfed with flame. Gone is the monsters' monopoly on hurling hadoukens of elemental damage – thanks to these combustible critters the shoe is on the other foot.[poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=The%20most%20electrifying%20new%20use%20for%20endemic%20life%20is%20the%20opportunity%20to%20inflict%20Monster%20Blight%20%E2%80%93%20a%20new%20type%20of%20status%20ailment..."]

7. The Helper Cage Holds Five Endemic Life Forms

Some endemic life forms confer lasting buffs the instant you touch them, while others you will collect and store in your handy five-slot 'Helper Cage'. All of these critters confer powerful benefits, like the Brewhare's passive ability to boost the restorative power of potions. Others serve as powerful single-use items, like the poison-curing Antidobra, or the caltrop-like Trapbugs.

8. Rise is a Love Letter to Japanese Folklore, Culture, and Aesthetics

The fantasy world of Monster Hunter hosts myriad exotic races and cultures, with realms inspired by everything from Pacific islands to the Swiss Alps. The village you'll fight to protect in Rise is an homage to feudal Japan, and the new monsters you'll fight have all been inspired by the ghoulies and demons of Japanese folklore – the yokai and oni. Judging by the outfits worn by the residents of Kamura Village and their proficiency with Wirebug manoeuvres, the secretive ninja clans of Japan's past were also a strong inspiration.

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For those who've been following Monster Hunter for a while, Rise closely resembles the final PSP title in the series, Monster Hunter Portable 3rd. As of this writing it's still the best-selling Monster Hunter game in Japan, with over 4.8 million copies sold – although with the massive Switch install base, that figure might finally be surpassed.

9. Monsters From Every Gen Return, Including Many Fan Favourites

Monster Hunter is not unlike Capcom's Street Fighter series, in that along with new characters, fan-favourites from older games will often return. Just as no Street Fighter would be complete without Ryu and Chun-Li, the mighty Rathalos and Rathian fire-breathing wyverns are back to scorch cocky hunters. Plenty more classic monsters will be joining them: the hyper-aggressive Tigrex, the water-logged Royal Ludroth, and the T-Rex-like Anjanath, to name a few. (Check out IGN's wiki covering all the confirmed monsters here.)

Plenty of iconic small monsters return as well, including the shark-like Zamites and those furry, furious boars, the Bullfangos. For series veterans, every trip to the wilderness will be a trip down Memory Lane.

[caption id="attachment_2474883" align="alignnone" width="1920"]Mizutsune also returns. Mizutsune also returns.[/caption]

10. Upgrading Weapons Has Become Much Faster

Monster Hunter games are all about defeating monsters and then using their power against them – slaying the frigid Lagombi to make an ice element sword, or besting the noxious Pukei-Pukei to make poison resistant armour. Upgrading your weapons used to require farming a heap of materials, which meant lots and lots of grinding.

To encourage players to branch out and see more of what all fourteen weapon classes have to offer, Rise will require significantly fewer monster parts for weapon upgrades. Considering that all weapon classes now have completely revised move-sets, there's a lot of new gameplay to explore.[poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=Rise%20will%20require%20significantly%20fewer%20monster%20parts%20for%20weapon%20upgrades."]

11. Prevent Kamura Village From Being Wiped Out by Monsters!

Monster Hunter games are legendary for their special end-game co-op battles against gargantuan beasts, like the battleship-sized Lao-Shan Lung, the Jhen Mohran sand whale, or World's living volcano monster, the Zorah Magdaros.

In Rise the novel new co-op mode is The Rampage, in which hunters will join forces to protect Kamura Village from an onslaught of multiple large monsters using batteries of cannon and ballistae to halt their advance. Once again, the inspiration for this mode comes from Japanese folklore – the tales of the Hyakki Yako, a procession of supernatural monstrosities that occasionally emerges from the spirit realm to wreak havoc.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/17/monster-hunter-rise-nintendo-direct-story-trailer"]

You can see Rampage gameplay in the trailer above.

12. Explore Kamura Village With Your Friends

Previous instalments of Monster Hunter confined player interaction to the Gathering Hub and the quests themselves, but Rise considerably expands the scope for co-operative shenanigans. Now you and your friends can go flaneuring in Kamura Village together, and join forces in a significantly upgraded Training Room. This safe environment for practising weapon moves now features an animatronic wooden monster dummy resembling a Tetranadon to fight, a significant upgrade from World which had you belting a wooden stump.

