PS5’s Backward Compatibility Is Even More Confusing Now
PlayStation 5's full backward compatibility potential has remained somewhat of a mystery as Sony has not confirmed or denied any potential for support beyond PS4 games, but a recent, and now updated support page from Ubisoft, has further muddied the waters about what past generations the PS5 will or won't be potentially backward compatible with.
A Ubisoft Support Q&A page, in response to a question about upgrading games from PS4 to PS5, as spotted by Wario64 and confirmed by IGN, originally said that "Backwards compatibility will be available for supported PlayStation 4 titles, but will not be possible for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, or PlayStation games."
The page has since been updated to remove all mention of backward compatibility or prior PlayStation generations of hardware. It only continues to mention the upgrade process moving into the PS5, as well as that PS4 players will be able to play multiplayer games with PS5 players. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/ps5-series-x-price-and-release-date-have-sony-and-microsoft-waited-too-long-next-gen-console-watch"] PS5's backward compatibility has been a murky topic for those looking forward to PlayStation's next-generation hardware. Sony began talking about PS5's backward compatibility potential earlier this year, confirming that the "majority" of PS4 games would be playable on PS5. However, that confirmation came after an unclear first discussion of its compatibility, in which Sony's Mark Cerny seemed to imply only most of the top 100 PS4 games would be playable. Sony later clarified with follow-ups about most of this generation being playable on the PS5, and that Cerny was only using the top 100 games as an example. Yet the company has still not outright confirmed whether older generations will be playable on PS5, a feature not included on the PS4, but one the Xbox Series X touts for parts of its library from for all previous Xbox generations. And patents that surfaced earlier this year also suggested PlayStation could support backward compatibility for those older systems via the cloud, leading many to hope for those past Sony consoles' games to be supported on PS5. IGN has reached out to Sony for comment on whether the PS1 through PS3 libraries will be backward compatible on PS5 and will update this story should they respond. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=confirmed-playstation-5-games&captions=true"] Speaking of the cloud, however, Sony does have one existing way to play several generations of PlayStation games on PS4 — PlayStation Now, its subscription streaming service, which features PS2, PS3, and PS4 games. PS2 and PS4 games can even be downloaded to play offline. With PS Now looking to continue into the future, that could be one potential outlet for Sony to offer its back catalog, even if the system itself does not inherently offer backward compatibility with discs or PSN downloads. For more, be sure to read our deep dive into PlayStation's history with backward compatibility. The PlayStation 5 is still set for a holiday release, but the PS5 is not yet available for preorder, however Sony is offering fans a chance to sign up to be the first to preorder a PS5. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jonathon Dornbush is IGN's Senior News Editor, PlayStation lead, and host of Podcast Beyond! Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush.PS5 is not backwards compatible with PS3/PS2/PS1 games, according to a Ubisoft supprot page https://t.co/j1wTcAApZ3 pic.twitter.com/hnbpndATPi
— Wario64 (@Wario64) August 31, 2020
Rocky 4: Stallone’s Director’s Cut Scraps Paulie’s Robot
Sylvester Stallone announced over the weekend that Paulie's robot will be cut from the director's cut of Rocky IV.
Rocky IV came out in 1985 and Stallone is celebrating its 35th anniversary on November 27 with a director's cut of the boxing movie. He talked about this new cut on Instagram over the weekend and showcased a beautiful piece of art highlighting Rocky's bout with Ivan Drago, which you can check out here.
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"For the 35th anniversary Rocky 4 is getting a new DIRECTORS cut by me," Stallone said in the Instagram post. "So far, it looks great. Soulful...Thank you MGM for this opportunity to entertain."
While the prospect of a director's cut of Rocky IV is exciting, longtime fans of the movie will likely be saddened to learn that Paulie's robot will be cut entirely from the movie. Stallone responded to a comment on the Instagram post, saying, "the robot is going to the junkyard forever."
