Monthly Archives: December 2020
Cyberpunk 2077 on Base PS4 and Xbox One Units Has Major Issues
Cyberpunk 2077 is currently a last-gen game on console (although does benefit from new-gen hardware improvements), and has been advertised as such, but was never shown running pre-release on original PS4 and Xbox One units. While it's not unexpected that Cyberpunk would make graphical compromises in order to run on older console models, the level to which fidelity drops has surprised and disappointed many.Welcome... to #Cyberpunk2077 on PS4 fat / XBO ! pic.twitter.com/77BSmEuw6y
— Legolas (@Legolas) December 9, 2020
Across both consoles, users are reporting long waits for textures to load, a blurring effect across the entire screen, and major frame rate drops. Bugs also remain prevalent, with players reporting T-posing NPCs, no mouth movement in conversations, and glitching animations:This is Cyberpunk 2077 - PS4 version 1.00. Resolution is literally below 720p and the game takes 20 seconds to load in textures. Inexcusable. Unfathomable. Unplayable. pic.twitter.com/AZ2OPTnkdL
— Michael Does Life (@MichaelDoesLife) December 9, 2020
Widespread reports of crashes, particularly on PS4, have also been circling:Cyberpunk 2077 on base consoles (how a great % of people will play it) is an absolute travesty.
My god people, I mean look at how those two npcs ran at the end, they were like the Spider-man ps4 ps2 boat easter egg. pic.twitter.com/FnSRgAgDgt — AP (@THEAP99) December 8, 2020
It's unclear if all of the examples above are running with the Day One patch installed - although some players (including Kotaku) are reporting that they don't seem to have been able to download it at all. However, our own base Xbox One footage is updated to the Day One version, and does have moments where textures fail to load and frame rates drop (particularly in the montage sequence towards the end): [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/12/10/cyberpunk-2077-11-minutes-of-xbox-one-base-model-gameplay"] While CD Projekt Red hasn't directly commented on the issues, the Cyberpunk Twitter account today said, "The journey has just begun and we are hard at work on the upcoming fixes and updates to the game."This is what’s happening on base PS4 consoles who else? pic.twitter.com/JaQxq7svBB
— YouWhoKnow_KnewNot (@UwhoKnowKnewNot) December 10, 2020
CD Projekt Red famously provided multiple patches to its last open world game, The Witcher 3, which had its own litany of bugs. It'll be fascinating to see how much work can be done to the console versions, especially while new-gen versions are still in development. For more on Cyberpunk, check out our review of the game, and hop into our huge Cyberpunk 2077 guide, which indludes a full campaign walkthrough. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.We are truly humbled that so many of you trusted us and decided to support #Cyberpunk2077 before the release! Even 8 million thank yous isn't enough! The journey has just begun and we are hard at work on the upcoming fixes and updates to the game. See you in Night City! pic.twitter.com/ycIe2kN0Zq
— Cyberpunk 2077 (@CyberpunkGame) December 10, 2020
Cyberpunk 2077 Sold 8 Million Copies Before Launch
That's more than the population of Bulgaria, if we're keeping score. Digital storefronts Steam and GOG.com struggled to deal with the launch of Cyberpunk, with many outage issues reported as the game rolled out across the globe. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/12/10/cyberpunk-2077-review-with-new-gameplay"] In other Cyberpunk news, check out our review of the game - we scored it a 9, touting its "beautiful, dense cityscape." And if you're just starting to dig into Night City, it'd be a good idea to check out our Tips and Tricks guide to help you understand some of the game's systems and make the opening hours easier. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.We are truly humbled that so many of you trusted us and decided to support #Cyberpunk2077 before the release! Even 8 million thank yous isn't enough! The journey has just begun and we are hard at work on the upcoming fixes and updates to the game. See you in Night City! pic.twitter.com/ycIe2kN0Zq
— Cyberpunk 2077 (@CyberpunkGame) December 10, 2020
Promising Young Woman: How to See the Acclaimed New Thriller for Free
Cyberpunk 2077 PC Launch Causes Steam, GOG Issues
If you’re reading this, Cyberpunk 2077 has officially launched across the globe. With the launch of perhaps the most anticipated game of the year, it appears that the sudden rush of players attempting to boot up and/or download the game has resulted in Steam and CD Projekt's GOG experiencing some persistent technical issues. This has resulted in at least some players being unable to finish downloading Cyberpunk 2077’s day one patch or sync up with GOG’s cloud.
As of 4:30 P.M. PST, Steam’s own data statistics page shows the service is experiencing a peak bandwidth consumption of 17.7 terabytes per second. Basically, that’s a lot of people “jacking in” to the game. Some players are even experiencing a sudden pause near the end of the 60GB download.
DownDetector's Steam page also reported approximately 23,000 reports of Steam issues as of 4:50 P.M. PST.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a video game launch without many fans taking to social media to lament their momentary inconvenience. At least there’s some gems.
 
 
 
Notably, it appears Steam's storefront page is experiencing intermittent blackouts as well. We tested this out on one PC of our own and noticed the storefront page struggle to load, if it would load at all for a time.
