Have you ever wished you could cuddle a big stuffed animal of Tom Nook, and then dress him up in a bunch of cute little outfits? Build-a-Bear may be about to make that a reality. In a tweet today, Build-a-Bear announced it had partnered with Nintendo for an Animal Crossing collection:

COMING SOON! Our Animal Crossing™: New Horizons collection is full of fun for all ages. Sign up for free email and text updates so you don’t miss a thing!

US: https://t.co/g37GrjpCWc UK: https://t.co/D6Wesqr0Cc pic.twitter.com/ZJ0UwlAJx7 — buildabear (@buildabear) March 10, 2021

Unfortunately, there are no further details at the moment as to which Animal Crossing characters will be turned into cute stuffed animals. Based on past promotions, it seems very possible we get at least one or two bears based on or inspired by main characters from the game such as Tom Nook or Isabelle, as well as a handful of outfits that can be worn by any bear. It's also possible that, like other collections, this is one that grows over time to include more and more characters. Build-a-Bear has previously released numerous collections based on popular entertainment properties including Super Mario, Doctor Who, Pokémon, Frozen, How to Train Your Dragon, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Mandalorian, and Sonic the Hedgehog. Meanwhile, Animal Crossing has seen plenty of interesting crossovers lately, including a partnership with ColourPop for a make-up line and an upcoming crossover with Sanrio to add six new villagers based on Sanrio characters, as well as a ton of new furniture items, to the game. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Have you ever wished you could cuddle a big stuffed animal of Tom Nook, and then dress him up in a bunch of cute little outfits? Build-a-Bear may be about to make that a reality. In a tweet today, Build-a-Bear announced it had partnered with Nintendo for an Animal Crossing collection:

COMING SOON! Our Animal Crossing™: New Horizons collection is full of fun for all ages. Sign up for free email and text updates so you don’t miss a thing!

US: https://t.co/g37GrjpCWc UK: https://t.co/D6Wesqr0Cc pic.twitter.com/ZJ0UwlAJx7 — buildabear (@buildabear) March 10, 2021

Unfortunately, there are no further details at the moment as to which Animal Crossing characters will be turned into cute stuffed animals. Based on past promotions, it seems very possible we get at least one or two bears based on or inspired by main characters from the game such as Tom Nook or Isabelle, as well as a handful of outfits that can be worn by any bear. It's also possible that, like other collections, this is one that grows over time to include more and more characters. Build-a-Bear has previously released numerous collections based on popular entertainment properties including Super Mario, Doctor Who, Pokémon, Frozen, How to Train Your Dragon, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Mandalorian, and Sonic the Hedgehog. Meanwhile, Animal Crossing has seen plenty of interesting crossovers lately, including a partnership with ColourPop for a make-up line and an upcoming crossover with Sanrio to add six new villagers based on Sanrio characters, as well as a ton of new furniture items, to the game. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Denuvo Anti-Cheat has joined the PlayStation 5 Tools and Middleware program, hoping to help developers to fight cheaters on the platform. Revealed in a press release from Denuvo creator Irdeto, the company announced that game publishers and developers would be able to leverage its anti-cheat technology to "bring cheating to an end" on PlayStation 5. "Denuvo, the leader in video games protection, offers its Anti-Cheat solution through this program to publishers and developers whose games are available on PlayStation 5," the release reads. Denuvo reasons that its tools will allow developers to protect their investment, when "approximately 70% of their revenue is earned in the first two weeks after the launch of a game." Many developers risk losing their player base if a game is overrun by cheaters. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/28/top-10-ps5-games"] Irdeto said that Denuvo's technology allows developers to "secure both online gameplay as well as securely reward offline progress," and mentioned that it was already being used in a number of PlayStation 5 launch games (although it's not clear which ones). The company reiterated that its technology "has no negative impact on in-game performance," and noted that it has protected "over 2 billion unique game installs" across all gaming platforms. Denuvo has been controversial in the games community previously. id Software recently added and then later removed Denuvo Anti-Cheat from Doom Eternal following online backlash from players. Denuvo Anti-Tamper, a separate anti-piracy tool, has more frequently been a cause for concern, with developers and players citing performance issues. In other PS5 news, here's our coverage of the first 100 days of the console's launch. Internal storage upgrades will reportedly be enabled for the console via a firmware patch later this year. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter

Denuvo Anti-Cheat has joined the PlayStation 5 Tools and Middleware program, hoping to help developers to fight cheaters on the platform. Revealed in a press release from Denuvo creator Irdeto, the company announced that game publishers and developers would be able to leverage its anti-cheat technology to "bring cheating to an end" on PlayStation 5. "Denuvo, the leader in video games protection, offers its Anti-Cheat solution through this program to publishers and developers whose games are available on PlayStation 5," the release reads. Denuvo reasons that its tools will allow developers to protect their investment, when "approximately 70% of their revenue is earned in the first two weeks after the launch of a game." Many developers risk losing their player base if a game is overrun by cheaters. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/28/top-10-ps5-games"] Irdeto said that Denuvo's technology allows developers to "secure both online gameplay as well as securely reward offline progress," and mentioned that it was already being used in a number of PlayStation 5 launch games (although it's not clear which ones). The company reiterated that its technology "has no negative impact on in-game performance," and noted that it has protected "over 2 billion unique game installs" across all gaming platforms. Denuvo has been controversial in the games community previously. id Software recently added and then later removed Denuvo Anti-Cheat from Doom Eternal following online backlash from players. Denuvo Anti-Tamper, a separate anti-piracy tool, has more frequently been a cause for concern, with developers and players citing performance issues. In other PS5 news, here's our coverage of the first 100 days of the console's launch. Internal storage upgrades will reportedly be enabled for the console via a firmware patch later this year. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge has been announced for PC and consoles. It's a 4-player co-op, side-scrolling brawler, developed by members of the Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game team. Inspired by games like 1991's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge offers a classic pixelated art style and "shell-shocking new abilities built on a foundation of classic brawling mechanics." Players will fight through "a breathless tour of iconic TMNT locations" such as the NYC sewers and Dimension X to thwart Bebop, Rocksteady, Krang and Shredder. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/10/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-shredders-revenge-official-reveal-trailer"] The trailer for Shredder's Revenge (above) also debuts a new take on the famous TMNT theme song, performed by Faith No More's Mike Patton. A release date for the game was not provided, but we know the game will come to PC and consoles when it launches. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge will be published by Dotemu in association with Nickelodeon, and is being developed by Tribute Games, whose previous work includes Flinthook and Mercenary Kings: Reloaded Edition. Tribute is made up of former Ubisoft employees who worked on beat-em-ups like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game and the 2007 TMNT hack-and-slash movie tie-in. Dotemu has some retro pedigree, having published Streets of Rage 4, brought Windjammers back to life, and is helping to remake Pharaoh. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-shredders-revenge-screenshots&captions=true"] For more turtle-y goodness, check out our article covering every Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie, TV series and game. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge has been announced for PC and consoles. It's a 4-player co-op, side-scrolling brawler, developed by members of the Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game team. Inspired by games like 1991's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge offers a classic pixelated art style and "shell-shocking new abilities built on a foundation of classic brawling mechanics." Players will fight through "a breathless tour of iconic TMNT locations" such as the NYC sewers and Dimension X to thwart Bebop, Rocksteady, Krang and Shredder. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/10/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-shredders-revenge-official-reveal-trailer"] The trailer for Shredder's Revenge (above) also debuts a new take on the famous TMNT theme song, performed by Faith No More's Mike Patton. A release date for the game was not provided, but we know the game will come to PC and consoles when it launches. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge will be published by Dotemu in association with Nickelodeon, and is being developed by Tribute Games, whose previous work includes Flinthook and Mercenary Kings: Reloaded Edition. Tribute is made up of former Ubisoft employees who worked on beat-em-ups like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game and the 2007 TMNT hack-and-slash movie tie-in. Dotemu has some retro pedigree, having published Streets of Rage 4, brought Windjammers back to life, and is helping to remake Pharaoh. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-shredders-revenge-screenshots&captions=true"] For more turtle-y goodness, check out our article covering every Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie, TV series and game. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Games Workshop is giving away a dozen Warhammer PC games, plus some DLC, in the next issue of White Dwarf, the official Warhammer magazine. Available from Games Workshop, other magazine stockists, and FLGS (friendly local games stores), the March edition of White Dwarf contains a voucher code for Steam, which will redeem 12 free games, including favourites Total War: Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine. The code also redeems a 75% off voucher for 4X strategy Warhammer 40,000: Gladius, and a Legendary Khorne pack for Warhammer: Chaos & Conquest, a free-to-play MMORPG/strategy hybrid. The 12 games provided as part of the promotion are: Total War: Warhammer (plus the Call of the Beastmen DLC), Warhammer: 40,000: Dawn of War, Warhammer: 40,000: Space Marine, Warhammer: 40,000: Armageddon Da Orks, Warhammer: 40,000: Sanctus Reach, Warhammer: Vermintide 2, Warhammer: 40,000: Space Wolf, Warhammer Quest, Warhammer Quest 2: The End Times, Warhammer Underworlds Online, Adeptus Titanicus: Dominus, and Talisman: Digital Edition. As announced on the Warhammer Community site, the 462nd issue of White Dwarf will be available to buy from March 19, and can be pre-ordered from March 12. Importantly, the free games can only be claimed from a physical copy of White Dwarf, so if you get the magazine in digital format you won’t be able to get these games. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2016/05/19/total-war-warhammer-review"] As many fans of Games Workshop know, there are a mountain of Warhammer games out there, some great, some not so great. Thankfully, this code includes some of the best games set in the Warhammer universes; Vermintide 2 is a particularly great grab, and the original Dawn of War - while showing its age now - is continually beloved as one of the best video game representations of the 41st millennium. For more from Games Workshop in the digital space, check out our incredibly nerdy interview with the team behind Warhammer 40K: Darktide, as well as the details on the upcoming Total War: Warhammer 3. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. 

Games Workshop is giving away a dozen Warhammer PC games, plus some DLC, in the next issue of White Dwarf, the official Warhammer magazine. Available from Games Workshop, other magazine stockists, and FLGS (friendly local games stores), the March edition of White Dwarf contains a voucher code for Steam, which will redeem 12 free games, including favourites Total War: Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine. The code also redeems a 75% off voucher for 4X strategy Warhammer 40,000: Gladius, and a Legendary Khorne pack for Warhammer: Chaos & Conquest, a free-to-play MMORPG/strategy hybrid. The 12 games provided as part of the promotion are: Total War: Warhammer (plus the Call of the Beastmen DLC), Warhammer: 40,000: Dawn of War, Warhammer: 40,000: Space Marine, Warhammer: 40,000: Armageddon Da Orks, Warhammer: 40,000: Sanctus Reach, Warhammer: Vermintide 2, Warhammer: 40,000: Space Wolf, Warhammer Quest, Warhammer Quest 2: The End Times, Warhammer Underworlds Online, Adeptus Titanicus: Dominus, and Talisman: Digital Edition. As announced on the Warhammer Community site, the 462nd issue of White Dwarf will be available to buy from March 19, and can be pre-ordered from March 12. Importantly, the free games can only be claimed from a physical copy of White Dwarf, so if you get the magazine in digital format you won’t be able to get these games. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2016/05/19/total-war-warhammer-review"] As many fans of Games Workshop know, there are a mountain of Warhammer games out there, some great, some not so great. Thankfully, this code includes some of the best games set in the Warhammer universes; Vermintide 2 is a particularly great grab, and the original Dawn of War - while showing its age now - is continually beloved as one of the best video game representations of the 41st millennium. For more from Games Workshop in the digital space, check out our incredibly nerdy interview with the team behind Warhammer 40K: Darktide, as well as the details on the upcoming Total War: Warhammer 3. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. 

Out of the many delights that came from PS5 pack-in Astro’s Playroom, the unexpected earworm track from the GPU Jungle level may have just been the best surprise of them all. And, surprisingly, it was the first pieces of music that composer Kenny Young created as he put together Astro’s first score for PlayStation 5. That score will be available digitally on March 12, for those hoping to get that or any of Astro’s many other delightful songs stuck in their heads. But ahead of its launch, Young spoke to IGN about the process of creating the score and its biggest hits, like the GPU Jungle track, as well as why the game being a free download for every PS5 owner allowed the LittleBigPlanet and Astro Bot: Rescue Mission composer to take some risks he may not have otherwise. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/11/06/astros-playroom-review"] “After we'd finished working on Rescue Mission, [Creative Director Nicolas Doucet] and I had spoken quite a bit about how particularly the use of voice in the soundtrack for Rescue Mission seemed to add a human element to the soundtrack and to the project... and people seemed to really respond to that,” he explained. “[And] the fact that this game was going to be pre-installed in every PlayStation 5, that meant in some respects, the commercial pressure that would be there for a traditional product was kind of lifted because... We didn't have the weight of having to justify people's purchase decisions just through our product, and that meant that we could maybe afford to take a few creative risks on Astro's Playroom that otherwise, we might have been too scared to go there.” Taking those two ideas to heart, Young went about beginning to work on his second Astro Bot score. And while the soundtrack is full of infectious tunes, from the bouncy sounds of CPU Plaza that introduce players to Astro’s Playroom to the rhythmic grooves of SSD Speedway, Young’s process, perhaps somewhat unexpectedly, began with an idea that would be behind some of Playroom’s most recognizeable tracks. “I had been briefed on the project before I started working on it, a few months before. I was out for a run one morning and I was thinking about all these ideas and what was I going to do, and I had this idea of making the PlayStation 5 sing to the player, personifying the spirit of the PS5,” Young said. “And I came up with this lyric, ‘You remember me, I've been in your dreams,' which was this idea inspired by a lot of the original PlayStation 1 and PlayStation 2 advertisements which had a lot of dream-like imagery. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-best-ps5-games&captions=true"] “As it comes to pass, I didn't actually get to do that specific [lyrical] idea, but that really sowed the seed of the idea in my head when we were working on GPU Jungle, to make the GPU sing to the player.” But Young emphasizes that just because the conceit of the song came about naturally, it “wasn’t like I just wrote the song and that was it.” GPU Jungle went through several iterations before it became the track we all know and love. “I tried the obvious thing [first], which was a traditional, old-school approach to scoring the Jungle stage. And the feedback was, ‘That's a little bit too expected, what else can we do?’ They were also a little bit worried about maybe it being a little bit too kiddie...so, I then tried something a bit more contemporary and mainstream and that's when I started thinking about, ‘Okay, maybe this song idea's got legs.’" Young began to focus in on that idea of a more traditional song with lyrics, but jokingly admitted that his first attempt, as a kind of love song, “was a little too sensual,” and while the next iteration didn’t work either, it ended up becoming the basis for another piece of music in Playroom. “Then I did something that was a bit more clubby, and that didn't quite fit the GPU Jungle level because it was maybe a bit too serious in tone, of going from too kiddie to too serious, but the developers felt that might actually work in the CPU Plaza area, which didn't actually exist at that point, so I wasn't fully aware of it. And so that track in the hub area was originally [born from] one of the sketches for GPU Jungle," he said. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/11/11/astros-playroom-accolades-trailer"] “I tested the waters a bit and felt I could find some middle ground that would work, and we came back to the song idea. And it just seemed to all come together relatively quickly. I sent over a little sketch that was just me singing it in my voice, and I was excited about it because I was like, ‘Oh, this is cool, I think it's working,’” Young said. “It was not ready for primetime, but I think Nicolas was like, ‘Oh, yeah, it's a bit weird, but it's cool, and that might work.’ That was the first thing that I worked on for the whole game. So in a way that set the tone.” And that tone is one that runs throughout Astro’s Playroom’s charming soundtrack, which is often integrally built into the rest of the levels. Though Young admits he was unaware about the GPU Jungle Easter egg - the song’s lyrics are inscribed in areas of the level for players to find - he praised the wider Astro’s Playroom dev team for their ingenuity and the ways they found to make Young’s ideas work in the levels. “The song idea was mine and I don't think it was too much of a hard pitch to sell them into it, because I think they got it. Snd I think they already planned to put the GPU Mountain in to the vista, so getting them to make it actually  lip-sync to the music wasn't too much of an ask, I think they were quite excited about that idea,” Young explained from his side of things. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Spoilers for Astro’s Playroom’s Endgame Follow! [poilib element="accentDivider"] And on the subject of risks Young was able to take on the project, one of Astro’s Playroom’s biggest setpieces allowed the composer to find creative ways of paying homage to PlayStation history, which is often at the core of Playroom’s experience. Young explained how, in wanting to provide a memorable soundtrack for the final T-rex boss fight that serves as an homage to the original PS1 demo disc, he discussed his methods for making it as authentic as possible. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=64-playstation-game-easter-eggs-in-astros-playroom&captions=true"] “I went back to period synthesizers and sampled them and converted them over to the PlayStation 1's proprietary audio format to get some of that PS1 grit, and then impulse response of the PS1's reverb to try and get even closer to that kind of sound. And then in the track that follows that, it was all period '90s synths and percussion sounds to try to do the other kind of PlayStation 1 music approach, which is rather than the real-time, Final Fantasy 7 approach where you trigger memory-resident samples, it was like the red book CD audio approach, a bit like Wipeout, where you would just play the CD tracks. So I tried to do both approaches in there. “And I think for a lot of people, that would go over their head, particularly people who have never had a PlayStation 1, but you don't need everything to land home with every single player. Some people will spot stuff and get super excited about it or emotional about something that they remember from their youth.” Young’s risks, of course, paid off with a score that will be available for those who want to listen digitally if they’ve already mastered Astro’s Playroom. But Young explained how he was excited by the prospect of composing for a game that will be available to everyone who buys a PS5, not just at launch but for years to come. “It's nice when you realize you're able to do something that you probably couldn't do on other projects, and then you can dial it up and make it your own. The nice thing about the game being pre-installed on PS5 is that it's this great opportunity to really find an audience,” he said. “At the beginning of the project, it took me a long time to get my head around the fact that, I don't know what percentage of people who buy a PS5 actually boot up Playroom, but it's probably the majority, so you can say within the lifetime of the console, at the very least, it's potentially going to be 10’s of millions of people checking it out. It’s mind-blowing, but such a great opportunity.” For more on Astro's Playroom, check out our guide on where to find Astro's many PlayStation Easter eggs and be sure to read our Astro's Playroom review if you haven't yet played. [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.

Out of the many delights that came from PS5 pack-in Astro’s Playroom, the unexpected earworm track from the GPU Jungle level may have just been the best surprise of them all. And, surprisingly, it was the first pieces of music that composer Kenny Young created as he put together Astro’s first score for PlayStation 5. That score will be available digitally on March 12, for those hoping to get that or any of Astro’s many other delightful songs stuck in their heads. But ahead of its launch, Young spoke to IGN about the process of creating the score and its biggest hits, like the GPU Jungle track, as well as why the game being a free download for every PS5 owner allowed the LittleBigPlanet and Astro Bot: Rescue Mission composer to take some risks he may not have otherwise. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/11/06/astros-playroom-review"] “After we'd finished working on Rescue Mission, [Creative Director Nicolas Doucet] and I had spoken quite a bit about how particularly the use of voice in the soundtrack for Rescue Mission seemed to add a human element to the soundtrack and to the project... and people seemed to really respond to that,” he explained. “[And] the fact that this game was going to be pre-installed in every PlayStation 5, that meant in some respects, the commercial pressure that would be there for a traditional product was kind of lifted because... We didn't have the weight of having to justify people's purchase decisions just through our product, and that meant that we could maybe afford to take a few creative risks on Astro's Playroom that otherwise, we might have been too scared to go there.” Taking those two ideas to heart, Young went about beginning to work on his second Astro Bot score. And while the soundtrack is full of infectious tunes, from the bouncy sounds of CPU Plaza that introduce players to Astro’s Playroom to the rhythmic grooves of SSD Speedway, Young’s process, perhaps somewhat unexpectedly, began with an idea that would be behind some of Playroom’s most recognizeable tracks. “I had been briefed on the project before I started working on it, a few months before. I was out for a run one morning and I was thinking about all these ideas and what was I going to do, and I had this idea of making the PlayStation 5 sing to the player, personifying the spirit of the PS5,” Young said. “And I came up with this lyric, ‘You remember me, I've been in your dreams,' which was this idea inspired by a lot of the original PlayStation 1 and PlayStation 2 advertisements which had a lot of dream-like imagery. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-best-ps5-games&captions=true"] “As it comes to pass, I didn't actually get to do that specific [lyrical] idea, but that really sowed the seed of the idea in my head when we were working on GPU Jungle, to make the GPU sing to the player.” But Young emphasizes that just because the conceit of the song came about naturally, it “wasn’t like I just wrote the song and that was it.” GPU Jungle went through several iterations before it became the track we all know and love. “I tried the obvious thing [first], which was a traditional, old-school approach to scoring the Jungle stage. And the feedback was, ‘That's a little bit too expected, what else can we do?’ They were also a little bit worried about maybe it being a little bit too kiddie...so, I then tried something a bit more contemporary and mainstream and that's when I started thinking about, ‘Okay, maybe this song idea's got legs.’" Young began to focus in on that idea of a more traditional song with lyrics, but jokingly admitted that his first attempt, as a kind of love song, “was a little too sensual,” and while the next iteration didn’t work either, it ended up becoming the basis for another piece of music in Playroom. “Then I did something that was a bit more clubby, and that didn't quite fit the GPU Jungle level because it was maybe a bit too serious in tone, of going from too kiddie to too serious, but the developers felt that might actually work in the CPU Plaza area, which didn't actually exist at that point, so I wasn't fully aware of it. And so that track in the hub area was originally [born from] one of the sketches for GPU Jungle," he said. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/11/11/astros-playroom-accolades-trailer"] “I tested the waters a bit and felt I could find some middle ground that would work, and we came back to the song idea. And it just seemed to all come together relatively quickly. I sent over a little sketch that was just me singing it in my voice, and I was excited about it because I was like, ‘Oh, this is cool, I think it's working,’” Young said. “It was not ready for primetime, but I think Nicolas was like, ‘Oh, yeah, it's a bit weird, but it's cool, and that might work.’ That was the first thing that I worked on for the whole game. So in a way that set the tone.” And that tone is one that runs throughout Astro’s Playroom’s charming soundtrack, which is often integrally built into the rest of the levels. Though Young admits he was unaware about the GPU Jungle Easter egg - the song’s lyrics are inscribed in areas of the level for players to find - he praised the wider Astro’s Playroom dev team for their ingenuity and the ways they found to make Young’s ideas work in the levels. “The song idea was mine and I don't think it was too much of a hard pitch to sell them into it, because I think they got it. Snd I think they already planned to put the GPU Mountain in to the vista, so getting them to make it actually  lip-sync to the music wasn't too much of an ask, I think they were quite excited about that idea,” Young explained from his side of things. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Spoilers for Astro’s Playroom’s Endgame Follow! [poilib element="accentDivider"] And on the subject of risks Young was able to take on the project, one of Astro’s Playroom’s biggest setpieces allowed the composer to find creative ways of paying homage to PlayStation history, which is often at the core of Playroom’s experience. Young explained how, in wanting to provide a memorable soundtrack for the final T-rex boss fight that serves as an homage to the original PS1 demo disc, he discussed his methods for making it as authentic as possible. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=64-playstation-game-easter-eggs-in-astros-playroom&captions=true"] “I went back to period synthesizers and sampled them and converted them over to the PlayStation 1's proprietary audio format to get some of that PS1 grit, and then impulse response of the PS1's reverb to try and get even closer to that kind of sound. And then in the track that follows that, it was all period '90s synths and percussion sounds to try to do the other kind of PlayStation 1 music approach, which is rather than the real-time, Final Fantasy 7 approach where you trigger memory-resident samples, it was like the red book CD audio approach, a bit like Wipeout, where you would just play the CD tracks. So I tried to do both approaches in there. “And I think for a lot of people, that would go over their head, particularly people who have never had a PlayStation 1, but you don't need everything to land home with every single player. Some people will spot stuff and get super excited about it or emotional about something that they remember from their youth.” Young’s risks, of course, paid off with a score that will be available for those who want to listen digitally if they’ve already mastered Astro’s Playroom. But Young explained how he was excited by the prospect of composing for a game that will be available to everyone who buys a PS5, not just at launch but for years to come. “It's nice when you realize you're able to do something that you probably couldn't do on other projects, and then you can dial it up and make it your own. The nice thing about the game being pre-installed on PS5 is that it's this great opportunity to really find an audience,” he said. “At the beginning of the project, it took me a long time to get my head around the fact that, I don't know what percentage of people who buy a PS5 actually boot up Playroom, but it's probably the majority, so you can say within the lifetime of the console, at the very least, it's potentially going to be 10’s of millions of people checking it out. It’s mind-blowing, but such a great opportunity.” For more on Astro's Playroom, check out our guide on where to find Astro's many PlayStation Easter eggs and be sure to read our Astro's Playroom review if you haven't yet played. [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.