[caption id="attachment_2474891" align="alignnone" width="1920"]The Kamura Village training area. The Kamura Village training area.[/caption]

13. Beware the Sticky Fingers of the Thieving Melynx!

One of the more endearing quirks of the Monster Hunter series is the antics of the Lynians – races of intelligent kitty-cats that can walk on their hind legs and indulge in all manner of hijinks. While your loyal Felyne companions, the Palico, will assist you on quests, their mirror opposite are the Melynx, tribes of thieves who will pounce on you mid-quest and steal your gear! If a Melynx nicks one of your items you can strike him to get it back, but if he makes his escape all is not lost. Just look for their secret hide-out, where you can retrieve your property from their hoard of ill-gotten loot, and maybe return the favour by rummaging through their equipment stockpile and expropriating some barrels.

14. Rise Was Developed Simultaneously With World

Monster Hunter Rise was in development for over a year before the release of Monster Hunter World. The Rise team paid close attention to what made World a success, and as such all the quality of life improvements that World players enjoyed are present: auto-combining of gathered materials, the radial menu, accessing your full item box and equipment collection in the base camp, and more.[poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=The%20Rise%20team%20paid%20close%20attention%20to%20what%20made%20World%20a%20success..."]

15. Extracting Resources Now Only Requires One Button Press

Rise builds on the quality-of-life improvements introduced in World in many ways, not least with regards to resource extraction. In older Monster Hunter games you'd need to tap a button repeatedly to extract every last lump of iron or clump of herbs from a resource node, but now you can extract them all with a single button press. Every aspect of the game has been tuned to accelerate your movement through the map, reducing the time to confrontation with your mission objective to the absolute minimum.

16. The Graphics Are Last-Gen, and That's A Good Thing

Monster Hunter achieved blockbuster success on the PSP, a hand-held system with a screen just 480 by 272 pixels. Capcom made the best possible use of that space through imaginative graphic design, rich use of colour, spectacular monsters, and truly bizarre equipment. Many complained that the weapons and armour sets in World were too grounded, too staid. Rise returns to the PSP aesthetic with anime mega-swords and outfits that would make a cosplayer weep.

Thanks to its exaggerated, cartoon-like action Monster Hunter doesn't need state-of-the-art graphics to look good – and to be fair Rise looks great for a Switch title, especially in portable mode.

[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=monster-hunter-rise-20-new-screenshots&captions=true"]

17. Game Director Yasunori Ichinose Returns

Monster Hunter Rise is in good hands. The game director is Yasunori Ichinose, who is responsible for some of the best instalments in the series, including Monster Hunter Generations, and Monster Hunter Freedom Unite – arguably the game that elevated the franchise from being a niche title to a cult hit. He's clearly leveraged over a decade of experience to push the Monster Hunter experience in a bold new direction.

18. You Can Now Throw Barrel Bombs Downward

Wirebugs have made a wealth of three-dimensional combat moves available, and this versatility extends to your consumable items. Large barrel bombs have long been a staple of the series, dealing massive damage to trapped or sleeping monsters – and now you can drop them too. Vault yourself over a monster, select large barrel bomb from your item menu, and bombs away!

19. The Familiar Pattern of Monster Progression Returns: Raptors, Fire Birds, and Cranky Kongs

Rise continues the tradition of easing in new players by tasking them with defeating a succession of large monsters with progressively more complex attack patterns. Early on you'll face the Great Izuchi, a comically bellicose giant velociraptor. Later you'll confront the Aknosom, a goofy fire-spitting bird in the tradition of the Yian Kut-Ku and the Qurupeco. The simian Bishaten echoes the monkey mischief of the Congalala, and Rise's flagship monster, the Magnamalo, is uncannily like the tremendously popular Zinogre.

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20. Beginners Shouldn't Worry About DPS

Newcomers to the Monster Hunter experience should resist the temptation to go in guns blazing, as all large monsters have complex attack patterns designed to wreck the reckless. Instead, you should observe their behaviour, study their moves, and only strike when you're confident you have an opening. The two most important pieces of advice given to new hunters still apply in Rise: "Don't get hit. Hit it until it dies."

This principle applies in co-op as well. Beginners shouldn't worry too much about min-maxing gear or having the highest DPS – just stay alive, get in the odd hit, and you can still make a contribution and have a rollicking time.

