PlayStation has filed a patent for technology that lets audience members participate in virtual reality content, making decisions for the active player. Or, you know, just messing with them. The patent was filed in October of 2020 but was recently published. You can find the front page with a useful illustration of the technology in action on the US Patent and Trademark Office website. [caption id="attachment_246714" align="aligncenter" width="720"] Audience Participation Trademark Imagery[/caption] The patent's copy talks about how audience members will be able to participate in games while another user is immersed within virtual reality. They will be able to make decisions for the player via "spectator devices," probably mobile phones, in a manner similar to PlayStation's PlayLink technology, used in games like Hidden Agenda and That's You. It looks like you'll be able to help or screw over the main player in virtual reality, depending on the available choices. According to the patent, this will "augment the VR scene based on the spectator inputs in response to the interactive content of the audience participation content." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/30/psvr-patent-filed-for-ads-in-your-vr-headset-ign-daily-fix-"] In the provided example, we can see one user inside of virtual reality, while four friends are on the sofa behind them. On the screen visible to the audience is a voting prompt, which allows them to pick between a sword, a monster or a soup ladle. This choice is registered on the spectator devices and then sent to the player inside of virtual reality, who sees the prompt "spectators have given you a soup ladle." It's not clear whether the VR user knows about the options available or not, but that would certainly add to the mischievous nature of this interesting technology. The idea immediately conjures images of spectators being able to send unwitting players down bad paths in a horror game or making story decisions for them in a narrative experience. Honestly, it just sounds really fun. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=top-25-psvr-games&captions=true"] As with all patents, the fact this was filed doesn't necessarily indicate that Sony will go any further with development, but it's another indication that the company is actively thinking about where to go next with its VR products. In other PlayStation patent news, a patent revealed in September of 2020 suggested that the next PSVR headset could have Oculus-esque inside-out tracking. As of writing, the PSVR is only available on the PlayStation 5 via backwards compatibility, with Sony's plans for the platform going forward still shrouded in mystery. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

PlayStation has filed a patent for technology that lets audience members participate in virtual reality content, making decisions for the active player. Or, you know, just messing with them. The patent was filed in October of 2020 but was recently published. You can find the front page with a useful illustration of the technology in action on the US Patent and Trademark Office website. [caption id="attachment_246714" align="aligncenter" width="720"] Audience Participation Trademark Imagery[/caption] The patent's copy talks about how audience members will be able to participate in games while another user is immersed within virtual reality. They will be able to make decisions for the player via "spectator devices," probably mobile phones, in a manner similar to PlayStation's PlayLink technology, used in games like Hidden Agenda and That's You. It looks like you'll be able to help or screw over the main player in virtual reality, depending on the available choices. According to the patent, this will "augment the VR scene based on the spectator inputs in response to the interactive content of the audience participation content." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/30/psvr-patent-filed-for-ads-in-your-vr-headset-ign-daily-fix-"] In the provided example, we can see one user inside of virtual reality, while four friends are on the sofa behind them. On the screen visible to the audience is a voting prompt, which allows them to pick between a sword, a monster or a soup ladle. This choice is registered on the spectator devices and then sent to the player inside of virtual reality, who sees the prompt "spectators have given you a soup ladle." It's not clear whether the VR user knows about the options available or not, but that would certainly add to the mischievous nature of this interesting technology. The idea immediately conjures images of spectators being able to send unwitting players down bad paths in a horror game or making story decisions for them in a narrative experience. Honestly, it just sounds really fun. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=top-25-psvr-games&captions=true"] As with all patents, the fact this was filed doesn't necessarily indicate that Sony will go any further with development, but it's another indication that the company is actively thinking about where to go next with its VR products. In other PlayStation patent news, a patent revealed in September of 2020 suggested that the next PSVR headset could have Oculus-esque inside-out tracking. As of writing, the PSVR is only available on the PlayStation 5 via backwards compatibility, with Sony's plans for the platform going forward still shrouded in mystery. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

