IGN Video Games |
- The New PlayStation Plus Revealed: Is It Worth It? - Beyond 743
- Mario Strikers: Battle League Is Up for Preorder
- The Best Cooperative Board Games
- A History of Every Nintendo Direct in the Switch Era and Beyond
- Meta Quest Gaming Showcase Announced For April
- The Story, and Enduring Legacy, of Resident Evil's Original Live-Action Opening
- The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe Gets April Release Date
- Russian Loop Hero Developer Four Quarters Encourages People to Pirate Its Game Due to Sanctions
- PlayStation Plus Games for April 2022 Announced
- Matcho – a Match-3 FPS – Announced
- Star Trek: Resurgence - The First Preview (IGN First)
- Fast & Furious: Crossroads Is Being Delisted Less Than Two Years After Release
- Will GTA+ Be Worth It? – Unlocked 537
- How PlayStation Plus Compares to Xbox Game Pass and Nintendo Switch Online
The New PlayStation Plus Revealed: Is It Worth It? - Beyond 743 Posted: 30 Mar 2022 03:38 PM PDT On this week's episode of IGN's PlayStation show, Podcast Beyond!, host Jonathon Dornbush is joined by Brian Altano, Jada Griffin, and Mark Medina to dig into the latest PlayStation news of the week. And of course, the biggest topic on our minds is the new PlayStation Plus subscription tiers, how Sony is altering PS Plus, and whether we have enough details yet to know if it's worth subscribing to the higher tiers. The panel breaks down their initial reactions to the new PS Plus three-tiered system, how it integrates PlayStation Now, and where it stands as an offering for PlayStation fans. We dig into the pricing structure, the availability of older libraries, the lack of PS3 downloads and PlayStation Vita as a whole, and whether different tiers appeal to new PS5 players, longstanding PlayStation fans, or both. We of course touch on the biggest question - what the library will actually look like, and knowing that PlayStation won't release its first-party games day one on the service, we discuss what they could do to make the game libraries worth subscribing to. We also discuss whether a metaphorical sandwich can help explain the different PS Plus tiers. We also hear from the audience on some of your thoughts on the PlayStation Plus changes! Then, we dig into some other news for the week, like April's PlayStation Plus games, the renewal of a trademark and tthe hopeful return of our one true PlayStation hero Knack, Gran Turismo 7's recent apology and economy changes, GTA+ if you wanted info on another subscription service, and a bit of Brian's Elden Ring Experience. TIMECODE: Jonathon Dornbush is IGN's Senior Features Editor, PlayStation Lead, and host of Podcast Beyond! He's the proud dog father of a BOY named Loki. Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush. |
Mario Strikers: Battle League Is Up for Preorder Posted: 30 Mar 2022 01:35 PM PDT Mario Strikers: Battle League is set to release exclusively for Nintendo Switch on June 10. This is a souped-up soccer game that uses a very different set of rules than the more sim-ified versions of the sport. Full contact is encouraged, and Mario, Peach, and company can turn the ball into a fireball before leaping dozens of feet in the air for a special kick. The game is up for preorder from a number of retailers. Preorder Mario Strikers: Battle League
As usual for first party Nintendo games (though there are a few exceptions!), only one edition is being released for Mario Strikers: Battle League. You can preorder it in physical or digital format from the above retailers. Mario Strikers: Battle League TrailerWhat is Mario Strikers: Battle League?The Mushroom Kingdom is a fantastical place, so it only makes sense that their version of soccer would be a little different from ours. This is a full-contact sport, so you can use items like Bob-ombs and Koopa shells to get a leg up on the competition. You can also equip all kinds of different gear to boost your stats. If you manage to grab an orb when it appears on the field, you can charge up a Hyper Strike, a super shot that has a unique animation for each character. Score with a Hyper Strike, and you'll receive two points rather than one. The matches are five-on-five, and up to eight players can play locally on a single Switch. There's also online play, and you can even join a club online and compete in the rankings with other clubs. And the game is being developed by the team behind the original Mario Strikers on GameCube. Other Preorder GuidesChris Reed is a deals expert and commerce editor for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed. |
The Best Cooperative Board Games Posted: 30 Mar 2022 11:11 AM PDT Board games can be a competitive hobby that pits friend against friend in a ruthless contest for victory points and bragging rights. But sometimes it's good to set aside your differences, sit on the same side of the table, and work towards a common goal. Luckily, there are plenty of quality cooperative games with which to set aside competition and forge bonds of friendship in the fires of teamwork. So if you could use some ideas for the best co-op board games, you've come to the right place. For more ideas, check out the best board games for kids and the best two-player board games. Gloomhaven
To call Gloomhaven a fantasy adventure game is technically accurate, but a bit reductive. It tells the story of mercenaries chasing different goals in a changing world, and the legacy they leave behind. Gloomhaven takes the legacy system from Pandemic Legacy and weaves it into an epic fantasy campaign that takes place over generations. Each hero comes with a personal goal that, when completed, sends the hero into retirement and unlocks new classes and story elements. Upon retiring a hero, you will take control of another, which results in an impressive sense of time progression. The game includes several sealed boxes that are only opened upon reaching certain milestones, which makes Gloomhaven a game with a grand scale that is unmatched in the board game medium. Paleo
At first glance, this game of stone-age survival doesn't look anything special. You create a deck of cards for the scenario you want to play and distribute them between the players. Then you take it in turns to flip a card from your pile and face the challenges thereon with the skills and stone tools available to your tiny tribe. The magic happens when tribes come together, pooling their resources to overcome one tough encounter, but doing so loses them the chance to interact with the other tribe's card. All at once, this mirrors a real slice of stone-age life, agonizing over passing up opportunities in order to secure an important prize, while giving players real emergent cooperation in how much they choose to aid each other. The survival narrative and variety of scenarios are just the icing on the rock cake. Robinson Crusoe and the Adventures on the Cursed Island
Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island is a daunting and dark game, but players willing to wade through the sea of iconography, hefty rulebook and stifling theme will be rewarded with a satisfying survival simulation that rewards communication and teamwork. Based on the 1719 novel, players take on the role of survivors of a shipwreck that are must work together to gather food, build shelters, stave off attacks and explore the island. The combination of different scenarios and player characters ensure good replayability, while the survival mechanics do a fantastic job of selling the theme. Just One
A lot of games on this list are, to a greater or lesser extent, strategy affairs. But cooperation is a great mechanic to use in party games too, and Just One tops the list. All the players bar one get to see a clue, and they have to write down a word related to that clue. Then all the clues get revealed to the remaining player who has to guess the original word. Sounds too simple, except the catch is that if any of the clues are the same they get wiped, leaving the guesser far less to work with. It's an ingenious idea that leaves players caught in an uncertain vice over just how obscure they cant get away with being, while still being worried they might be the victim of doublethink. Marvel Champions: The Card Game
This is a "Living Card Game", which means it's kind of collectable, like Magic: The Gathering, but there's no random element. You just buy sets and expansions knowing what cards are in each. And unlike a lot of LCG's, deck building is easy because it's modular, seeing players pick fixed sets of cards to create decks for their hero and the villain you're all working against. The meat of play features some classic concepts like dual-use cards alongside novel ideas like each player being able to flip from their hero to their alter-ego, with different abilities and hand sizes. This sets up some really interesting combo-based play where you pull off cinematic moves as you work together to thwart the villain's schemes and save the day. The Crew: Mission Deep Sea
You likely know trick-taking games from long time classics like Whist and Bridge. The Crew: Mission Deep Sea cleverly repurposes the concept into a cooperative game through the use of missions, demanding that certain players win tricks of particular types. So you might have to win a trick containing a yellow one, for example, or two consecutive tricks or even no tricks at all. This would be easy if you could show each other your cards, so your communication is limited to one card for the entire hand, recasting the game as a strategic puzzle with plenty of tension as you wait to see whether having to follow suit will tease out a critical card or fail the mission. Fast, fun and with fifty varied undersea missions, this is a pearl of a design. This game earned a spot on our best family board games list as well. Hanabi
Hanabi is a cooperative card game where players attempt to build a magnificent fireworks display by playing cards in rows numbered 1 through 5 in matching colors. The hook is that you cannot see the cards in your hand, but the other players can. On your turn, you can either play a card from your hand in hopes that it's the proper number and color, or you can give a clue to another player about the cards in their hand. Cooperative in every sense of the word, Hanabi relies almost entirely on your communication and memory skills, which can be rewarding or frustrating depending on your outlook. Just be prepared for arguments when you inevitably play the incorrect card from your hand even after you've been explicitly (or so your partners claim) told what you're holding. Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective
Sherlock Holmes is one of the most enduring fictional characters of all time, and for good reason. Watching him solve a seemingly impossible mystery with all the confidence and bravado of a stage actor has been a favorite pastime of generations of book readers and television watchers. With Consulting Detective, you finally get the chance to step into the shoes of Holmes and test your own deduction skills in a series of nonlinear mysteries. What makes the game great is how it refuses to hold your hand; each mystery presents a short setup and then sets you loose on London, leaving you to visit notable locations, interview suspects, and make educated accusations. Be warned, however, that these mysteries are tough, and may make you question your intelligence on more than one occasion. Exit: The Game (Series)
An escape room in a box, the Exit series of games does a surprisingly good job of simulating the real thing. Players work together to find clues and solve riddles in real time in an effort to complete the scenario. Each scenario tells you to bring some pens and a pair of scissors because you'll be permanently modifying your game throughout the session, making these games a one-and-done experience. There are many different scenarios available for purchase, with titles like The Secret Lab, The Abandoned Cabin, The Sinister Mansion, The Forgotten Island, The Mysterious Museum, and a lot more. Priced at around $15 each (and usually cheaper on Amazon), the Exit series is an ideal replacement for a night at the movies. Arkham Horror: The Card Game
If your co-op group could use an eldritch touch, get Arkham Horror: The Card Game to the table. In this cooperative card game, players take on the role of detectives who are investigating various supernatural occurrences within HP Lovecraft's world of cosmic horror. It's a scenario-based experience with each mission at the mercy of an arcane Mythos, a set of conditions that must be met lest the investigators succumb to insanity. Arkham Horror features customizable decks that are built around each investigator's special abilities, and most scenarios can play out over a handful of sessions, lending a feeling of progression to the game. As you investigate new location cards, gather clues, and fight monsters, your detective will amass weaknesses that can hinder future games which, thematically, illustrate the mental toll of dealing with arcane horrors. Spirit Island
Protect your island from a vicious mob of colonizers in this heavy co-op experience. Players are spirits of the land, and must use their unique powers to fend off settlers. Every turn, you'll play a card from your deck of powers. Matching a card's element with the element of the spirit usually grants a bonus effect, meaning that careful planning is necessary. As the game goes on, the colonists will inevitably spread and ravage the land, making Spirit Island a race against the clock. They're predictable, though, and if you plan efficiently you can head them off before they do too much damage. Players' cards combo off of each other nicely, too, and there are few things in tabletop gaming as satisfying as eliminating a host of settlers in one fell swoop. Spirit Island is substantially more complex than other games of this style (Pandemic, Forbidden Island, etc.), making it an ideal choice for those seeking a meatier co-op experience. This game can also be found on our list of the best board games for adults. Pandemic Legacy
Pandemic put cooperative games on the map, and for good reason. Much of the genre's hallmark mechanics originated here, from action point allocation to player roles with unique abilities. It also spawned a bevy of expansions and spinoffs, but Pandemic Legacy is the best and more revolutionary take on the virus-eradicating co-op game. It takes the core rules of Pandemic and stretches them into a campaign-length adventure played out over several sessions as you race to cure disease and prevent epidemics. This version introduces permanence as a mechanic, as the rules force you to rip up cards, sticker the board and alter the physical components in other ways as things (inevitably) don't go your way. The only potential drawback is that you must play with the same players each session, but because the game is so good everyone will be eager to jump back in. The Mind
How well do you know your friends? The Mind asks this very question, and forces you to answer without a word. In this mind-bending experimental game, players must play cards from their hands to a common pile in ascending order, from smallest to largest. The deck contains the numbers 1 to 100, and the cards are dealt randomly each round. So, if you carry a 12 and another player has a 34, you must play your card to the center of the table before they do. The trick, though, is that nobody is allowed to talk. The Mind is a tense game about body language and eye contact. Communicating what numbers are in your hand without speaking is as difficult as it sounds, and inevitably you'll miss your window more than once. Your hand gets larger the longer the game goes on, too, and soon you'll be sweating as you wait for the opportune moment to slap down that 52 or 71. It's a bold design, and a game experience that you won't soon forget. Zombicide: Black Plague
Who doesn't like to bond over some good old fashioned zombie slaying? Zombicide is a cooperative survival game where players work together to complete scenarios. The Black Plague version puts a fantastical spin on the original game, and drops players into the role of paladins, magicians, and knights to take down the evil necromancers responsible for the zombie outbreak. You'll pick up new weapons like crossbows and swords, explore a citadel crawling with the undead, and take on several missions in this dungeon-crawling adventure. It's a tense and thematically-refreshing take on the tried and true zombie formula with surprisingly easy-to-learn rules. Cthulhu: Death May Die
Cooperative games where you try and save the world from some deranged monstrosity out of the work of arch-racist HP Lovecraft are ten a penny. What makes Cthulhu: Death May Die stand out isn't just the beautifully horrible miniatures in the box but the way it integrates help and harm. In order to gain new skills, your characters have to also lose some of their sanity, resulting in a clever balance of tactical trade-offs while encouraging you to come up with daring gameplay plans that deliberately expose yourselves to danger. The resulting reel of cinematic action-horror moments doesn't feel much like Lovecraft but it is a ton of fun. |
A History of Every Nintendo Direct in the Switch Era and Beyond Posted: 30 Mar 2022 10:29 AM PDT Since 2011, Nintendo has cemented a new way to share information about upcoming games and projects to their audience outside of the usual summer events season promotions, the Nintendo Direct. Other companies followed suit - PlayStation State of Play, Inside Xbox, etc. - and for good reason. These shows, which range from a few minutes to nearly an hour, deliver exciting updates in a convenient way that forgoes the necessity to always hold in-person events that not everyone can attend, and they can happen at any time of year. As Nintendo continues to use the Direct as its main way of detailing its biggest games, we thought it would be a great time to look back at the biggest moments from their long history. We've chosen to focus on multi-game Nintendo Directs (no Nindie or Indie World Showcases as those have often been cyclically tied to events like GDC and PAX, no single-game or Pokemon Directs as those are also often cyclical, no Super Smash Bros. - Mr. Sakurai Presents, or the Super Nintendo World Direct) that have aired since the Nintendo Switch was released on March 3, 2017, and specifically we're counting up the ones that occurred in North America. Don't worry, we've also included some highlights of the years before as well. As we wait for the next Nintendo Direct that will hopefully reveal more about the Breath of the Wild sequel that was just delayed to Spring 2023 and more potential surprises, let's take a look at all the Directs that led us to where we are today. 2011 - The Dawn of the Nintendo Direct![]() Nintendo officially debuted its Nintendo Direct format on October 21, 2011. The Direct was introduced by former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime and he also famously started the presentation by saying, "For this first installment, we've got some important news if you're an owner of Nintendo 3DS or are just thinking of becoming one. And really, if you're neither one yet, what's wrong with you?" Oh, Reggie. Two Nintendo Directs aired in 2011, including this one, and they were focused on announcements of the Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Wii. Interestingly enough, the first-ever reveal from a Nintendo Direct was the news that Hulu Plus would be arriving on 3DS and Wii in the near future. That first direct also included updates on Mario Kart 7, Super Mario 3D Land, and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. 2012 - The First Full Year of Nintendo Directs and the Launch of the Wii U![]() The first full year of Nintendo Directs featured 10 broadcasts that aired in North America, including many focused on the upcoming launch of the Nintendo Wii U. 2012's Directs also included reveals and updates for New Super Mario Bros. 2, Fire Emblem Awakening, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Pokemon Black Version 2 and White Version 2. 2013 - The Wii U's First Full Year and the Year of Luigi![]() 2013 was the first full calendar year of the Nintendo Wii U, and Nintendo aired 16 Nintendo Directs of various forms to highlight its news system. Highlights include Pokemon X & Y, Miiverse and Virtual Console, the Year of Luigi, The Wonderful 101, Wii Fit U, Pikmin 3, Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, and even one on the Nintendo 3DS Guide Louvre app. 2014 - The Year of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS and Mario Kart 8![]() Nine Directs occurred over the course of 2014, and one of the biggest Directs focused on Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. for both the 3DS and Wii U. Other highlights include Hyrule Warriors for Wii U, Tomodachi Life, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D, Splatoon, Ultimate NES Remix, amiibo, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Bayonetta 2, and more. 2015 - The Year of the Puppets![]() 2015 also had nine Nintendo Directs in North America, including those focused on the New Nintendo 3DS, Splatoon, Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, Mario Party 10, Star Fox Zero, The Legend of Zelda; Tri Force Heroes, Pokken Tournament, Fire Emblem Birthright/Conquest, and many more. Oh, and who can forget the incredible puppet segments from E3 2015?! 2016 - The Year Before Nintendo Switch![]() As Nintendo geared up for the reveal and release of the Switch, it slowed down its Nintendo Direct presentations. In 2016, there were only four in North America, with only two being proper Nintendo Directs. The other two solely focused on Pokemon Sun and Moon and Pokemon's 20th anniversary and Animal Crossing: New Leaf - Welcome Amiibo. Nintendo made up for the slower yearby officially announcing the Nintendo Switch in October 2016, confirming its brand new hybrid system would be released in 2017. Nintendo Direct (April 12, 2017) - Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Splatoon 2, and ARMS