If you don't remember the robot in question, it's gifted to Paulie Pennino, who is one of Rocky's close friends, as a gift from Rocky on Paulie's birthday. It's here that Paulie said the now infamous, "I wanted a sports car for my birthday, not no walking trash can" line. This robot was admittedly a very strange inclusion in the film and certainly dates the film now upon a rewatch, but it is nonetheless part of this classic movie.
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Stallone will possibly hear from people unhappy about this – like the commenter that asked about the robot on Instagram in the first place – but something tells us fans of the movie are willing to say goodbye to the robot if it means they get a new cut of Rocky IV.
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Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.
Hasbro PulseCon to Spotlight New Marvel, Star Wars, Transformers Toys
Hasbro has announced Hasbro PulseCon, a new virtual, Comic-Con-style event aimed at showcasing upcoming releases and exclusives collectibles.
Hasbro PulseCon will feature many of the company's perennial franchises like Marvel, Star Wars, Transformers, Power Rangers, Ghostbusters and Magic: The Gathering. The event will also focus on a newer addition to the Hasbro lineup, giving fans a glimpse of what's to come from Hasbro's future Dungeons & Dragons releases.
With Hasbro sitting out Comic-Con@Home this year, Hasbro PulseCon will also serve as an outlet for a number of different exclusive collectibles, including a Marvel Legends box set featuring X-Men villains The Hellfire Club and a Snake Supreme version of Cobra Commander. Check out the slideshow gallery below to see all the exclusives being offered:
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Hasbro PulseCon is hosted by SyFy Wire's Jackie Jennings and will feature a number of panels, unboxings, interviews, product giveaways and audience Q&A's. The event will run on September 25 and 26 and will stream exclusively on Hasbro Pulse's YouTube channel.
“We are constantly impressed by our fan community and their unwavering passion for Hasbro brands. The Hasbro Pulse community was built with them in mind, and we’re excited to take fan-first engagement with our Pulse platform even deeper,” says Hasbro's Chief Consumer Officer Eric Nyman in a statement. “We’re looking forward to celebrating the fans, providing community connection at a time where everyone needs it most, and ultimately delivering a peek behind the curtain on their favorite brands in a way only Hasbro can.”
This is the latest example of a company hosting a virtual convention in lieu of a traditional Comic-Con appearance. DC FanDome just gave us our first looks at The Batman, Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League and Justice League: The Snyder Cut, while a second FanDome event in September will spotlight upcoming CW series like Batwoman: Season 2 and Superman & Lois.
Other recent virtual conventions include Skybound Xpo and Comic-Con@Home.
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In other recent Hasbro news, the company is going all-in on X-Men movie toys and kicking off a new themed series called Star Wars: Celebrate the Saga. Hasbro also recently kicked off a crowdfunding promotion for a massive Marvel Legends Sentinel figure, one which blew through its original goal in a matter of hours.
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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.
Crusader Kings 3 Review
There was a naked man in my court.
On June 14, 1073 AD, my steward, vassal and knight, Earl Muiredach mac Carthach of Desmond arrived at the meeting of my small council dressed only in, well... his birthday suit. This was the man I'd entrusted to manage the paperwork of my realm, to ensure taxes were being collected. Was this newfound fashion choice a portent of his impending madness? Was it some bold power move designed to put me off my game? A sign of the contempt in which he held his ruler? Or was it a bug, a highly specific graphical glitch that just happened to leave one of my councillors undressed? I didn't know.
Perhaps it's a credit to Crusader Kings 3 that I didn't have an immediate answer, a sign of the depth and complexity of its simulation and its capacity for surprise. Perhaps it was also a failing, a breakdown somewhere between the calculations of a mass of colliding gameplay systems and how their results were communicated to me. Perhaps it's both. Regardless, this memorable event served only to highlight the singular vision of Crusader Kings 3, a grand strategy game that successfully operates across a bewildering scale, feeling vast and unknowable one moment yet awkwardly intimate the next. It's a marvel of connectivity, effectively linking together complementary elements plucked from different genres--the role-playing game, the visual novel, the life simulation, the city-builder, the wargame--even if at times you can sense it straining at the seams.
