Monthly Archives: November 2017
Bungie Changing XP Earn Rates in Destiny 2
The way experience gains scale in Destiny 2 is being changed.
In a post on its official website, Bungie acknowledged the issues with XP gain in Destiny 2, noting it's been a discussion point among the community, as well as the studio. "After reviewing our data, we agree that the system is not performing the way we'd like it to," the developer said.
As such, Bungie is deactivating its system, which has XP scale up when playing for long or fixed duration actives like Raids or competitive Crucible matches, and scale down when playing shorter activities like Public Events.
So what does this mean for players? According to Bungie, "players will see XP earn rates change for all activities across the board, but with all values being displayed consistently in the user interface." The developer will look over XP game data gathered in the coming week to make sure the changes are up to the community and Bungie's standards.
How Much The Last Jedi Might Earn Its Opening Weekend
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is tracking to have a massive opening weekend at the domestic box office.
As reported by Variety, current estimates indicate director Rian Johnson's highly anticipated Star Wars film is tracking to earn $200 million its opening weekend. As such, The Last Jedi is expected to have the biggest debut of 2017, eclipsing Beauty and the Beast, which currently leads the year with $174.8 million.
16 Shared Universes From Before There Were Shared Universes
We like to think that we invented everything, and more-or-less recently, but the fact of the matter is that there are no new ideas. Everything we think is nifty is either a rip-off, spin-off or direct product of something that came before. And the shared universes we’re seeing nowadays - like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the DC Extended Universe, the Arrowverse and beyond - are no exception.
Sure, those examples all sprang from shared universe comic books, but the idea of connected worlds isn’t even all that novel on television. The TV medium has been a hotbed of crossovers, interconnected storylines and franchise mentalities for decades. Some of these shared universes are very official, some of them are implied and some of them are exceptionally weird. But they all make the history of TV a fascinating subject, filled with fan theories, continuity errors and awesome revelations. Let’s take a look at 16 of the greatest, weirdest and - in one case - mind-blowingest shared TV universes on record!
The Pokemon Franchise Has Shipped Over 300 Million Games
The Pokemon Company has revealed to Famitsu (note: this page is in Japanese) that Pokemon games have accumulated lifetime sales of over 300 million copies.
This total incorporates 76 titles over the series' 21-year history. As well as the main series of core games, the figure also includes ancillary titles like the PokePark series or Pokemon Conquest, factoring in both physical and download sales. No mention is made of the mobile game Pokemon Go but since the information focuses on sales, it's safe to assume that Pokemon Go isn't part of the count (as it's free-to-play).
The latest entries in the series, Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, released last week, selling over 1.2 million copies in Japan in just the first three days. The paired games are something of a swansong for the series; we recently reported that they would be the last games released for the 3DS family of systems, in preparation for the series' first core entries on the Nintendo Switch.
The Queer Legacy of Star Trek
In the mid-season finale of Star Trek: Discovery, “Into the Forest I Go,” Lt. Stamets (Anthony Rapp) and Dr. Culber (Wilson Cruz), in an outward and unguarded show of affection, gave each other a tender and loving kiss. Not only was it a great moment following the tense events of the episode, but it was, more significantly, the first time two men kissed each other in a Star Trek series.
This is, of course, a cause for celebration; a franchise that is famously all about diversity and inclusion has finally included openly gay characters among its central cast. The central vision of the Star Trek franchise has always been, per Gene Roddenberry's original concept, a future where multiculturalism is humanity's guiding principle. Humans, while still occasionally at philosophical odds, are generally getting along, often working together to better themselves and to find egalitarian solutions to their mutual problems. War is an aberration, violence is a tragedy, money is incidental, and people trust and respect one another implicitly (at least when everything is going well for Starfleet). That gay characters should be included in this milieu is notable, expected, and natural.
IGN UK Podcast #410: Serkis, Potter & the Robot Butler
A year after buying the tickets, the team finally got to see Harry Potter & the Cursed Child - so we spent most of this podcast talking about robot butlers from our childhood.
Thankfully, we also had incredibly special guest, Andy Serkis, who joined Gav and Joe to talk about his studio's new game, The Prestige and play a round of Keyword Countdown.
IGN UK Podcast #410: Andy Serkis, Harry Potter & the Robot Butler
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MST3K: Second Season a Go at Netflix
Netflix has confirmed that its reboot of cult classic Mystery Science Theater 3000 will return for a second season, with new episodes arriving on the streaming service "in the not-too-distant future".
As reported by Deadline, the announcement was made at the end of this year's Thanksgiving marathon - an annual event which sees six classic episodes play back to back - and featured hosts Joel Hodgson, Jonah Ray and Felicia Day:
The show centres around a human test subject (currently played by Jonah Ray), trapped on board the "Satellite of Love" with robot companions he has created for himself. Each episode features a different B movie, with the cast commenting on the move as it plays. Originally premiering on KTMA in 1988, MST3K aired between 1989 and 1997 on Comedy Central before moving to the Sci-Fi Channel before its cancellation in 1999. The show finally returned to the small screen in April this year thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign.
New Single Player Mode Coming to GT Sport in December
Polyphony Digital president Kazunori Yamauchi has revealed some of the new content set to come to Gran Turismo Sport over the next few weeks.
Patch 1.06, available on November 27, will roll out with three free new cars, including a Vision GT model from Italian design house Zagato, Audi’s last LMP1 racer, and the Shelby Cobra 427. According to Yamauchi the patch will also disable the online-only requirement for the livery editor, photo mode, and campaign mode, but he notes “you will still require internet access to save your progress.”
Cowboy Bebop’s Shinichiro Watanabe Looks Back
Shinichiro Watanabe is an anime legend; a name mentioned in the same breath as esteemed creators like Hayao Miyazaki, Satoshi Kon and Katsuhiro Otomo. He’s best known for creating Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Space Dandy, a number of projects for Animatrix, and recently, an anime short set in the Blade Runner universe. Speaking to IGN at Melbourne’s Madman Anime Festival, the western-inspired creator shared stories behind the creation of some of his beloved works, his inspirations, and opinions on live-action adaptations.
The Marvel Villain This Star Wars Actor Loves Most
Welcome back to the IGN Movies Podcast! This week, Jim Vejvoda and Tom Jorgensen are joined by a very special guest, actor Ben Mendelsohn!
The acclaimed actor spends the entirety of the podcast discussing everything from his latest film --the World War II drama Darkest Hour -- to his past genre films (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, The Dark Knight Rises) to the properties that make him geek out (including Game of Thrones to Fantastic Four)!
We also ask Mendelsohn about the rumors that he's up for the villain role in Captain Marvel, but you'll have to listen to the podcast to learn what he has to say about that!