Odds are by the time you read this, CD Projekt, Steam, and GOG may have solved their technical issues, and downloading Cyberpunk 2077 may not be an issue. Of course, Cyberpunk joins the long list of massive AAA releases that experience launch issues thanks to the sudden influx of excited players.
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IGN gave Cyberpunk 2077 a 9 out of 10, calling it a "beautiful and dazzlingly dense cityscape" with "a staggering amount of choice" marred by frequent bugs.
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Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/narcoleptic samurai for IGN.AT&T Sells Crunchyroll to Sony Funimation for $1.2 Billion
Cyberpunk 2077 Review Impressions
FTC Lawsuit Against Facebook Could Force Company to Sell Instagram, WhatsApp
The FTC began investigating Facebook in 2018 over consumer privacy concerns, but the social media company has been in the spotlight of the government for years now. Concerns over data privacy, its effects on the U.S. and other elections worldwide, and information safety have all put eyes on Facebook.
In response, Facebook’s vice president and general counsel Jennifer Newstead calls the suit “revisionist history.” “Antitrust laws exist to protect consumers and promote innovation, not to punish successful businesses. Instagram and WhatsApp became the incredible products they are today because Facebook invested billions of dollars, and years of innovation and expertise, to develop new features and better experiences for the millions who enjoy those products,” says Newstead. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt T.M. Kim is a reporter for IGN.Cyberpunk 2077 Guide: Life Path Choices Explained
Spyro 4: Crash Bandicoot 4 Art Book May Include a Spyro Sequel Tease
 From The Art of Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time[/caption]
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 A close-up of the potential Spyro 4 tease in The Art of Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time[/caption]
In a two-page spread featuring art from The SN@XX Dimension level and Frank's Plump Wieners Kioskbot, a large splash page of concept art includes a Spyro marquee nestled in amongst the futuristic cityscape. Right below him is his name and what appears to be most of the number "4" right below that. The accompanying text on the page by artist Brun Coes says "It was fun to combine Dingo's Diner with the futuristic element, to have those cars flying with the city down below... and a little hint at Spyro."
Activision had no comment on the future of Spyro in relation to the potential tease, but IGN has verified the page in the art book itself. No plans for a continuation of the Spyro franchise have been announced, but developer Toys for Bob, from which the art book stems, also developed the Reignited Trilogy and has long shephered Spyro during Activision's ownership of the property, having previously developed the Skylanders franchise.
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As for now, there's no other word on a Spyro continuation, but given Activision's recent interest in reviving both his and Crash's franchises, the purple dragon may have the chance to return beyond Easter eggs in Crash 4.
The Art of Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time is currently available on Amazon and features a ton of artwork and insight into the creation of Crash Bandicoot 4 from artists and other Toys for Bob team members, with writer Micky Neilson and a foreword by Josh Nadelberg. The studio also released The Art of Spyro Reignited Trilogy earlier this year.
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For more on Toys for Bob's latest work, check out both our Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time review and our Spyro Reignited Trilogy review. And be sure to watch the Crash 4 developers react to a speedrun, and check out our Crash 4 wiki guide if you're aiming to 100% it!
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Jonathon Dornbush is IGN's Senior News Editor, host of Podcast Beyond!, and PlayStation lead. Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush.Marvel Reveals Mutants Have Existed for One Million Years
 Art by Dale Keown. (Image Credit: Marvel)[/caption]
Traditionally, Marvel has depicted mutants as being a much more recent phenomenon, with the oldest mutants like Apocalypse and Selene measuring their lifespans in thousands of years rather than millions. But now we know mutants have been around basically as long as mankind, even before the rise of Homo sapiens.
As you might expect, early man is no more tolerant of these proto-mutants than modern man is of the X-Men. A rival tribe attacks Highwalker, who attempts to respond with compassion and reason. But after being distracted by Lady Phoenix, Highwalker is mortally wounded by a spear and the two tribes proceed to slaughter one another.
A grieving Lady Phoenix returns to the burnt place hoping to finally die. Instead, the Phoenix is attracted to her psychic outburst and claims its first host. While briefly consumed with the desire to extinguish all life on Earth, Lady Phoenix regains control after seeing one of her wolf companions. She instead decides to continue Highwalker's mission of defending the planet and begins recruiting a team. Her first ally? None other than Odin, proving that it wasn't the Allfather who originally formed the Avengers after all.
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 Art by Dale Keown. (Image Credit: Marvel)[/caption]
It's interesting to note the many similarities between Lady Phoenix's origin and that of Wolverine, including her kinship with wolves and her habit of outliving her loved ones. With Aaron depicting Wolverine as the final host of the Phoenix in the far future, we can't help but wonder if Logan might turn out to be a distant descendant of Lady Phoenix. It would certainly explain his fascination with redheads...
This is just the latest new wrinkle for the X-Men franchise, which kicked off a bold new status quo in 2019's House of X and Powers of X. Recently, Marvel has shown the tragic secret behind Apocalypse's villainy and revealed one of the world's most powerful mutants isn't actually a mutant at all. Will this latest history-changing twist impact the rest of the X-Men line? Perhaps we'll get a better sense of that once "Enter the Phoenix" begins in The Avengers #40, due out on December 30.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/10/09/marvels-x-men-now-have-a-bold-new-status-quo-ign-now"]
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Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
 