Continue Reading at GameSpotCrusader Kings 3 Review
There was a naked man in my court.
On June 14, 1073 AD, my steward, vassal and knight, Earl Muiredach mac Carthach of Desmond arrived at the meeting of my small council dressed only in, well... his birthday suit. This was the man I'd entrusted to manage the paperwork of my realm, to ensure taxes were being collected. Was this newfound fashion choice a portent of his impending madness? Was it some bold power move designed to put me off my game? A sign of the contempt in which he held his ruler? Or was it a bug, a highly specific graphical glitch that just happened to leave one of my councillors undressed? I didn't know.
Perhaps it's a credit to Crusader Kings 3 that I didn't have an immediate answer, a sign of the depth and complexity of its simulation and its capacity for surprise. Perhaps it was also a failing, a breakdown somewhere between the calculations of a mass of colliding gameplay systems and how their results were communicated to me. Perhaps it's both. Regardless, this memorable event served only to highlight the singular vision of Crusader Kings 3, a grand strategy game that successfully operates across a bewildering scale, feeling vast and unknowable one moment yet awkwardly intimate the next. It's a marvel of connectivity, effectively linking together complementary elements plucked from different genres--the role-playing game, the visual novel, the life simulation, the city-builder, the wargame--even if at times you can sense it straining at the seams.
Continue Reading at GameSpotWatch the Chilling First Trailer for Netflix’s Haunting of Bly Manor
Netflix has released the chilling first trailer for The Haunting of Bly Manor - the second season of Mike Flanagan's horror anthology series which began with The Haunting of Hill House. Season 2 of The Haunting series will be released on October 9 and is loosely based on the 1898 horror novel The Turn of the Screw by Henry James.
Expect creepy children singing creepy songs and playing with creepy dolls, a beautiful but creepy country estate, and some very creepy things moving around in the dark. Watch the Haunting of Bly Manor trailer above or below:
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Here's how Netflix describes The Haunting of Bly Manor, which is set in 1980s England: "After an au pair’s tragic death, Henry Wingrave (Henry Thomas) hires a young American nanny (Victoria Pedretti) to care for his orphaned niece and nephew (Amelie Bea Smith, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) who reside at Bly Manor with the estate’s chef Owen (Rahul Kohli), groundskeeper Jamie (Amelia Eve) and housekeeper, Mrs. Grose (T’Nia Miller). But all is not as it seems at the manor, and centuries of dark secrets of love and loss are waiting to be unearthed in this chilling gothic romance. At Bly Manor, dead doesn’t mean gone."
Several cast members from The Haunting of Hill House are returning for Season 2 to play new characters - which is a completely standalone story separate from the Hill House tale - including Pedretti (who played Nell Crain in Hill House), Thomas (who played the young Hugh Crain), Oliver Jackson-Cohen (who played Luke Crain), and Kate Siegel (who played Theo Crain). New additions to the cast include Tahirah Sharif, Kohli, Eve, Miller, Smith, and Ainsworth.
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Creator Mike Flanagan previously revealed that Bly Manor will draw from more than one of James' stories, and will use the novel as a "jumping-off point" for its haunted house tale. “It’s a cool way to expand on some of the things I loved about Season 1, but within the framework of a new story, without having to be restrained by the decisions we made last time. For Henry James fans, it’s going to be pretty wild, and for people who aren’t familiar with his work, it’s going to be unbelievably scary. I already think it’s much scarier than Season 1, so I’m very excited about it.”
The Haunting of Bly Manor will be released worldwide on Netflix on October 9, 2020.
IGN named The Haunting of Hill House our show of the year when it was released in 2018. Here's our review of The Haunting of Hill House. To reminisce about the horrors of Season 1, check out the hidden ghosts we found:
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Eiyuden Chronicle Has Become the Third-Most Successful Video Game Kickstarter
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, the spiritual successor to Suikoden, has become the third-most successful Kickstarter video game with a final total of over $4.5 million raised.
Eiyuden Chronicle trails only behind Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night's $5.5 million and Shenmue 3's $6.3 million as the most successful video game Kickstarter, flying past its original goal of $500,000.
Key members of the development team responsible for the cult classic RPG series Suikoden will be working on Eiyuden Chronicle, and it will take the form of a JRPG with a 2.5D visual style. Furthermore, it will have over 100 heroes to recruit, a 'fortress building system,' and a turn-based battle system with parties of six characters.
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The story of Eiyuden Chronicle will be written by Suikoden series creator and Suikoden 1 and 2 writer Yoshitaka Murayama, and other ex-Suikoden team members will handle the character design, system design, and direction.
Since this Kickstarter surpassed its goal in a major way, many of the stretch goals were met, including PS5, Xbox Series X, and Switch versions, and a companion game that was the $4.5 million goal.
For those who aren't familiar with the Suikoden series, which began in 1995 on the original PlayStation, be sure to read our take on why Suikoden 2 is the best game you've never played.
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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.
Eiyuden Chronicle Has Become the Third Best-Selling Video Game Kickstarter
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, the spiritual successor to Suikoden, has become the third best-selling Kickstarter video game with a final total of over $4.5 million raised.
Eiyuden Chronicle trails only behind Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night's $5.5 million and Shenmue 3's $6.3 million as the best-selling video game Kickstarter, flying past its original goal of $500,000.
Key members of the development team responsible for the cult classic RPG series Suikoden will be working on Eiyuden Chronicle, and it will take the form of a JRPG with a 2.5D visual style. Furthermore, it will have 100 heroes to recruit, a 'fortress building system,' and a turn-based battle system with parties of six characters.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/24/eiyuden-chronicle-hundred-heroes-gameplay-teaser"]
The story of Eiyuden Chronicle will be written by Suikoden series creator and Suikoden 1 and 2 writer Yoshitaka Murayama, and other ex-Suikoden team members will handle the character design, system design, and direction.
Since this Kickstarter surpassed its goal in a major way, many of the stretch goals were met, including PS5, Xbox Series X, and Switch versions, and a companion game called A Quiet Place that was the $4.5 million goal.
For those who aren't familiar with the Suikoden series, which began in 1995 on the original PlayStation, be sure to read our take on why Suikoden 2 is the best game you've never played.
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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.
Summoner’s War: Sky Arena Getting Street Fighter Crossover
Summoner's War: Sky Arena is beginning a crossover event to bring Street Fighter 5 characters into the mobile game from August 31, and we have a new trailer.
Announced at Gamescom 2020, the crossover will bring Ryu, Ken, M. Bison, Chun-Li, and Dhalsim to the turn-based strategy game - check out a trailer below:
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Playing in the event between August 31 and November 1 will net you Ken for free.
Make sure to check out our full gamescom schedule to find out what else is on the way and our roundup of gamescom 2020 highlights.
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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.
Summoner’s War: Sky Arena Getting Street Fighter Crossover
Summoner's War: Sky Arena is beginning a crossover event to bring Street Fighter 5 characters into the mobile game from August 31, and we have a new trailer.
Announced at Gamescom 2020, the crossover will bring Ryu, Ken, M. Bison, Chun-Li, and Dhalsim to the turn-based strategy game - check out a trailer below:
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/08/30/summoners-war-x-street-fighter-5-crossover-event-trailer"]
Playing in the event between August 31 and November 1 will net you Ken for free.
Make sure to check out our full gamescom schedule to find out what else is on the way and our roundup of gamescom 2020 highlights.
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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.