The team behind Assassin's Creed Valhalla has acknowledged that recent updates haven't met expectations, and committed to longer testing periods for updates going forward. In a blog post about the update pipeline for Assassin's Creed Valhalla, a spokesperson wrote: "Our community is at the heart of everything we do, and we always strive to provide you with great experiences. That said, we recognize that some of our recent title updates may not have met your expectations or been up to our standard." Updates to Valhalla have brought fan-requested features, but many players have reported new bugs appearing within those updates. Recently, Ubisoft added a fan-requested transmogrification feature to Valhalla, but its implementation didn't go down too well with fans. Other title updates have brought crashes and glitches to the game too. In response, Ubisoft is changing its production pipeline to deliver "more robust updates," and are shifting from a 4-week to a 5-week update release cycle so that new patches can be tested thoroughly. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/11/09/assassins-creed-valhalla-review"] Responding to the blog post, community members on Reddit voiced their concerns and asked about the potential of Ubisoft implementing New Game Plus to increase Valhalla's replayability. "The game is so broken lmao. Every update brings worse bugs than before. I was really looking forward to the [Wrath of the Druids] DLC since I beat the game way before the first patch, just to hear they pushed it back. If I had new game plus, I could at least enjoy everything without the game and audio crashing like it did before the patches," said TheFirstAtom. "If they mess up another update it will be embarrassing," said  Arun1910.   The blog also digs into the multi-stage process of creating title updates for a game as expansive as Assassin's Creed Valhalla, explaining each part of the pipeline in detail. It also offers timelines for a few major fixes. The full fix for an issue that sees fish disappear from the map (making related quests difficult to complete) will arrive in June, with a partial solution coming in the April update. The team is also looking into a number of issues with quests In the Absence of an Ealdorman and the Pig of Prophecy. Ubisoft plans to implement a fix for the latter in a forthcoming April title update. The team touched on the game's current roadmap and the delay of its major DLC expansion, Wrath of the Druids, which will now land on May 13. The roadmap seen below also reveals that a new free game mode called Mastery Challenge will land in late spring after the launch of Title Update 1.2.2. Assassin’s Creed longtime narrative director, Darby McDevitt, recently announced his departure from Ubisoft after 10 years of work writing on the franchise. Ubisoft has also announced that Ubisoft Forward, its summer digital conference, is part of E3 2021. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

James Gunn has clarified where the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special takes place within the continuity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Taking to Twitter on Thursday, Gunn, who helmed 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy and its 2017 sequel, shared a photo of the title page for his upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, which also confirmed that it was the first draft of the script for the seasonal special, coming to Disney+ in 2022. "This is the wrapping," he wrote in the tweet's caption. "The present is inside." The filmmaker participated in a short Q&A directly beneath the tweet, as a couple of fans asked for clarity on how exactly the Holiday Special fits into the MCU timeline. In response, Gunn confirmed that it will take place after the events of Thor: Love & Thunder, which hits theaters in May 2022, but before Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which is scheduled to debut in 2023.  

This is the wrapping. The present is inside. #GotGHS pic.twitter.com/NqDw5s6ed8

— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) April 22, 2021

However, we may see Peter Quill and his ragtag crew before they set off on their holiday hijinks as they're slated to appear in Taika Waititi's Thor: Love & Thunder. Gunn previously confirmed that he had joined forces with Waititi to discuss MCU characters before work began on the fourth Thor script. He said they both swapped scripts to figure out "where the characters are and where they're going." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/04/20/no-guardians-of-the-galaxy-vol-4-for-james-gunn"] Quill and Thor enjoyed a friendly rivalry in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, the latter of which saw the heavyset Bro Thor leave his fellow Asgardians behind on Earth whilst he joined the Guardians in space. The two characters are now expected to reunite on the big screen again in Thor 4, a movie that has been described as having an "Avengers 5 feel" due to its supersized cast. Thor 4's all-star ensemble features the likes of Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson, Christian Bale, and Russell Crowe as the mighty Zeus, father of the Olympian gods. Waititi will also once again voice Thor's alien pal Korg in the movie, which is currently slated for release on May 6, 2022. It will follow Black Widow, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and many more in the MCU's Phase 4. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=marvel-cinematic-universe-every-upcoming-movie-and-tv-show&captions=true"] For more on Marvel's upcoming slate of projects and releases, read our breakdown of the biggest and most noteworthy developments in the MCU, on Disney+, and in Marvel's comics throughout this year. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