UPDATE: HBO Max has now confirmed that Zack Snyder's Justice League will be released as a "full-length Max Original feature film" when it premieres on the streaming platform on March 18, which finally puts to rest the speculation over whether the movie will release as a single four-hour feature or four-parts. This announcement came with the debut of three new teaser posters - outlined in our original story below. [poilib element="accentDivider"] ORIGINAL STORY: Zack Snyder has officially confirmed that his cut of Justice League will be released on HBO Max on March 18. The filmmaker took to Twitter on Friday to share three new monochrome posters for his version of Justice League, captioned "fallen," "risen," and "reborn." The first poster features a shattered Justice League symbol whilst the second image draws inspiration from 1992's The Death of Superman cover. The final poster shows a film canister with Snyder's name emblazoned on the front, highlighted in red. [caption id="attachment_2467154" align="alignnone" width="1080"] Image credit: Twitter/ZackSnyder[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2467156" align="alignnone" width="1080"] Image credit: Twitter/ZackSnyder[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2467157" align="alignnone" width="1080"] Image credit: Twitter/ZackSnyder[/caption] The posters also confirm that Snyder's Justice League will be available to stream on HBO Max from March 18, 2021. The movie is currently expected to drop as a single feature with a four-hour runtime, as Snyder previously suggested that his Justice League cut would be released as a "one-shot" movie, seemingly opposed to the limited multi-part series that was announced at DC FanDome last summer. Snyder's comments aren't entirely black-and-white, though. It's very possible that he phrased the Justice League release plans in such a way as to indicate that all four hour-long episodes will be dropping simultaneously, giving viewers the option to watch the Snyder Cut in one continuous block rather than splitting it up and releasing the episodes one-by-one as part of a streaming schedule. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/08/21/the-true-story-behind-the-snyder-cut"] With the release date now locked in, we can expect more details to emerge over the coming weeks, as the movie's marketing campaign steadily picks up pace. We've already been served a slice of the action in an updated trailer for the movie, which debuted a few blink-and-you'll-miss-them moments from the likes of Darkseid, Superman, and Cyborg. Altogether, the Snyder Cut of Justice League is said to include around 150 minutes of unseen footage, comprised of "four or five minutes of additional photography", original footage from the theatrical release, and elements that ended up on the cutting room floor. It has also been made clear that it will not feature a "single frame" from Joss Whedon's reshoots. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=justice-league-snyder-cut-all-the-known-differences-from-the-theatrical-version&captions=true"] There are several confirmed differences that the Snyder Cut will offer, click through our slideshow above for more details or read our individual stories about the new design for Darkseid's herald Steppenwolf, the cut dialogue from Superman and Batman's confrontation, and Joe Manganiello's role as Deathstroke in the Justice League reshoots, which reportedly cost $70 Million. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