21. Beware the Horrifying Khezu!

Few monsters embody the unique charm of Monster Hunter like the Khezu, a white wrinkled freak that looks like a giant frozen chicken with a telescoping neck – a chubbier cousin of the Mass Production Eva Units from Evangelion: Death & Rebirth. He's blind, he's constantly sniffing around for human prey, and his electric attacks make him aggravating to engage. But there's something endearing about this shrivelled, wailing wretch, and he's very popular in Japan – at one point you could buy Khezu plush toys!

The Khezu makes a triumphant return in Rise, and his beautiful grotesqueness embodies Monster Hunter's quirky, freaky soul.

[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=monster-hunter-rise-the-khezu&captions=true"]

22. You No Longer Need Hot Drinks on Cold Maps

In all previous games in this series hunters needed to consume cold drinks on desert and volcano maps and hot drinks on icy maps, lest their health or stamina bars gradually whittle away to nothing. But no longer – Rise does away with this requirement.

It may seem like a minor point, but this is one of the most controversial changes in the game. In the eyes of some die-hard fans, every inconvenience removed chisels away at what makes Monster Hunter special and risks ruining the magic of the series.

I'm of the opinion that the soul of Monster Hunter remains intact, for now. You'll know they've gone too far if they ever get rid of weapon sharpening.

[caption id="attachment_2474894" align="alignnone" width="1920"]Icy climes just became a little more friendly. (Not pictured.) Icy climes just became a little more friendly. (Not pictured.)[/caption]

23. An Ultimate Sequel Or Robust DLC Is Practically a Certainty

Capcom has displayed a well-established pattern when releasing Monster Hunter games: when a new instalment is a success, it is followed a year or so later by an enhanced edition that adds a new ultra-high difficulty tier of quests, a handful of all-new monsters, and a menagerie of sub-species variants of existing monsters. Add all the new craftable weapons and armour sets and it amounts to a massive content update.

Given the huge Switch install base and the hype surrounding Rise, there aren't many things that could prevent an Ultimate edition at this point. The only question is whether it will be available as a stand-alone game you can import your old save into (like Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate), as a download (like Iceborne), or both.

We've already been promised loads of new content in the form of a steady supply of post-launch Event Quests. Whatever Capcom decides, expect Rise to be supported for a long time.

24. Rise Is A Monster Hunter For Everyone

Capcom has taken great pains to make this the most accessible Monster Hunter game ever. Rise builds on the dozens of quality-of-life improvements in World, adding a gentler difficulty curve in the single-player Village Quests to make the game much less intimidating for new players. For advanced players, all the combat complexity you've come to know and love is still there, now enhanced by a slew of Wirebug fighting moves that catapult you into a z-axis of new possibilities.

This is the most innovative Monster Hunter game to date, and there's a very good chance it could also be the most successful.

[poilib element="accentDivider"] James Cottee is a veteran of both the Australian games industry and the art of Monster Hunting. You can find him on Twitter.

PS5 DualSense Teardown Shows Potential Causes for Drifting Issues

Posted: 21 Feb 2021 12:48 PM PST

A new DualSense controller teardown video from IFixIt has revealed potential causes for the drifting issues that some PS5 owners have been experiencing. The video from IFixIt, which you can watch here, explains how the DualSense uses "off-the-shelf joystick hardware with a long history of predictable, preventable issues." These joystick modules are manufactured by a company called ALPS and have been used by such other controllers as PS4's DualShock 4, the Xbox One and Xbox Elite controller, and the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/16/ps5-controller-drift-lawsuit-filed-against-sony-ign-now"] The particular model number used in the DualSense controller, RKJXV, has an operating life of two million cycles, while the life span of the center push function is around 500,000 cycles. IFixIt mentions that, while this number can vary greatly depending on how often you play games and what types of games you play, these parts can exceed their lifespan with just over 400 hours of game time. This "back of the napkin math" is based on IFixIt employees' Call of Duty gameplay. However, that is assuming there are no drifting issues experienced before then. Much like the Nintendo Switch, there have already been cases of DualSense drifting issues, and a lawsuit has been filed against Sony for these problems. However, IFixIt mentions that ALPS is most likely not to blame for these drift issues and "probably aren't the villain of this story." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/11/06/ps5-dualsense-controller-review"] The main cause of drifting actually appears to be related to the potentiometers, which help sense what type of movement a player is trying to accomplish. Each joystick has two potentiometers in them that are perpendicular to each other, and they measure both up and down and left and right. Potentiometers are a three-terminal system that uses voltage to measure the position of the joystick. The third terminal, known as the wiper, slides around a semi-circular track. When you move the joystick, the position of the wiper - relative to a neutral, central position - allows the controller to know where and how you are trying to move. There are two other parts that can potentially cause issues, a spring that returns the joystick to a centered, neutral position, and one that allows the thumbsticks to be pushed in. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/11/joy-con-drift-is-still-a-huge-problem-3-years-later"] Over time, the spring can stretch and create a new neutral position off-center. This would make it so the potentiometers think your thumb is moving the joystick even if you aren't, causing drift. Contaminants and imperfections can cause also drift, as they can alter the voltage and can cause erroneous readings across terminals. These range from plastic dust from components grinding together to outside elements like food or drink. IFixIt offers some solutions for fixes, including taking off the potentiometers housing and cleaning or replacing wipers. Some of the more advanced options include soldering and there are plenty of YouTube videos on how to do that if you wish to try it. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-best-ps5-games&captions=true"] If not, it is recommended to try to get a warranty replacement or, unfortunately, purchase a new DualSense. It's also important to note that drift can occur to a brand new controller, as advanced calibrations are needed to ensure the potentiometers are functioning properly, and sometimes this does not happen. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com. Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Super Mario 3D World: How to Unlock Rosalina

Posted: 21 Feb 2021 12:47 PM PST

How Rainbow Six Siege's New Look Embraces Its Five-Year Evolution

Posted: 21 Feb 2021 12:30 PM PST

Booting up Rainbow Six Siege will soon present you with a fresh logo, new key art, and redesigned menus. Gone is the gritty navy and grey colour palette, replaced by the bright blue and orange of both Siege's in-game teams and esports arenas. The familiar image of monochrome soldiers blasting through a wall has been swapped out for a montage of Siege's many heroic operators. The change in Siege's presentation design tells a story. It's the story of five years worth of gameplay evolution. Since its launch in 2015, Rainbow Six Siege has gradually shifted away from its hard-edged tactical shooter roots, adopting wider ideas and doubling down on its nature as a competitive video game. The new art reflects this; Siege knows it is a PvP sport, not a realistic tactical campaign. "This is an opportunity to take a look at where Siege has been and where it's going, and making sure that everything that we do in and outside of the game matches that," says Rainbow Six Siege's Art Director, Alexander Karpazis, while talking to IGN ahead of the Year 6 reveal. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=rainbow-six-siege-new-look-screenshots&captions=true"] "This is a modernization of what you see in the game," he says. "It matches the tone that we have with our new operators and seasons. It makes sure that it speaks to what you feel when you play the game, and what you see when you see our characters." As for those characters, the latest addition to the roster is Flores, a master criminal from Argentina. Outfitted in a civilian jacket, soft cap, and Daredevil-style red tinted glasses, he's a far cry from the tacticool designs most of Siege's operators sport. "With Flores, we wanted to investigate an archetype we haven't done before, and the idea of a master thief came up," explains Karpazis. "We wanted his remote control explosive to have a DIY, Raspberry Pi feel to it, and that made it really fun. However, we always try to balance the idea that he will be featured in combat, and he has to know how to hold a weapon. If the character isn't coming from a more traditional military background, still making it seem like they fit in the world, and that they're grounded with all the other characters that we have." While Flores does indicate that Ubisoft is now more than happy to explore beyond traditional counter-terrorism agencies for its operators, Karpazis is keen to dispel any idea that classic millitary designs are being left behind in favour of a more 'hero shooter' aesthetics. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/21/rainbow-six-siege-flores-gameplay"] "Without spoiling anything that's coming later on in the year, we still have a ton of options when it comes to more traditional military garb," he says. "We're not running out of reference, there's a huge world of reference out there for us. It's going to be more about how we balance it and make it feel fresh from season to season, and what does that cadence look like." It's not just Ubisoft's operator designs that are experimenting with the once sacred Tom Clancy formula. Historically in a Tom Clancy game death is the ultimate game over, but Siege plans to challenge this in Year 6. "We're looking at activities after death, so that players can still be engaged and still have a role to play after they've been eliminated," explains Karpazis. In the Support Phase of a match, dead players will still have access to defender gadgets and attacker drones, allowing them to better support their team mates and even interact with the action itself. Siege's Game Director, Jean-Baptiste Hallé, has admitted that during the Support Phase he checks Twitter and YouTube, and so this is a gameplay adjustment to ensure players still have a game to play even when they've been killed. It's a sacrifice of 'realism' in favour of creating a better game. But, as Karpazis notes, Siege still has tactical play at heart. "This is where real life tactics and in-game tactics merge," he says. "We want players to still be invested in a round even after they're eliminated. They can still contribute a lot and they don't have to sit on a drone cam that was accidentally left pointing into a corner of a room. Having that kind of investment maintained through the duration of an entire match was something that was really important for us. It is a big shakeup, but it's something that we think is important to make sure that the intensity of the game and the fun factor is there." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/22/how-the-future-of-rainbow-six-sieges-lore-is-teased-in-the-road-to-si"] Changes are being made to the Preparation Phase, too. Attacking players will be able to change what operator they're playing as, rather than being stuck with the character they chose when the round started. For example, if someone playing as Thatcher discovers that the defenders are not using electronics, they can change to a more useful operator before the Action Phase starts. "It actually answers to the idea of being tactical in the real world," says Karpazis of this change. "If you were to deploy to a situation, you would have intel and you would bring your gadgets and your gear to deal with that specific situation." The evolution of Rainbow Six Siege may have taken it along a road leading away from the likes of Raven Shield and Rogue Spear, but Karpazis and the team at Ubisoft Montreal remain thankful for Siege's origins. "The original key art did an amazing job and we still love it to this day, because it really spoke to breaching asymmetry," says Karpazis of the old image of Blitz bursting through a drywall. "We'll always be thankful for it, and we have immense love for it. It informed some of the decisions we did with our new key art, where we have that asymmetry, attackers versus defenders. But this [new art] is speaking to where the game has moved on to. Whereas before it was more focused on CTUs as being the identity for our operators, now each operator we release has its own unique identity. They are creative, they have their own look, and we want to celebrate that." For more on Rainbow Six Siege's evolution, check out all the changes coming in Year 6 and Operation Crimson Heist. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. 

Rainbow Six Siege: All the Changes Coming in Year 6 and Crimson Heist

Posted: 21 Feb 2021 12:20 PM PST

Ubisoft has announced its roadmap for Year 6 of Rainbow Six Siege, which will deliver a variety of new operators, gameplay changes, and improvements over the course of the next 12 months. The year starts with Operation Crimson Heist, the first season of Year 6. Headlining the season is new operator Flores; a medium speed and armour attacker from Argentina. His gadget is the RCE-RATERO, a remote control drone with a bomb strapped to it. Flores is equipped with four RCE-RATERO charges, and while they work similar to a recon drone, there are some differences. When deployed they continually accelerate and cannot be slowed or stopped. They also have a 10 second timer, so must be driven to the target quickly before it explodes. During travel time, the RCE is vulnerable to jammers, electricity, and enemy fire, but when the fuse triggers - either after the timer runs down or when manually started - the device becomes bulletproof and anchors in place for a few seconds before detonation. The explosion will not breach reinforced walls, but it will destroy any defender gadget and kill operators, so it's an effective clear-up tool. It can even jump, meaning you can bypass bulletproof shields and reach higher-placed gadgets. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/21/rainbow-six-siege-flores-gameplay"] On equipment, Flores can use either the AR33 or the SR-25 rifles, and has the GSH-18 pistol. For secondary gadgets, he can choose from stun grenades or a claymore. Talking of equipment, Crimson Heist introduces a brand new attacker sidearm: the Gonne-6. This single shot pistol fires an explosive round which will destroy any bulletproof defender gadgets. You only get one bullet, so it needs to be used wisely, but this can help overcome the distinct advantage that defenders currently have. The map coming with Crimson Heist is a rework of Border, the very first DLC map Siege ever had. It's not a major change, but is similar in approach to the rework done on Clubhouse. Notable is the slight rearrangement of Armory Lockers, and the expansion of Bathroom to allow it a wider defense zone and provide a rotation opportunity into the second bomb site. In smaller tweaks, a new pulsing proximity alert has been added to the HUD when attacking drones approach a Mozzie PEST device. The Newcomer Playlist has been revamped with Border, Oregon, Clubhouse, Kafe, Coastline, and Bank on rotation, and their in-match timings altered to be the same as Ranked. There's also a new Streamer Mode, designed to prevent stream sniping attacks by hiding important information and delaying your matchmaking by a random amount of time. This should make it so stream snipers are less likely to be matchmade with a streamer they are targeting. That's all coming in Season 1, but there is much more planned to drop across the year. As ever, new operators are the big pull, and there will be one new operator each season this year. The big news here is that the Year Pass has been retired, and new operators are now the first tier of the premium Battle Pass. They can, of course, still be bought with renown, but Battle Pass owners will have access for two weeks ahead of non-pass owners. After Flores, the next operator will be a Nakoda Native American. Season 3 will introduce a Croation operator, and Season 4 will add an Irish operator. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/19/rainbow-six-siege-operation-crimson-heist-reveal-trailer"] No new maps are planned for Year 6, and reworks will continue to be the norm. After the rework of Border in Season 1, Season 2 will rework Favella, which will remain in the casual map pool and not graduate to Ranked. Season 3 will not feature any major map rework, but will instead provide smaller tweeks for a variety of maps. Season 4 will rework Outback. As established in Year 5, all seasons will also provide a special event, as well as new arcade modes and core gameplay feature changes. This year, the changes are focused on making attackers stronger and combating the problematic '20-second meta' at high levels of play. Rather than nerfing defenders, a variety of changes will be made to attackers to help strengthen their position. This starts with the addition of the Gonne-6 sidearm in Season 1. There are also major changes coming to what can be done in the Planning and Support phases, to help ensure that players always have something engaging to do at all stages of the match. Attackers will be able to change their operator pick during the Planning Phase, allowing them to react to what they find during drone scouts. Seeing many electronic devices, for example, may inform a player to change to Thatcher. This will also encourage players to use the phase to scout the location rather than just drive their drone back to their operator. During the Support Phase after dying, both defending and attacking operators will be able to access and use their deployed gadgets. If an attacker still has a drone on the map, they will be able to drive it around, while a defender such as a Maestro will be able to still use their Evil Eye laser. This will help keep players engaged after death. Operator stats are being overhauled to make them clearer. The armour statistic of each operator will be changed to 'health', and this will be represented by their HP instead of an invisible buff. Low health operators will have 100 health, and medium and high health operators will be buffed by 20 and 40 HP respectively. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/22/how-the-future-of-rainbow-six-sieges-lore-is-teased-in-the-road-to-si"] Some fairly major reworks are coming to three operators. Goyo is having his booby-trapped bulletproof shields taken away; instead he will deploy incendiary charges to floors or walls. This will still provide the area denial skill without being too harsh on attacking operators. Mira and Maestro are both getting the same change; the glass in their gadgets can be shattered by attackers, which will obstruct vision. The Black Mirror/Evil Eye will need to be opened to provide sightlines again. A new customisation system is coming for Elite operator skins, that allows you to mix and match headgear, uniforms, and victory dances. Talking of skins, veteran ex-Capcom designer Ikumi Nakamura has designed eight new skins for a selection of operators, including spookier looks for Dokkaebi, Echo, and Hibanna. There's also a Resident Evil Jill Valentine skin coming for Zofia. On the subject of IP crossovers, Ubisoft have also teased something to do with Rick and Morty, but will not say exactly what this will be. There are also connectivity and DDoS defence improvements planned to ensure a smooth experience. The overall size of the game install is also being shrunk to ensure Siege can be kept on hard drives without hogging too much space. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=rainbow-six-siege-new-look-screenshots&captions=true"] Alongside all this will be a visual presentation overhaul of the game; a new logo, artwork, colour palette and menu design refreshes the feel of the game and puts the emphasis on the operators. All these changes will be rolled out over the course of the year. It should be noted that these will all hit the Technical Test Server on PC first, and may live there for an extended period of time, as Ubisoft wants to ensure changes are right before deploying them to the main game. It may be that some changes do not graduate to the main servers. For more Rainbow Six Siege, be sure to check out the game's developers reacting to our operator designs, and our documentary about the making of Rainbow Six Siege. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.

Valheim: How to Unlock Stone Buildings

Posted: 21 Feb 2021 12:15 PM PST
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