SEGA has revealed a ‘Judgment Day’ countdown clock, and fans are keen to see if it’s going to lead to a sequel to the publisher’s 2018 detective-themed Yakuza spin-off. The timer is currently ticking down on the Ryu Ga Gotoku website, and will stop on May 7, 2021 at 7am Pacific / 10am Eastern / 3pm UK (that midnight, May 8 AEST). A trailer is attached to the reveal, and you can join the waiting fans on YouTube. Of course, many fans are speculating that this is going to lead to a sequel. A Japanese SEGA trademark for “Lost Judgment” was found in March, which could very well be its title. ”Fingers crossed for a reveal of Judgment 2” said Yakuza fan @PrinceWhatever on Twitter. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/03/29/judgment-announcement-trailer"] “I'm guessing this is Judgement 2's announcement. Glad we're getting more from this spin off. Excited to see what RGG has in store for us,” said user cloudsheep0 on Reddit. Others have suggested that if it’s not a sequel, it could also be an announcement of a PC release date for the game. A remastered version of Judgment for next-gen consoles launched today on PlayStation 5, Google Stadia and Xbox Series X and S, featuring 60 FPS, faster loading times and free DLC. You can check out our review of the game here, which we scored an 8.2, calling it a “superficial detective experience, but an extremely good Yakuza one.” [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Call of Duty: Warzone saw a major map refresh yesterday – and developer Raven says it will never return to the original map, Verdansk. Despite being the same fundamental part of the game's world, introducing Verdansk '84 changes a lot of what we know about Warzone's map, and that's seemingly a permanent change. Associate creative director Amos Hodge used a studio broadcast to say: "Players don't know it, but current day Verdansk, they'll never play in that state again. Current day Verdansk is gone and it's not coming back." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/call-of-duty-warzone-7-minutes-of-verdansk-84-gameplay-with-commentary"] That change hasn't been made simply for narrative reasons – the team's using it to fix some legacy problems with the original Verdansk. Speaking to PC Gamer, Hodge explained that the switch fixes some common buggy areas that cause players to fall under the map: "This is a good chance for us to go in there and update all the glitch locations as well as make quality of life improvements." On top of that, Hodge says Verdansk '84 is a chance to fix one of the most common complaints about Verdansk – that no one can work out how to easily mantle up its weirdly unclimbable rocks. Hodge says that rocks in the new map will be more easily readable for players, so you won't unexpectedly get stuck on a cliff face with the gas rolling in (or at least, if you do, it's more likely to be purely your fault now). [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/call-of-duty-warzone-verdansk-84-trailer"] Verdansk '84 adds seven new locations, and fundamentally alters many more, making the area a more vibrant, slightly less rundown place than we've gotten used to. The separate Rebirth Island map is also currently shrouded in nighttime. With 2021 Verdansk off the table (it did get nuked, after all), it remains a mystery where Warzone will head after its trip to 1984. The next Call of Duty game is reportedly set in World War 2, so a '40s battlefield seems a possible location, but it's entirely possible that, given its huge success, Warzone could head in entirely new directions after this. [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.

Funimation and Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPT) Games have announced My Hero Academia: The Strongest Hero, a mobile open-world action RPG, is set to be released outside of Japan on iOS and Android devices in Spring 2021. Originally released in Japan in December 2020, My Hero Academia: The Strongest Hero will soon be available in North America, Latin America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Scandinavia. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/04/22/my-hero-academia-the-strongest-hero-extended-trailer"] This mobile game is set in the My Hero Academia universe and features a full story campaign that allows players to build their own teams and take on classic villains like Shigaraki and Nomu. The Strongest Hero will continuously get new heroes and villains and will launch with such characters as Midoriya, Bakugo, Todoroki, All Might, Endeavor, and Stain. There will also be a PVP mode where players can fight against each other, as well as an Allied Assault co-op mode. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=my-hero-academia-the-strongest-hero-screenshots&captions=true"] Throughout the game, players can expect to play through iconic moments and events from the original series, complete with voice acting from the original cast. My Hero Academia: The Strongest Hero's global launch follows the premiere of the series' fifth season, which kicked off with "the Joint Training Arc, which sees Class 1-A and Class 1-B's students pitted against each other in a series of team battles that demonstrates just how much each respective class has grown." [poilib element="accentDivider"] Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com. Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

The Dexter revival headed to Showtime got its first short teaser today, and it hints that Michael C. Hall's Dexter Morgan is ready to get back to his killing ways. The teaser, which was shared on Twitter, is only 10 seconds long and features Hall's voice saying, "There really is nothing like getting back to nature... my nature" as the camera zooms in on an axe placed in a snowy tree stump.