![]() The first Nintendo Direct following the launch of the Nintendo Switch focused heavily on Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, ARMS, and Splatoon 2. Nintendo still featured Nintendo 3DS games in its Directs, and this show included Hey! PIKMIN, games that celebrated Kirby's 25th Anniversary, Miitopia, and more. Nintendo Spotlight: E3 2017 (June 13, 2017) - Metroid Prime 4, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild DLC, Super Mario Odyssey's Release Date
![]() Ok, this one is not technically a Nintendo Direct as Nintendo chose to call it Nintendo Spotlight: E3 2017, but we couldn't not include an E3 presentation in this list, especially one of this magnitude that is pretty much a Direct anyway. While we got a lot of teases about upcoming franchises headed to Switch - Pokemon, Kirby, and Yoshi - it was also filled with the long-awaited announcement of Metroid Prime 4 (Where is that one already?!), DLC for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and an extended trailer and release date for Super Mario Odyssey. Oh, and the Spotlight was so jam-packed that Nintendo decided to save the announcement of 3DS' Metroid: Samus Returns for its Treehouse Live stream. Nintendo Direct (September 13, 2017) - Super Mario Odyssey, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and Kirby Star Allies
![]() While Super Mario Odyssey was the star of September 2017's Nintendo Direct, the show also gave us the release dates of both Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, the official reveal of Kirby Star Allies, new details on what was then known as Project Octopath Traveler, Mario Party: The Top 100 for 3DS, updates on Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, and even the Champions amiibo from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Nintendo Direct Mini (January 11, 2018) - Dark Souls Remastered, Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
![]() A Nintendo Direct can feel like a holiday for Nintendo fans, but sometimes they take a while to arrive. To help with the wait, Nintendo occasionally releases Nintendo Direct Minis as a way to give a smaller batch of updates while it waits for the right time for the grand slams. In this first Nintendo Direct Mini since the launch of the Switch, Nintendo showcased Dark Souls Remastered, Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Super Mario Odyssey: Luigi's Balloon World update, Mario Tennis Aces, a release date for Celeste and Kirby Star Allies, and the news that Donkey Kong would be the newest playable character in Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle. Despite it not being a full-fledged Direct, this one was pretty substantial! Nintendo Direct (March 8, 2018) - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's Reveal, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, and Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
![]() The March 8 Nintendo Direct will forever go down in history as the show that gave us the legendary reveal trailer for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. What many thought was a mere Splatoon 2 trailer turned out to be what everyone had been hoping and dreaming for - a Smash Bros. game for Switch. This Nintendo Direct also gave us Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, Undertale, a Luigi's Mansion remake for 3DS, an amiibo figure for Dark Souls' Solaire of Astora, South Park: The Fractured But Whole, Okami HD, a release date for Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition, Octopath Traveler, and Mario Tennis Aces, WarioWare Gold and Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story for 3DS, and much more. Nintendo Direct at E3 2018 (June 12, 2018) - Every Fighter Ever in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Fortnite on Switch, and Fire Emblem: Three Houses' Official Reveal
![]() Sure, the announcement of a Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo Switch was an incredible one, but it lacked many details. So Nintendo decided to make its big E3 2018 showcase a Smash Bros. bonanza where it confirmed that every fighter who had ever appeared in a Smash Bros. game would return for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Nintendo's E3 showcase also confirmed Fortnite for the system, and featured the unveiling of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Super Mario Party and its ability to use multiple Switch systems at once, and Mew for Pokemon, Let's Go, Pikachu! And Let's Go! Eevee. Additionally, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 got new DLC, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Overcooked 2, Hollow Knight, and Killer Queen were announced for Switch, and much more. Nintendo Direct (September 13, 2018) - Animal Crossing, Nintendo Switch Online, and Luigi's Mansion 3
![]() Nintendo's first major Direct since E3 2018 saw the announcement of what would become Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Not content with just one Animal Crossing announcement, Nintendo also confirmed Isabelle would be joining the roster of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Final Fantasy fans were also in for a treat as Final Fantasy 7, 9, 10, 12, and more were revealed to be coming to Nintendo's latest console. Alongside these reveals, Luigi's Mansion 3 was shown for the first time, Yoshi's Crafted World got a brand-new extended look, and we learned much more about Nintendo Switch Online. This was also the Direct that unveiled the Nintendo Switch NES controller, New Super Mario Bros. U for Switch, a port of Kirby's Epic Yarn to 3DS, and even that Assassin's Creed Odyssey would be playable on Switch via the cloud in Japan. Nintendo Direct (February 13, 2019) - The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening Remake, Super Mario Maker 2, and Tetris 99
![]() The first Nintendo Direct of 2019 ended with the surprise reveal of a remake of Game Boy's The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. Super Mario Maker 2 also made its big debut and was welcome news as many expected for the Wii U's Super Mario Maker to be ported over to the Switch. We also learned more about Fire Emblems: Three Houses, both Dragon Quest Builders 2 and Dragon Quest 11 S: Echoes of an Elusive Age Definitive Edition, some updates headed to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Platinum Games' new title Astral Chain, and a few third-party ports, including Assassin's Creed 3 Remastered, Mortal Kombat 11, and Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. The Nintendo Switch Online-exclusive Tetris 99 was also announced and promised to put a battle royale-esque spin to the classic Tetris formula. Nintendo Direct at E3 2019 (June 11, 2019) - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Sequel, Banjo-Kazooie and Dragon Quest's Hero in Smash, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons' Delay
![]() The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild sits atop IGN's best games of all time list, and Nintendo's E3 2019 Direct revealed that a sequel was currently in development. Despite us only seeing one more trailer from the game since this reveal, the excitement for this next chapter continues to make it one of the most anticipated games out there. The sequel news may have been a good surprise, but an unfortunate one was the delay of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Delays are usually for the best, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons' push was no different, as it has now gone on to sell over 37 million units. We were also treated to not one, but two Super Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC fighter reveals in Banjo-Kazooie and Dragon Quest's Hero, a release date for The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening remake, Dragon Quest 11 S, and Luigi's Mansion 3, the confirmation that The Witcher 3 was headed to Switch, No More Heroes 3, and much more. Nintendo Direct (September 4, 2019) - SNES Games on Nintendo Switch Online, Overwatch, and Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition
![]() Nintendo Switch's library of classic titles leaves much to be desired, but the September 2019 Direct went a long way to fix that by confirming that Super Nintendo games were on their way to Nintendo Switch Online. Alongside confirming 20 SNES titles would be available at launch, Nintendo also revealed the special Switch SNES controller. Overwatch was another big star of the show, as was the announcement of Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition and Fatal Fury's Terry Bogard joining Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. We learned more about Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Pokemon Sword and Shield, saw the unexpected reveal of Deadly Premonition 2, and were told of a few new ports headed to the Switch, including Return of the Obra Dinn, Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore, Divinity Original Sin 2, and Assassin's Creed: Rebel Collection. Nintendo Direct Mini (March 26, 2020) - An ARMS Character for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition Release Date, and BioShock: The Collection
![]() The wait for a proper Nintendo Direct continued on through 2020 as Nintendo (and many other companies) figured out their processes during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Despite that, Nintendo shared a Nintendo Direct Mini that revealed an ARMS character would be joining Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Min-Min!), a release date for Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, Bioshock: The Collection, Borderlands Legendary Collection, and XCOM 2, and more. We were also treated to a demo of Bravely Default II, new details on Pokemon Sword and Shield's expansions, the infamous Animal Crossing: New Horizons' Easter event, Star Wars Episode I: Racer, Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics, and more. Nintendo Direct Mini Partner Showcase (July 20, 2020) - Shin Megami Tensei 5, Cadence of Hyrule, and WWE 2K Battlegrounds