UPDATE: HBO Max has now confirmed that Zack Snyder's Justice League will be released as a "full-length Max Original feature film" when it premieres on the streaming platform on March 18, which finally puts to rest the speculation over whether the movie will release as a single four-hour feature or four-parts. This announcement came with the debut of three new teaser posters - outlined in our original story below. [poilib element="accentDivider"] ORIGINAL STORY: Zack Snyder has officially confirmed that his cut of Justice League will be released on HBO Max on March 18. The filmmaker took to Twitter on Friday to share three new monochrome posters for his version of Justice League, captioned "fallen," "risen," and "reborn." The first poster features a shattered Justice League symbol whilst the second image draws inspiration from 1992's The Death of Superman cover. The final poster shows a film canister with Snyder's name emblazoned on the front, highlighted in red. [caption id="attachment_2467154" align="alignnone" width="1080"] Image credit: Twitter/ZackSnyder[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2467156" align="alignnone" width="1080"] Image credit: Twitter/ZackSnyder[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2467157" align="alignnone" width="1080"] Image credit: Twitter/ZackSnyder[/caption] The posters also confirm that Snyder's Justice League will be available to stream on HBO Max from March 18, 2021. The movie is currently expected to drop as a single feature with a four-hour runtime, as Snyder previously suggested that his Justice League cut would be released as a "one-shot" movie, seemingly opposed to the limited multi-part series that was announced at DC FanDome last summer. Snyder's comments aren't entirely black-and-white, though. It's very possible that he phrased the Justice League release plans in such a way as to indicate that all four hour-long episodes will be dropping simultaneously, giving viewers the option to watch the Snyder Cut in one continuous block rather than splitting it up and releasing the episodes one-by-one as part of a streaming schedule. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/08/21/the-true-story-behind-the-snyder-cut"] With the release date now locked in, we can expect more details to emerge over the coming weeks, as the movie's marketing campaign steadily picks up pace. We've already been served a slice of the action in an updated trailer for the movie, which debuted a few blink-and-you'll-miss-them moments from the likes of Darkseid, Superman, and Cyborg. Altogether, the Snyder Cut of Justice League is said to include around 150 minutes of unseen footage, comprised of "four or five minutes of additional photography", original footage from the theatrical release, and elements that ended up on the cutting room floor. It has also been made clear that it will not feature a "single frame" from Joss Whedon's reshoots. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=justice-league-snyder-cut-all-the-known-differences-from-the-theatrical-version&captions=true"] There are several confirmed differences that the Snyder Cut will offer, click through our slideshow above for more details or read our individual stories about the new design for Darkseid's herald Steppenwolf, the cut dialogue from Superman and Batman's confrontation, and Joe Manganiello's role as Deathstroke in the Justice League reshoots, which reportedly cost $70 Million. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

Update 01/29/2021: The European Commission has confirmed that it will consider complaints into Nintendo Switch Joy-Con Drift, potentially launching further investigation and "coordinated action". Speaking to IGN, a European Commission (EC) spokesperson explained: "The European Commission will carefully consider all the elements brought forward by BEUC together with the national consumer authorities in the coming weeks to assess the need for further investigation into the matter and a possible coordinated action as foreseen under the Consumer protection cooperation (CPC) regulation." Asked what that coordinated action could involve, the EC spokesperson pointed to previous cases, in which companies were compelled to change their practices after being deemed to have broken EU consumer law. The original complaint called for Nintendo to offer free repairs to existing Joy-Cons, and to change the design in future models to prevent drift – the EC has made no mention of what it could enforce. Didier Reynders, Commissioner for Justice provided a statement on the investigation centring on the idea of early obsolescence, in which companies are seen to create products that begin failing early, necessitating replacement or repair: “Early obsolescence is a growing concern for all consumers. The Commission is determined to act against such trends and to empower consumers in the green transition. We are preparing a new legislative initiative aiming to provide consumers with better information on products’ sustainability, including durability, and better protection against certain practices, such as early obsolescence.” It's not the first time Nintendo's fallen under EC scrutiny. In 2002, the Commission imposed a €149 million fine against the company for price-fixing, which was later reduced to €119 million on appeal. The EC has also recently levied fines on a number of game companies, including Valve, for geo-blocking games on digital services. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/07/23/nintendos-non-response-to-joy-con-drift-ign-now"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] The European Consumer Organization has submitted a complaint to the European Commission about Nintendo Switch Joy-Con Drift, and is calling for a "Europe-wide investigation" into the issue. The European Consumer Organization (BEUC) revealed the news on the organization's website, noting that "nearly 25,000" complaints have been filed from Switch-owning consumers across Europe. If you're unfamiliar with Joy-Con drift, it's when the analog sticks on the console's controllers register movements without input from the player. The article reports that, according to testimonies from consumers, "in 88% of cases, the game controllers broke within the first two years of use." This has led the BEUC to submit a complaint to the European Commission and national consumer protection authorities "for premature obsolescence and misleading omissions of key consumer information." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/14/joy-con-drift-is-still-a-huge-issue-nvc-508"] The BEUC is further calling for a "Europe-wide investigation" into the Joy-Con Drift issue, asking Nintendo to "urgently address the premature failures of its product." The article also suggests that the faulty controllers should be repaired for free by Nintendo. Per the complaint letter submitted, the BEUC is asking the European Commission to "call on the national authorities to investigate Nintendo’s practices in their countries, launch a coordinated enforcement action and issue a joint position, which should request the company to change the design of their product, to effectively prevent its early obsolescence, and until then, to repair this product for free and properly inform consumers about the limited lifespan of the Joy-Con controllers." "Consumers assume the products they buy to last an appropriate amount of time according to justified expectations, not to have to pay for expensive replacements due to a technical defect," said Monique Goyens, Director of the BEUC. "Nintendo must now come up with proper solutions for the thousands of consumers affected by this problem." Nintendo has been facing legal trouble over the issue in Europe, Canada and the US recently, with Canadian law firm lambert Avocat filing an application to bring a class-action suit against Nintendo in January of this year. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

An engineer working on Halo Infinite has explained how the game will be optimized to run well on all platforms, and not just Xbox One. In the latest 'Inside Infinite' development blog for January 2021, Game Foundation Architect Danielle Giannetti discussed how the studio rebuilt the "engine multi-threading solution" to ensure the game runs optimally across every device that it is launching on - Xbox One, Xbox Series X & S, and PC. "For Halo Infinite, we rebuilt the engine multi-threading solution to ensure high execution efficiency across all platforms and PCs, instead of running optimally just on Xbox One," Giannetti explained. "We used this new system to transition the renderer to a massively parallel multi-threaded framework to support the increased cost of all our new rendering features and achieve high graphics efficiency on PC CPUs of various size as well as Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One X/S hardware." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/08/11/halo-infinite-delayed-to-2021"] What this suggests is that even though the game will be launching on last-gen consoles, players shouldn't expect too many compromises on more powerful devices because of that. On the flip side, back in 2019, the Halo's Franchise Development Director Frank O'Connor said that the Xbox One "is not going to be a second-class citizen" when it comes to how the last-gen console will run Halo Infinite. Gianetti's explanation doubles down on 343's promise and gives us an idea of how that works from a technical perspective. Clearly, it's still something of great importance to the team as the game soldiers on through development, as the team has completely rebuilt some of its tools to ensure you won't miss out if you haven't got a next-gen console or a PC.  "We are doing our very best to make sure Halo Infinite runs optimally on any device you may choose to play on," Giannetti added. It's particularly important after an initial look at Halo Infinite drew criticism for its visual quality. Elsewhere in the blog, we learned that Halo Infinite will feature a rebuilt, customizable control scheme. The game is currently slated to launch in Fall 2021, after being delayed out of the launch window for the Xbox Series X and S. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

An engineer working on Halo Infinite has explained how the game will be optimized to run well on all platforms, and not just Xbox One. In the latest 'Inside Infinite' development blog for January 2021, Game Foundation Architect Danielle Giannetti discussed how the studio rebuilt the "engine multi-threading solution" to ensure the game runs optimally across every device that it is launching on - Xbox One, Xbox Series X & S, and PC. "For Halo Infinite, we rebuilt the engine multi-threading solution to ensure high execution efficiency across all platforms and PCs, instead of running optimally just on Xbox One," Giannetti explained. "We used this new system to transition the renderer to a massively parallel multi-threaded framework to support the increased cost of all our new rendering features and achieve high graphics efficiency on PC CPUs of various size as well as Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One X/S hardware." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/08/11/halo-infinite-delayed-to-2021"] What this suggests is that even though the game will be launching on last-gen consoles, players shouldn't expect too many compromises on more powerful devices because of that. On the flip side, back in 2019, the Halo's Franchise Development Director Frank O'Connor said that the Xbox One "is not going to be a second-class citizen" when it comes to how the last-gen console will run Halo Infinite. Gianetti's explanation doubles down on 343's promise and gives us an idea of how that works from a technical perspective. Clearly, it's still something of great importance to the team as the game soldiers on through development, as the team has completely rebuilt some of its tools to ensure you won't miss out if you haven't got a next-gen console or a PC.  "We are doing our very best to make sure Halo Infinite runs optimally on any device you may choose to play on," Giannetti added. It's particularly important after an initial look at Halo Infinite drew criticism for its visual quality. Elsewhere in the blog, we learned that Halo Infinite will feature a rebuilt, customizable control scheme. The game is currently slated to launch in Fall 2021, after being delayed out of the launch window for the Xbox Series X and S. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi will step down as Sega's Chief Creative Officer, and take on the role of creative director – a move being seen by some as taking Nagoshi closer to active game development, as opposed to a supervisory role. Announced in a press release, the move comes among several changes in executive staff at Sega, and a wider restructure – although parent company Sega Sammy makes clear that there have been "no changes in the names, locations, business content, capital or fiscal year end" of Sega's companies as a result of the changes. No specific reasoning has been given for Nagoshi's change in role, but many have taken it to mean that the creator will be moving back into more active development. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/11/04/yakuza-like-a-dragon-review"] Nagoshi is most famous for creating the Yakuza series, and subsequently founding the Ryu Ga Gotoku development studio, which develops the series for Sega. He also created Daytona USA, Virtua Striker, Super Monkey Ball, and Binary Domain, among many other credits. In recent years, his role has been less hands-on, serving as executive director on every Yakuza game since 2015's Yakuza 0. We awarded the latest Ryu Ga Gotoku game, Yakuza: Like a Dragon with a 7/10 review, saying it "takes some bold steps in a new direction for the series but neglects to maintain its balance." [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News, and he desperately wants you to play Binary Domain. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi will step down as Sega's Chief Creative Officer, and take on the role of creative director – a move being seen by some as taking Nagoshi closer to active game development, as opposed to a supervisory role. Announced in a press release, the move comes among several changes in executive staff at Sega, and a wider restructure – although parent company Sega Sammy makes clear that there have been "no changes in the names, locations, business content, capital or fiscal year end" of Sega's companies as a result of the changes. No specific reasoning has been given for Nagoshi's change in role, but many have taken it to mean that the creator will be moving back into more active development. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/11/04/yakuza-like-a-dragon-review"] Nagoshi is most famous for creating the Yakuza series, and subsequently founding the Ryu Ga Gotoku development studio, which develops the series for Sega. He also created Daytona USA, Virtua Striker, Super Monkey Ball, and Binary Domain, among many other credits. In recent years, his role has been less hands-on, serving as executive director on every Yakuza game since 2015's Yakuza 0. We awarded the latest Ryu Ga Gotoku game, Yakuza: Like a Dragon with a 7/10 review, saying it "takes some bold steps in a new direction for the series but neglects to maintain its balance." [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News, and he desperately wants you to play Binary Domain. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

G4 has officially confirmed that X-Play and Attack of the Show! will be returning in Summer 2021. The news was confirmed on G4's Twitter in a teaser video that featured the show's logos, the voice of X-Play host Adam Sessler, and the text "We heard you. The legends return. Summer 2021. We never stopped playing."

pic.twitter.com/OnZt0cqfgM

— G4TV (@G4TV) January 28, 2021

G4 first revealed its intention to return in the middle of 2020 during Comic-Con@Home on IGN Live, and since then, WWE's Xavier Woods has joined as a new host and Olivia Munn has been in talks to rejoin as a host. X-Play was a TV show known for its video game reviews and was on air from 1988 to 2013. Throughout the years, it was hosted by Adam Sessler, Morgan Webb, Blair Herter, Jessica Chobot, Lauren Fielder, Kristin Adams, and more. Attack of the Show! was a live TV show all about the best in pop culture. It did feature video game coverage, but was much broader than X-Play and also discussed news headlines, tech, movies, and more. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/24/g4-2021-return-teaser"] Attack of the Show! aired from 2005 to 2013 and was hosted by Kevin Pereira, Olivia Munn, Alison Haislip, Candace Bailey, Sara Jean Underwood, Kevin Rose, and more. [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.