Nature is calling. #Dexter pic.twitter.com/tX92KWHZLI

— Dexter on Showtime (@SHO_Dexter) April 22, 2021

Spoilers ahead for the original Dexter. This is obviously a nod to Dexter's finale, in which Dexter faked his own death and became a lumberjack in the woods. However, it now appears he is ready to return to his former life. Dexter's revival will be a 10-episode limited series that is set to be a "second finale" for the show that ended in 2013 on a divisive note. It has already been reported that Clancy Brown will be the villain of the show alongside other cast members Julia Jones, Johnny Sequoyah, Sylvie Love, and Jack Alcott. There has been no word as of yet on returning characters, but anything is possible! [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/12/01/how-they-ruined-the-dexter-finale"] For more on Dexter's revival, check out our thoughts on how this new series could redeem the disappointing ending of the original. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com. Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

The mid-century modern baseball stadium is a bit of an endangered species these days. Most teams have moved into ballparks designed to evoke the sports glory days, or into hulking monstrosities like those in Milwaukee and Miami. The exception, perhaps, is the Oakland Coliseum, a memorable dumpster that has hosted Athletics games for more than 50 years. But with this week's release of MLB The Show 21, classic ballparks are suddenly back in style thanks to the new stadium creator. Users have been using the feature to create detailed replicas of familiar stadiums and posting them to Reddit. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/04/21/mlb-the-show-21-review"] Reddit user SomeLadyNamedRuth has been one of the platform's most prolific creators. Their creations include remarkably detailed renditions of Candlestick Park, the former home of the Giants; Qualcomm Stadium, the unloved concrete bowl where the Padres used to play, and Anaheim Stadium with its distinctive halo. The one that may stir the most emotion in baseball fans though is Tiger Stadium. Known as one of the most historic and beautiful ballparks in the league, Tiger Stadium opened the same day as Fenway Park in 1912. The Tigers relocated in 1999, and the stadium was subsequently torn down in 2009. Seeing it again in MLB The Show is apt to life the heart of any old-school baseball fan. [caption id="attachment_2504207" align="alignnone" width="720"] A side-by-side comparison of Tiger Stadium. Photo Credit: u/SomeLadyNamedRuth[/caption] MLB The Show 21's stadium creator is one of a handful of notable features in an update that's otherwise fairly conservative. It includes more than 1,000 unique props, from the Gateway Arch to actual alien starships. According to developer Sony San Diego, the stadium creator is only possible on next-gen consoles owing to the huge variation in Major League ballparks, which is why it's not available in the PS4 or Xbox One versions of the game. MLB The Show 21 has its own selection of classic ballparks, of course, including such diverse locations as the Polo Grounds and the Metrodome. It's also possible to recruit an array of classic ballplayers to your team, from Babe Ruth to Ken Griffey Jr. The stadium creator serves to enhance MLB The Show 21's already robust historical offerings, in addition to giving players a chance to embrace their creative side. Cool as this feature is though, there is one major drawback. There's currently no way to rate stadiums, meaning that gems like Tiger Stadium are basically impossible to find. Sony San Diego plans to add additional search functionality in an upcoming patch, but for now these hidden gems remain buried. MLB The Show 21 launched earlier this week. It's available on PS4 and PS5, and for the first time ever, the Xbox One and Xbox Series X. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN and an unfortunate fan of the Minnesota Twins.