![]() The first Nintendo Direct Mini Partner Showcase took place on July 20, 2020, and it highlighted titles from Nintendo's development and publishing partners. This first show was a quick one, and only featured a few announcements, including a Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne HD Remaster, Shin Megami Tensei 5, WWE 2K Battlegrounds, Rogue Company, and Cadence of Hyrule DLC. Nintendo Direct Mini Partner Showcase (August 26, 2020) - Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory, Collection of SaGa Final Fantasy Legend, and Puyo Puyo Tetris 2
![]() Nintendo surprise dropped a new Nintendo Direct Mini Partner Showcase in August 2020, headlined with the release date of Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory. The roughly 12-minute show also featured new Fuser gameplay, the Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythmic Adventure Pack, World of Tanks, Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions, Collection of SaGa Final Fantasy Legend, Puyo Puyo Tetris 2, and much more. Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary Direct (September 3, 2020) - Super Mario 3D All-Stars, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, and Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit
![]() NES' Super Mario Bros. celebrated its 35th anniversary in 2020, and Nintendo honored the milestone by presenting fans with a ton of Mario-themed game announcements in its Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary Direct. Leading the way was undoubtedly Super Mario 3D All-Stars, a collection of optimized versions of Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario 64, and Super Mario Sunshine. We also learned about Super Mario 3D World's arrival on Switch with the Bowser's Fury add-on, a real world Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit toy/game, Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 35, and more. While it was an exciting show for Mario fans around the world, it also came with a very odd caveat that both Super Mario 3D All-Stars and Super Mario Bros. 35 would only be available until March 31, 2021, a.k.a. The Day Mario Died. Nintendo Direct Mini Partner Showcase (September 17, 2020) - Monster Hunter Rise, Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin, and Hades
![]() Another Nintendo Direct Mini Partner Showcase was shown on September 17, 2020, and it was headlined by some big Monster Hunter news. Alongside the reveal of Monster Hunter Rise, we also learned about Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin and a Monster Hunter Direct that would take place right after this one. It was also a big day for ports, as Ori and the Will of the Wisps and Hades were confirmed to be coming to Switch. Additionally, Fitness Boxing 2: Rhythm & Exercise, Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny, Balan Wonderworld, Rune Factory 5, The Long Dark, Empire of Sin, and Sniper Elite 4 were shown. Nintendo Direct Mini Partner Showcase (October 28, 2020) - Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity Demo, Cloud Versions of Control and Hitman 3, and No More Heroes on Switch
![]() Alongside getting a demo and learning more about Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity - the prequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - we also saw more of Nintendo's commitment to the cloud with the news that Control: Ultimate Edition and Hitman 3 would be playable on Nintendo's handheld through it. This Nintendo Direct Mini also revealed the delay of Bravely Default 2, the release of No More Heroes and No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle on Switch alongside new footage of No More Heroes 3, a new Immortals Fenyx Rising trailer, and much more. Nintendo Direct (February 17, 2021) - The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD, Splatoon 3, Mario Golf: Super Rush
![]() The first proper Nintendo Direct since September 4, 2019, finally arrived on February 17, 2021. It was filled with new announcements for Switch owners, and it was headlined by Xenoblade Chronicles 2's Pyra and Mythra joining Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD, Splatoon 3, and Mario Golf: Super Rush. There was also plenty more to be excited about, including Project Triangle Strategy, Star Wars Hunters, Fall Guys on Switch, Miitopia for Switch, the Legend of Mana remaster, Outer Wilds, Tales from the Borderlands, Knockout City, and the confirmation that more news on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 was planned for later in 2021. Nintendo Direct at E3 2021 (June 15, 2021) - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2, Metroid Dread, and WarioWare: Get It Together!
![]() Nintendo's E3 2021 Direct finally gave fans what they've been hoping for since its announcement in 2019 - more details and footage for the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Not only did we get to see more of the game in action, but it was confirmed for a 2022 release window. As of this writing, we haven't learned much more about it or its launch plans. We were also shown the first 2D Metroid game in 19 years in Metroid Dread, the reveal trailer for Tekken's Kazuya Mishima joining Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Mario Party Superstars, WarioWare: Get It Together!, Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp, and Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope. Life is Strange: True Colors and the Life Is Strange Remastered Collection were confirmed for the Switch library alongside a cloud version of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2, and much more. Nintendo Direct (September 23, 2021) - Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack, Super Mario Bros. Movie Cast and Release Date
![]() The last proper Nintendo Direct of 2021 not only gave us our first look at Kirby and the Forgotten Land (and its The Last of Us vibes!), but also the reveal of Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack. This expanded version of Nintendo Switch Online gives subscribers access to a library of N64 and SEGA Genesis games, and it was later revealed that the service would also give players access to Animal Crossing: New Horizons' Happy Home Paradise expansion and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's 48 new courses at no extra cost. We also saw Bayonetta 3 gameplay alongside a 2022 release window, Splatoon 3 gameplay, the Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak expansion, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic for Switch, Castlevania Advance Collection, Actraiser Renaissance, Chocobo GP, the big twist that Project Triangle Strategy would become Triangle Strategy, and more. Perhaps the most talked about news from this Direct was the cast for the upcoming Super Mario Bros. movie that is set to be released in theaters on December 21, 2022. In the film, Chris Pratt will play Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy will play Peach, Charlie Day will play Luigi, Jack Black will play Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen will play Donkey Kong. Charles Martinet, who voices Mario in the games, will appear in the movie as well as special characters. Nintendo Direct (February 9, 2022) - Xenoblade Chronicles 3, 48 New Courses for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Mario Strikers: Battle League
![]() Nintendo rang in 2022 with a brand-new Direct on February 9 and surprised fans with the news that, instead of Mario Kart 9 arriving anytime soon, players will soon be able to enjoy 48 new courses for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Furthermore, it shared that subscribers of Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack will get these courses at no extra cost. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was also announced and confirmed for September 2022, a new Fire Emblem game is on its way that features characters from Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and Mario would be returning to the pitch in Mario Strikers: Battle League. The Direct also featured the Chrono Cross remaster, Nintendo Switch Sports, remakes of Front Mission 1 & 2, Splatoon 3's new Salmon Run mode, a free Metroid Dread update, and Kirby and the Forgotten Land's Mouthful Mode that adorably let's Kirby inhale real-world objects like a car or vending machine. Earthbound and Earthbound: Beginnings were confirmed for Nintendo Switch Online alongside Portal 1 & 2, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, a demo for Triangle Strategy, No Man's Sky, Klonoa 1 & 2, Disney Speedstorm Racing, and more. How Often Does Nintendo Air a Nintendo Direct?Since the first Nintendo Direct in the Switch era, the amount of time between Nintendo Directs has been anywhere from 8 days to 223 days. If we are counting the longest time without a proper Nintendo Direct, that would be 532 days. Nintendo tends to hold Directs, on average, every 104 days. This is by no means an accurate way to predict when a new Direct will be, but it does give a bit of insight into the planning of these shows. Nintendo has held 20 Nintendo Directs since the Switch launched on March 3, 2017, and the average length of a show was around 30 minutes and 27 seconds. - If you enjoyed this look back at the history of the Nintendo Direct, be sure to check out our similar retrospective on PlayStation State of Play presentations! |
Meta Quest Gaming Showcase Announced For April Posted: 30 Mar 2022 10:04 AM PDT The second annual Meta Quest Gaming Showcase will take place on April 20 and will give fans a glimpse at the future of VR. The Meta Quest Gaming Showcase, which was previously known as the Oculus Gaming Showcase, will air on April 20 at 10am PT/1pm ET/6pm BST and will have "new game announcements, gameplay first-looks, updates on games coming in the next year, and a whole lot of surprises." While no teases were given for what specific games fans can expect from the show, last year's show featured updates on Resident Evil 4 VR, Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge, Pistol Whip, and Lone Echo 2. We very well learn more about the Splinter Cell and Assassin's Creed VR games that were announced last year, as well as the VR version of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The Meta Quest 2 is one of the leading VR platforms, but it will have some heavy competition in the near future as Sony is gearing up to launch PlayStation VR 2. No release date has been given for PSVR 2, but you can see how it compared to the original PSVR, Meta Quest 2, and Valve Index here. For more in the world of VR, check out our review of Resident Evil 4 VR and the NFL's announcement of its partnership with StatusPRO to make an official, annual VR football game. 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. |
The Story, and Enduring Legacy, of Resident Evil's Original Live-Action Opening Posted: 30 Mar 2022 10:01 AM PDT Greg Smith may look a little bit older now, but the resemblance is still uncanny. There's the reddish hair, the bushy beard, and the stocky physique. All these years later, the Australian is still the spitting image of S.T.A.R.S (Special Tactics and Rescue Service) Alpha team member Barry Burton, a role he played almost thirty years ago for the original Resident Evil. In 1995, Smith, along with five other foreigners living in Japan at the time took an acting gig for an upcoming game called, Biohazard. With development already underway, Capcom's eventual horror classic already had character models and voice actors in place. But Biohazard's director Shinji Mikami wanted to shoot some additional live-action scenes to bookend the experience and add to its sense of realism. This ask meant hiring a totally new set of actors who already resembled the characters and assembling a crew to shoot on location. The end result led to the now-iconic opening in which S.T.A.R.S Alpha Team arrives in the Arklay Mountains to investigate the whereabouts of the missing Bravo Team, as well as four different endings portraying the remaining survivors' miraculous escape from the horrors of the Spencer Mansion. For Smith and the other actors, it was just another role; another way to make money while living in Japan. They couldn't possibly have imagined what happened next. In the decades following, Resident Evil (the name given to Biohazard in the west) became an extremely successful media franchise, consisting of new games, comics, and various films. Fans online inevitably wanted to know more about the live-action performers who originated the roles on screen, but Capcom never gave the actors' full names. However, through a ton of hard work, a group of dedicated fans has gone to extraordinary lengths to track down these actors and share their enthusiasm for their work. IGN spoke to one of these fans, Fred Derf, who runs Raccoon Stars blog, a fansite detailing this endeavor, as well as some of the actors to find out their response to this renewed interest. Becoming S.T.A.R.S25 years later, Smith is a retired principal who spends his days riding Harley-Davidsons around the greater Albury-Wodonga area of Australia. But in the mid-90s, he lived in Japan as an assistant school principal on an exchange-teacher scholarship at a Tokyo high school. As he tells IGN, one day while visiting a friend in Roppongi, a scout for the I.M.O (Inagawa Motoko Office), a Japanese talent agency, approached him to potentially be cast in Resident Evil. "They had made the game up already, and they had to find someone who looked like the video game character Barry Burton," said Smith. "That rudimentary character that stifles around, stiff-legged. [...] It was close to 2000 dollars American a day or something. It was good money back in 1995. Next thing I know they've got me in for costume fittings, and they brought me in to get my hair cut the right way to look like Barry, and have my beard cut. They then brought me in to do some rehearsals and meet everyone because at that stage I hadn't met anyone." Besides Smith, the cast for the live-action sections also included two young actresses named Inezh and Linda as Jill Valentine and Rebecca Chambers; the I.M.O employee and actor Charles Kraslavsky as Chris Redfield; and another two performers named Jason and Eric Pirius as Joseph Frost and Albert Wesker. Together they made up S.T.A.R.S, Raccoon City's Special Tactics and Rescue Service, the group of soldiers who would contend with Umbrella's undead experiments throughout the game. As far as we know, everyone besides Smith already had some acting experience prior to taking on their roles, with Eric Pirius, for instance, being signed to five other agencies prior to starring as Wesker. Pirius, now a mortgage banker, told IGN, "I did a little bit of everything. TV commercials. Voices for video games. I was on Japan's version of Broadway where I was a drunken sailor. And also industrials, like Kyoto needs an instructional video. It was kind of clapping for dollars pretty much, or yen I should say." Pirius first heard of the job through I.M.O, which sent his comp card (essentially a resume for actors) over to the casting director for the shoot. He then attended a short audition with 15-20 other actors in which the director asked him to read some lines and put on Wesker's glasses. He must have done something right, because he got the part soon after and eventually found himself in wardrobe, where production dyed his natural dark hair lighter to match Wesker's bleached blonde locks. Not everyone had as smooth a process getting into character though. Charles Kraslavsky, for example, found himself caught between bickering crew members. Kraslavsky told the Raccoon Stars blog, "They asked me permission to dye my hair, which is naturally very dark brown, almost black, and they also asked me to grow some stubble. I remember the stylist having a very strong opinion that the character would never grow stubble, that he would be very disciplined about shaving, while the director felt very strongly that I would have stubble because we would be on the mission for several days. When they dyed my hair, they used straight peroxide, which turned my hair almost a red color. That red hair with my almost black beard stubble looked ridiculous, so they decided the character would be clean shaven." The pre-production process had its own ups and downs, but the unique approach to filming brought another set of challenges to the shoot, with the actors receiving little direction on how to proceed. The Filming ProcessFilming for the live-action scenes took place in late Spring across two different locations on the outskirts of Tokyo: an abandoned warehouse outfitted with a fake helicopter, and a rural area east of Mt Fuji that doubled as the exterior of the Spencer mansion. According to the actors, the interior scenes were shot first, with Resident Evil's director Shinji Mikami present on set for the shoot, though he wasn't directing. Instead, Capcom hired a commercial filmmaker named Mitsuhisa Hosoki to be in charge of the filming, though very little is actually known about their directing experience outside of their work on Resident Evil. Perhaps, because of this, there was a lot of indecision between the director and their crew, with Kraslavsky being caught up in the middle. "I remember that before we started shooting that scene the director said my white shirt was much too clean, because this was supposed to be after we had already battled." he told the Raccoon Stars blog. "I remembered the parking lot outside was unpaved, it was dirt and gravel, and there were some puddles from recent rain. I offered to go outside and roll around in the dirt to get the shirt looking dirty and worn, and they thought it was a great idea. I rolled around in the dirt and came back. The stylist was horrified, and thought I was too dirty. The director said that I was not dirty enough, and so I went outside and rolled around some more. Looking at the video, I think the shirt is still too clean. Really it should have been much more dirty, and maybe a little bloody too." While Kraslavsky was rolling around in the dirt, the other actors spent much of the day waiting around. Smith, for instance, only had two scenes to shoot, including one alternative ending with Barry and Jill aboard the escaping chopper, and a video of him posing to the camera in character. The rest of the time, he spent on call. "We basically spent the whole day in a studio, filming the imitation helicopter scenes, the introduction, and different bits and pieces," Smith said. "All the indoor stuff was shot there in about 10 hours. We spent a lot of time sitting down drinking coffee and eating sushi [and] I only ever filmed with one person really. We spent what might have been 10 hours together — it was a long time. We got there in the morning and we didn't leave until dark." After filming the interiors, the actors then hopped on buses to travel to the next location to shoot the exterior scenes. This involved the introduction where Alpha team arrives in the Arklay Mountains and discovers the body of their fallen comrade. This nighttime shoot was a far bigger production than many of the actors were used to, with a lot more people on location, fake firearms, animatronic dogs, and large smoke machines to give the area its creepy atmosphere. Though the scene had apparently been storyboarded, some of the actors didn't always know what was happening, or what the finished product would look like. "The storyboards were kind of nondescript, and we didn't really know what was going on; I didn't. And when you're in the field, and they say, 'Now there is going to be an explosion and smoke' -- you're just like 'Okay'. 'Run over there' – 'Okay'. You don't know, you just run until they say stop. It was trial by error," Pirius told IGN. "You found out when you did something wrong. And then you were corrected. You weren't told what the director wanted. You were just told what they don't want, until they whittled it down until it was like, 'Okay, this is what they want.'" The Search for the ActorsIn the years since their debut, opinions seem to be split over the live-action scenes. Mikami himself has gone on record in the rare book 'Another Side of Biohazard' (translated here) as being critical of the live-action sequences, claiming he never had the proper budget to realize his vision and that he should have done a better job with casting the characters based on their performance, rather than their appearance. But there are plenty of people who love the live-action scenes as is and feel like it adds another layer of intrigue to the game, including Resident Evil fans like Derf, Sam Scott, Dr Raichi, and Talonide. They have been working collaboratively over the last decade to find the actors who starred in the live-action scenes. "That sequence, cheesy or not, had a big impact on the player," Derf told IGN over email. "It was immersive, it helped to create a link between the characters in-game sprites you play and real, genuine people. The game having a horror/mystery theme, it really helped a lot. Another thing, you got to see these actors also during the endings, after all the feelings that the players experienced throughout the game, it really helped to build a "bond" between the characters and the players. Besides, even if it was filmed in 1995, there is something very "eighties" about it, and I love that decade. I think even if you laugh at the video rather than being creeped out by it, it has an impact and that impact makes the experience memorable."
Finding the actors wasn't exactly easy. Most of the actors largely did commercials, which don't inherently credit their stars, so the group spent time combing through thousands of Japanese commercials and reaching out to those close to the productions they could find contact info for in the hopes of finding out more about the cast. Another hurdle came in the form of popular fan theories, with individuals claiming to know who the actors were, with little to no evidence, leading rumors to spread within the community. "I would say that it was a problem to get some fans to acknowledge the finds," wrote Derf. "When Sam Scott Identified Eric Pirius, a lot of people, to this day, tell us that Sergio Alarcon played him and voiced him. [...] There was a reluctance from certain people to admit new facts. In 2022, a lot of people still believe that the Canadian actress Una Kavanagh is Inezh. We [also] got tons of lookalikes, I've contacted many and got many reactions, some people just block you, some cheer you up, some ignore you or just don't notice your message." Remarkably, they've identified five of the six actors this way, and even interviewed four of them for their fansite. Perhaps the biggest discovery so far came in July 2020, when they discovered who played Jill Valentine. Though, unlike the other actors, Inezh has yet to provide an interview about her experiences. "Inezh is still a mystery," says Derf. "We know that she knows about Jill since she has been contacted, but we don't know what her opinion is about the filming. Shinji Mikami said that she wanted to go back home during the overlong night shoot near the Tama River and complained about mosquito bites, but on the other hand she can be seen smiling and having fun in the Birth of Biohazard making of VHS. If only she could write up a few lines about her experience, it would be so little but so rad at the same time. But time will tell if she changes her mind." While Inezh's firsthand opinions on the filming and subsequent fan interest remain a mystery, the rest of the actors speak about the appreciation as a pleasant surprise. Many of them have given up acting in the intervening years, or taken up other careers away from the spotlight. Now they're being treated like celebrities over something they did more than twenty years ago. "I hadn't thought about it since," said Pirius. "At first, I shunned it kind of, like 'What?' But then I did enough learning to realize what that game means to a lot of people, and I grasped some of the significance, so I responded as much as I could. It's interesting and fun for me to remember. And hey, if somebody gets a kick out of this, that's awesome." "We never actually saw a copy of the game," Smith told IGN. "The only time I ever saw the game was when I looked it up on the internet years later. […] Then about [20 years later], about 2017, I was a school principal and I had just retired and an email came with someone wanting to know if I was Greg Smith who did such and such. I was like, they're going to give me royalties – you beauty! But instead, it was this guy in Germany who had tracked me down through the local paper. Then the ball started rolling. A lot of people write and say I helped them through their childhood. I'm like, 'How did I do that?' And they say, 'Oh, you were an inspiration throughout my adolescence.' I'm going like 'What?' I realized I could be an inspiration as an educator, I didn't realize I could be an inspiration as a video game character. I didn't really understand that." Interest in Resident Evil remains high today, with critically acclaimed new entries like Resident Evil Village and remakes of older Resident Evil games receiving similar praise. As a result, there are constantly new players stumbling across the small yet fascinating role these actors played in the series. And while their roles have since been recast several times over, they will always be a part of Resident Evil's history. And it's in large part thanks to fans like Derf they are now able to enjoy it. Just before our call with Smith ends, he expresses an interest in returning to play the character in his seventies. "I just wish they would make a new Resident Evil with old Barry in it," Smith told IGN. "I'd love to go back and do it again. I've got super fit in my old age, I could play Barry Burton much better now. I'm fitter now than when I was forty. I've hit my stride in my later life. I lift weights and ride Harley Davidsons and all those kinds of things." Capcom, it may be time to get the original S.T.A.R.S. team back together. Jack Yarwood is a freelance feature writer who writes primarily about the video game industry. He has written for Fanbyte, Wireframe Magazine, and The Washington Post, among others. You can follow him on Twitter @JackGYarwood. |
The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe Gets April Release Date Posted: 30 Mar 2022 10:00 AM PDT The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe will come to Steam, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One on April 27. Described as a "significant expansion" to the 2013 original, Ultra Deluxe brings the cult classic to console for the first time, with the new content's script being longer than the original game. The Stanley Parable is an experimental, narrative-driven first person game about choice, or lack thereof, and freedom. As described by developer Crows Crows Crows, "the rules of how games should work are broken" as "The Stanley Parable is a game that plays you". Ultra Deluxe was revealed at The Game Awards in 2018 and was originally expected to launch in 2019, but following three separate delays across three years it's finally being released. The scope of the game has grown considerably since the original was revealed, Crows Crows Crows said: "Early in development, the plan was just to bring The Stanley Parable to consoles with a few small tweaks, but as time went on we kept getting more and more excited about what else we could do with the game. "Since The Stanley Parable was a game about surprises, we've tried to implement new content in ways that players won't be expecting." In our 8/10 review of the original game, IGN said: "Witty, unusual and quietly discomfiting, The Stanley Parable is a successful experiment in interactive narrative." Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day. |
Russian Loop Hero Developer Four Quarters Encourages People to Pirate Its Game Due to Sanctions Posted: 30 Mar 2022 09:44 AM PDT Editor's Note: The war in Ukraine is an ongoing, painful and emotive topic. IGN urges community members to be respectful when engaging in conversation around this subject and does not endorse harassment of any kind. Russian Loop Hero developer Four Quarters has encouraged those who are unable to purchase the game due to sanctions placed on Russia after its military invasion of Ukraine to pirate it instead. As reported by Kotaku, these sanctions have made it difficult for people in Russia to purchase the game on online storefronts like Steam. Some of these potential buyers took to a Russian social media site called VK to ask how they can purchase the game while still supporting the developers in the process. Four Quarters responded to these questions by telling players to "raise the pirate flag" and torrent the game if they can't purchase it. The developer shared a link to a torrent version of Loop Hero on RuTracker and reminded players that they should use a VPN when doing so. "First of all, [the war and sanctions] hit us morally very hard because we do not support the war," Four Quarters told Kotaku. "On February 24, we could not believe that this whole nightmare had begun." The studio could not elaborate further on the cost of the war on developers in "fear of arrest for up to 15 years under new Russian laws punishing anyone for spreading 'false information' about the war being a war." Despite the encouragement from Four Quarters, players still asked how they could send direct donations to the studio, especially due to the fact that Russian developers haven't been able to cash out payments through Steam because Valve has stopped all bank payments to Russia and Ukraine. "We are very grateful for your support, but the truth is that everything is fine with us," Four Quarters posted, according to a Google translation of the post. "Send this support to your family and friends at this difficult time." In our Loop Hero review, we said that its "cleverly stripped-down RPG concept demands attention for as long as it takes you to work out the clear 'best' way to guide each hero class, and its fantastically dark story setup stands out as one of the best in years." For more, check out how you can help Ukraininan Civilians, our look as to why these game and entertainment companies are pulling support in Russia and Humble Bundle's charity bundle that has already raised over $5.6 million. 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. |
PlayStation Plus Games for April 2022 Announced Posted: 30 Mar 2022 09:10 AM PDT Sony has revealed that the PlayStation Plus games for April 2022 are Hood: Outlaws & Legends (PS5 & PS4), SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated (PS4), and Slay the Spire (PS4). As detailed on PlayStation.Blog, all three of these games will be made available at no extra cost to all PlayStation Plus subscribers on Tuesday, April 5. This news follows Sony's "all-new PlayStation Plus" that is set to launch in June with three separate tiers and, depending on what tier you choose, access to PS5, PS4, PS3, PS2, PS1, and PSP games. Unlike Xbox Game Pass, however, no tier will give you access to PlayStation first-party exclusives at launch. Hood: Outlaws & Legends is an online multiplayer title that is, as our review puts it, a "Robin Hood fantasy heist game where you and a crew of outlaws steal from the heavily guarded fortresses of the rich and give it to the poor." While we enjoyed our time with it, we also said that it "rewards sloppiness over cunning. That can be fun, but it also badly needs more content." SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated is a remake of the 2003 3D platformer that took us under the sea to hang out with SpongeBob, Patrick, and Sandy as they try to stop Plankton's plan to "rule Bikini Bottom with his army of wacky robots." In our SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated review, we said that, "rather than addressing any of the real issues with Battle for Bikini Bottom that could have been tweaked without ruining the spirit of the original, it leaves history intact at the cost of making this a better game – and its problems have only become more noticeable with age and increased competition." Slay the Spire is a "fantasy deckbuilder adventure that fuses together card games and roguelikes" and we called it one of our favorite roguelikes of all time. In our Slay the Spire review, we said that it "takes some of the best parts of deckbuilding games, roguelikes, and dungeon crawlers, and mixes them into a wholly new and extremely satisfying package." Alongside the announcement of April's PlayStation Plus games, Sony also shared that Persona 5 will be removed from the PS Plus Collection on May 11, 2022. So, make sure to add it to your game library before then to continue to play it as long as you have an active membership. While you wait for April 5, don't forget to download March 2022's PlayStation Plus games - Ark: Survival Evolved, Team Sonic Racing, Ghostrunner, and Ghost of Tsushima: Legends. 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. |
Matcho – a Match-3 FPS – Announced Posted: 30 Mar 2022 09:00 AM PDT Genre-blending is nothing new for video games, but we think it's safe to say that the following two genres have never been blended together before: first-person shooters and match-3 games. Yes, you read that right: Matcho is a match-3 FPS that also bills itself as an action-adventure game with an actual story. It sounds nuts but the trailer (which you can watch at the top of this page) is worth taking a look at. In Matcho, you play as the twentysomething Max, whose mysterious illness has kept him confined to the Triagon laboratories in search of a cure. The plot involves aliens, a kidnapping, and Max's malady, and if it's anywhere as intriguing as Matcho's gameplay appears to be, then we might all be in for something very unique. The Unreal Engine-powered game promises "a non-linear, humor-packed plot with multiple endings" as well as "an extensive, built-in parkour system lets you wall-run, double-jump, float, and dash in any direction." Combos and chaining attacks will lead to bigger wins and, presumably, more fun. We'll be keeping a close eye on this one. If you'd like to as well, you can wishlist Matcho on Steam if you're interested. Matcho will be released on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan. |
Star Trek: Resurgence - The First Preview (IGN First) Posted: 30 Mar 2022 09:00 AM PDT Certain franchises lend themselves better to one genre or another. For example, you wouldn't look for a Fast and the Furious strategy game just as much as you would expect a combat-oriented Star Wars Jedi game like Fallen Order. Star Trek is, bizarrely, a world that has been painted onto numerous genres rather well, from the excellent 2000 first-person shooter Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force to the still-running MMORPG, Star Trek Online. The latest core-gamer-aimed effort from The Next Generation's 24th century era is Star Trek: Resurgence, which seems to be a perfect fit for Trek as a narrative adventure game, made by a group of ex-Telltale developers at Dramatic Labs who have proven themselves quite good at what they do. Dramatic Labs is headed by Kevin Bruner, the Telltale founder whose roots in the adventure game genre trace back to his days working on Grim Fandango and Monkey Island at LucasArts. He had a heck of a run at Telltale, but Bruner and the Dramatic Labs team aim to make some noticeable improvements for Resurgence. First among them is the graphics engine; Telltale's engine was famously long in the tooth long before the company shut down, so Bruner and the team partnered with Epic, and as such Resurgence uses the much prettier Unreal Engine. The technical structure of the game isn't the only thing that differs from the Telltale days; the gameplay structure does too. Resurgence will be released as one complete game rather than in episodic chunks that release weeks or months apart. Bruner lamented to me during our conversation that players often felt compelled to finish an entire 1-2-hour Telltale episode in one sitting, lest the return and feel lost due to the stories being structured around those longer blocks. Resurgence, as described by lead writer Dan Martin, will be like a chapter book with around 50 chapters, making each chunk of the story much smaller and easily digestible for those who want to enjoy this Star Trek narrative adventure at their own pace. But as for that narrative itself, there is yet another key difference between what Dramatic Labs is doing with Resurgence and what the Telltale teams did with their games: offering the player more exploratory freedom. The team tells me that many areas of the ship are being modeled for the player to roam when there are scenes set there, from the bridge to engineering to the shuttle bay and many others. And that's just on board the U.S.S. Resolute starship your two playable characters call home. Bruner told me that the physically biggest sections of the game are where you're on alien worlds and in alien ships, so you won't be confined to your Starfleet vessel the entire game. Far from it. In fact, early on, Lt. Commander Chovak summons you, as Carter Diaz, along with your friend and lower-deck colleague Edsilar, down to suit up in order to walk out on the hull and investigate the bizarre space anomaly the ship finds itself adjacent to. (Naturally, he begins by being as annoyed with you as a Vulcan can get for being "almost" late to your shift.) Spock's Resolute-tionMeanwhile, another section of the game I saw put you in control of Resurgence's other playable character, Commander Jara Rydek, during a briefing not just with senior staff, but with Ambassador Spock himself. The first thing you'll likely notice about everyone's favorite Vulcan is how uncannily he sounds like Leonard Nimoy. Martin told me the team had "hundreds" of auditions and the actor who got the part (who Dramatic Labs will announce later) was "head and shoulders" above everyone else. You can hear why. Since this is a narrative adventure game, you'll have ample choice in how to respond to your crewmates and superiors. Your story might play out differently than a friend who makes other dialogue choices, but Dramatic Labs was clear that this is a shared story but a customized one, and as such there's contrast between the fates of characters based on your choices. That said, everyone goes to the same planets. The team likes the relationship dynamics and the roleplaying within a story. They told me that they didn't want a narrative structure that was "branchy for the sake of being branchy." In all, Resurgence is exactly the kind of game I want from the diplomacy-heavy Star Trek franchise – though yes, there will be phaser usage and other action as well in order to keep the gameplay on its toes. Star Trek: Resurgence will be out later this year on PC via the Epic Games Store along with PlayStation and Xbox platforms. Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan. |
Fast & Furious: Crossroads Is Being Delisted Less Than Two Years After Release Posted: 30 Mar 2022 05:05 AM PDT It looks as though Fast & Furious: Crossroads is being pulled from sale less than two years after it launched in August 2020. An update from Bandai Namco has confirmed that Fast & Furious: Crossroads will be delisted by the end of the month, will all sales ending on April 29, 2022, at 4am CEST. "If you bought the game digitally it will remain in your library and can be redownloaded in the future," says an update on the game's official website. "Any DLCs purchased before April 29, 2022, will still be available to use after this date." Additionally, the game's online modes will also remain active for the time being. How long before that goes offline is anyone's guess, however. The critically panned game from Bandai Namco didn't exactly win over gamers or fans of the Fast & Furious films. Although there's no official reason given for the game being pulled from sale, it's likely that the negative response has a lot to do with it. Digital copies of the game will remain in your library, so you can always re-download it in the future if you want. But no new copies will be sold after April 29. Additionally, you can still use any DLC you've purchased. So, don't worry if you've picked up any additional rides – they're safe. Fast & Furious: Crossroads is described as a team-based vehicular heist action game with players taking on high-speed heists and adrenaline-fueled stunts alongside the likes of Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, and Tyrese Gibson. But don't get too excited… IGN's own Fast & Furious: Crossroads review called the game "short, shallow, and surprisingly simple". "There are certainly glimpses of a game that respects the film franchise as much as fans do, with a well-curated vehicle roster, some familiar sequences that riff on some of the most memorable moments from the movies, and the occasional cheeky wink at the audience, but overall Fast & Furious Crossroads is a short and superficial relic of a previous generation." Now, it looks as though it barely got to the finishing line. Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter. |
Will GTA+ Be Worth It? – Unlocked 537 Posted: 29 Mar 2022 03:58 PM PDT Grand Theft Auto Online is now offering an optional new subscription service called GTA+. We dig into what it is, who it's for, and whether or not it's worth it. Plus: Xbox leaders discuss the future of cloud gaming and the present-day success of Xbox Game Pass at the Game Developers Conference, and more! Subscribe on any of your favorite podcast feeds, to our YouTube channel, or grab an MP3 download of this week's episode. For more awesome content, check out our latest IGN Unfiltered interview, where Joseph Staten – one of Halo's original creators and now the head of creative on Halo Infinite – discusses his fascinating career: Oh, and you can be featured on Unlocked by tweeting us a video Loot Box question! Tweet your question and tag Ryan at @DMC_Ryan! For more next-gen coverage, make sure to check out our Xbox Series X review, our Xbox Series S review, and our PS5 review. Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan. |
How PlayStation Plus Compares to Xbox Game Pass and Nintendo Switch Online Posted: 29 Mar 2022 03:16 PM PDT After months of reports, rumors, and hopes, Sony has finally announced an overhaul to its subscription service plans, with the rebranding of PlayStation Plus in June. While the name remains the same, the service has evolved with some new additions, such as limited-time game trials, and the shift of another PlayStation service under the PS Plus umbrella, with PlayStation Now's capabilities being brought into the Plus fold. So with the new version of PlayStation Plus on the way, how closely does it compare to its competition? To better understand the rebrand's offerings in conjunction with other subscription services, let's take a closer look at how it has not only evolved from its initial form but also how it differs from Xbox Game Pass and Nintendo Switch Online. The short answer? All three certainly share some commonalities, but there's actually some quite different focuses when it comes to how these services are enticing would-be subscribers, so let's dig in. PlayStation Plus vs Xbox Game PassLet's get the obvious out of the way: it will be easiest to compare PlayStation Plus to Xbox Game Pass, given the timing of PlayStation's announcement and the way Game Pass has revitalized Xbox. While the two are very similar on paper, there are some stark contrasts that do not make this necessarily a one-to-one comparison. And those differences help showcase the varying strategies at work. PlayStation Plus' rebranding will, broadly, consolidate the original PlayStation Plus service and PlayStation Now, Sony's cloud gaming service. Xbox Game Pass is primarily billed as a Netflix-like approach that delivers access to a wide library of first and third-party games you can play on Xbox hardware. Microsoft would then expand on that idea with the release of PC Game Pass for Windows 10 computers and Game Pass Ultimate. The latter aligns more closely with the PlayStation Plus rebranding, as it combines both versions of Game Pass and Xbox Live Gold into one service, with additional incentives like EA Play (which also comes with Game Pass PC), a gaming subscription service with games developed and published by Electronic Arts, and access to Xbox Cloud Gaming. The new PlayStation Plus rebrand is split into three tiers: Essential, Extra, and Premium. You still have access to the features previously seen in the original PlayStation Plus, such as multiplayer access, free monthly games, discounts, and cloud storage, with Essential. The Extra tier adds onto it up to 400 PS4 and PS5 games from both first-and third-parties, with everything available to download, while the Premium tier adds 340 more games on top of that, with PS3 games via cloud streaming, and a library of PS1, PS2, and PSP games (as well as some cloud streaming for PS2, PSP, and PS4 games), plus time-limited game trials. Essential is, essentially, just your usual PlayStation Plus subscription, but the other, more expensive tiers add additional incentives that both bring in the technology of Sony's lesser-used PS Now, and inch closer to a Game Pass-like library of offerings. Depending on the offerings, that middle-tier, Extra, may be the closest thing to a Game Pass one-to-one, but that certainly will also be dependent on what games are included, how often new games are added, and whether anything might come from third parties to the service on day one. Sony has not yet laid out its full plans in this regard. Sony's service has a few notable differences, though. While it seems Sony is enticing those to subscribe by offering access to over 400 additional modern games with the promise of some newer titles like Returnal and Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales anticipated to come at launch, there is no plan for new first-party releases such as God of War: Ragnarok and Marvel's Wolverine to arrive the same day as they are officially released. And as the PS5 is only backward compatible with PS4 games, this essentially means the Premium tier is the most accessible, and really the only way for people that do not have access to older PlayStation consoles or games to play those legacy titles. In contrast, Microsoft has taken a radically different approach on those two fronts, where the company pledged that all first-party games will be launching day one on Game Pass, which has led to games like Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5 seeing huge launch player bases. As for Sony's reasoning for not adopting this policy, PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan told Gamesindustry.Biz that "The level of investment that we need to make in our studios would not be possible, and we think the knock-on effect on the quality of the games that we make would not be something that gamers want." Much of Xbox's Game Pass work has helped create a favorable, consumer-focused approach for the company after its tumultuous Xbox One launch and early years, and those issues, like a lack of consistent first-party releases, is something Microsoft has pushed to fix. That's primarily been done by making a ton of acquisitions and expanding its portfolio of franchises under the Xbox umbrella, such as Obsidian, Double Fine Productions, Bethesda Softworks, and more recently, acquiring Activision-Blizzard – with all their games expected to be available to subscribers day one on Game Pass. Given Sony's success in the past generation, conversely, it seems the company does not feel currently the same need to put its first-party games onto a service like this just yet. It's also worth noting that, in comparison to PlayStation's backward compatibility with older generations being tied to the service, Xbox players can play a library of past Xbox and Xbox 360 games on Xbox, whether through digital ownership or via discs. PlayStation Plus vs. Nintendo Switch OnlineThe comparison between PlayStation Plus and Nintendo Switch Online is similar to that of PlayStation Plus and Xbox Game Pass in that there are some clear similarities but also marked differences. Nintendo Switch Online's focus is on the necessity for players to access online multiplayer features (e.g. visiting your friend's island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons or participating in online races in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe) and the option to access and play retro games. Similar to PlayStation Plus and Xbox Game Pass, Nintendo Switch Online has two tiers – the standard Switch Online and the newly-released Switch Online + Expansion Pack. Switch Online + Expansion Pack's most notable difference is twofold: the addition of more historical games from the Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis, as well as the bundling of DLC for first-party games that can otherwise be purchased standalone. Rather than paying $24.99, NSO + Expansion Pack subscribers get paid DLC such as Animal Crossing: New Horizons - Happy Home Paradise and the Mario Kart 8 Booster Course Pass as part of their subscription. While Game Pass does offer some older games, the back catalog of legacy games is clearly more a focus as a marquee offering for the new PlayStation Plus tiers, as well as Nintendo Switch Online. While Nintendo has taken to slowly updating its library of classic games monthly, we currently do not know the cadence with which Sony will or won't add to PlayStation Plus' library. PlayStation Plus, Xbox Game Pass, and Nintendo Switch Online - PricingIf we compare the pricing for all three, arguably, PlayStation Plus has the most expensive annual plan, costing $119.99 annually for the Premium tier. But that's a bit of a technicality, as Xbox Game Pass Ultimate doesn't actually offer a yearly plan. It is only available as a monthly subscription, so $14.99 a month for 12 months costs $179.88. We obviously have to wait on the library to qualitatively judge the service, but that $120 price point functionally puts the new PlayStation Plus in the same price point spot as it seems to be in terms of offering: somewhere in between Xbox and Nintendo. Overall, Essential pricing is $9.99 a month, $24.99 quarterly, or $59.99. The Extra tier will cost $14.99 monthly, $39.99 quarterly, or $99.99 annually. And Premium costs $17.99 a month, $49.99 every three months, or $119.99 annually. Microsoft is a lot more limited in its pricing structure, offering only monthly pricing at $9.99 for either Game Pass Console or PC Game Pass and $14.99 for Ultimate. There are three-month plans offered, too – $29.99 for Console or PC Game Pass and $44.99 for Game Pass Ultimate - but there's no current yearlong option On the other hand, Nintendo has more payment options than Game Pass but is slightly more limited than PlayStation Plus. Switch Online is the most affordable of the three, with individual memberships costing $3.99 a month, $7.99 for three, or $19.99 for an entire year. However, that's where it only breaks down in specifics. If you want a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack, it will cost $49.99 for one year. Family plans are also locked to annual pricing at $34.99 and $79.99, respectively. Despite all the information Sony has shared on how the PlayStation Plus rebrand will work, there is still a lot unknown that will help players judge whether those pricing tiers are worth it to them. We do not know whether current PS Plus will have an option to convert their active subscriptions into the newer ones for a discounted price, though we do know that PlayStation Now owners will transition into the PS Plus Premium tier at no increase for their current subscription. We are also still unsure if PS1 classics, for example, that you purchased on the PS3 will be accessible to you because you already paid for them or not. IGN has reached out to PlayStation for comment on these topics and a representative for PlayStation said more information on the service will come closer to launch. While there are some gaps and drawbacks from the PlayStation rebranding, it certainly signals a shift by Sony that it is aware of the increasing importance of subscription services in gaming. But it's not taking a 1:1 approach to either of its competitors and so the proof of whether Sony's gambit works will come from how its subscriber numbers change. Hopefully, Sony will share more information as June draws near and more context and clarity will be added for those looking for more conclusive information that has yet to be explicitly detailed. Until then, check out IGN's weekly PlayStation show, Podcast Beyond!, for more on the latest news in the world of PlayStation. Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster. |
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