CD Projekt hosted its consolidated financial briefing for the fiscal year 2020 and spent the time acknowledging the rocky launch of Cyberpunk 2077. Safe to say, Cyberpunk 2077’s launch didn’t go quite as planned. The lackluster performance for Cyberpunk 2077 on last-gen consoles like the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, in particular, led to a massive critical backlash, which resulted in an unprecedented decision from Sony to remove the game from the PSN store. Something CD Projekt says influenced how well Cyberpunk 2077 sold, even on non-PlayStation consoles. Since the launch, CD Projekt has stuck to a message that it had learned its lesson from Cyberpunk 2077. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/30/cyberpunk-2077-update-12-the-biggest-changes-and-updates"] “We managed to introduce a new IP to the market and to the minds of gamers around the globe,” CDPR said in its briefing. “Now with The Witcher franchise, we have two strong pillars on which to build the future of CD Projekt. But of course, as well know not everything went as planned. It has been a huge lesson for us that we shall never forget.” The message that CDPR has learned from Cyberpunk 2077’s rocky launch was a recurring theme during the briefing, even as CDPR revealed it sold a massive 13.7 million copies of Cyberpunk 2077 in 2020. At one point, CDPR execs shared that “In financial terms, 2020 was the best year” in the history of the company. But followed up by saying they are “aware” that the launch of Cyberpunk 2077 does not resemble the launch of The Witcher 3. “We are, as we’ve been stressing a lot, we’re going through a lot of changes inside the company and we believe we’ve taken a lot of lessons from everything that’s happened so far,” CDPR said. As if putting its money where its mouth is, CDPR reiterated that 2021 will be spent bringing Cyberpunk 2077 to a level of quality expected from players, while also delivering the delayed next-gen PS5 and Xbox Series X versions of the game in the second half of the year. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/12/11/cyberpunk-2077-graphics-comparison-ps5-vs-ps4-base-model"] Structurally, CDPR previously announced that it will change how it handles marketing going forward, focusing on shorter marketing campaigns, manage expectations properly, and release marketing materials that accurately represent game footage on all platforms. CDPR also shifted to an annual roadmap as opposed to a five-year plan, something CDPR says will make the company more agile. 2021’s roadmap includes free patches and updates to Cyberpunk 2077, free DLC, and the next-gen update. While Cyberpunk 2077 still hasn’t been reinstated to the PlayStation Store, CDPR at least seems to acknowledge that Cyberpunk 2077’s launch was a far cry from the years of hype that preceded it. Whether CD Projekt can deliver on its promise to restore some shine to Cyberpunk remains to be seen. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor.

Emilia Clarke is jumping from the screen to the page with an upcoming Image Comics series. On Wednesday, the publisher revealed M.O.M.: Mother of Madness, a new series written and developed by the actress. The three-issue miniseries follows Maya, an under-the-weather scientist during the day, a superhero by night, and a single mother around the clock. The story features Maya using her powers to take down a cabal of human traffickers. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/05/21/emilia-clarke-and-paul-bettany-interview-each-other"] "We're always calling mothers superheroes, and I'm like, what if they were? What if they legitimately were superheroes?" Clarke told Entertainment Weekly. "Maya has had a very hard life, and she finds herself in a place where everything that makes her unique, she hates and is ashamed about. It's only in the discovery of her powers that she finds her true acceptance of who she is." [caption id="attachment_2504145" align="alignnone" width="650"] Source: Image Comics[/caption] Clarke assembled an all-female creative team for the project, including illustrator Leila Leiz, contributor Isobel Richardson, and cover artist Jo Ratcliffe. The Game of Thrones actress describes the tone of M.O.M. as "Deadpool-esque" in its humor. Clarke isn't the only actor jumping into comic books. Keanu Reeves made his comic book writing debut with BRZRKR, a 12 issue limited series at BOOM! Studios. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=25-obscure-facts-about-game-of-thrones&captions=true"] As for other projects, Clarke is reportedly in final negotiations to join the cast of Marvel Studios' Secret Invasion, a new original series in production for Disney Plus. M.O.M.: Mother of Madness will debut its first issue on July 21. It will be available at comic book shops as well as across digital platforms. [poilib element="accentDivider"] J. Kim Murphy is a freelance entertainment writer. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)

On this week's episode of IGN's PlayStation show, Podcast Beyond!, host Jonathon Dornbush is joined by Brian Altano and Max Scoville to discuss all the latest PlayStation news. The crew jumps into PlayStation's surprising, big store reversal and the decision to keep the PS3 and PS Vita PlayStation Stores alive for now. We discuss the implications of the decision, why we're still apprehensive, and what we hope to see from Sony later on. Then, Jonathon offers his preview impressions of Returnal after going hands-on with the PS5 exclusive. He breaks down some of the gameplay, the atmosphere, and how it uses the DualSense and 3D audio so well. The cast also touches on ProbablyMonsters' Firewalk Studios and their new partnership with PlayStation to publish an exclusive multiplayer game, what else we've been playing, and much more. Watch the new episode above! [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-best-ps5-games&captions=true"]

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Podcast Beyond! is live every Wednesday. For more on PS5, check out our PS5 console review and our PS5 wiki guide for tips on how to best use your system. And for more Beyond, be sure to watch the first episode of our Bloodborne let's play! [poilib element="poll" parameters="id=6dd2b926-8863-4080-99b2-d08eb61f67f6"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jonathon Dornbush is IGN's Senior News Editor, host of Podcast Beyond!, and PlayStation lead. Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush.