Skully Review – Feet Of Clay
It's hard to make a platformer stand out in 2020. Skully, a 3D platformer about a reanimated rolling skull imbued with magic clay that can create and control mud golems, can't shake the baggage of its genre's history. Though it has some distinctive details--like a surprisingly cute, bouncing skull-ball for a protagonist--Skully's mild platforming, item collecting, and puzzle-solving often elicits the feeling that you're just going through the motions. While it isn't without charm or challenge, there isn't enough of it to make a profound impression.
Skully the bouncing skull-ball is actually an elemental avatar created by the earth deity of an isolated island. In his natural form, Skully is a small, quick ball that can roll and hop across forest streams, wind-swept mountains, and lava-filled caves. There's a satisfying kinetic feeling to rolling down a path and picking up speed, which makes gracefully jumping through platforming challenges feel good.
Skully isn't always rolling, though. He also has the power to use pools of mud to create humanoid golems that trade speed for additional abilities. Each of the three golem forms has two skills, most of which are used in very specific ways to get past obstacles Skully can't. For example, the big golem has a punch that can be used to break through walls and a steam attack that can temporarily dispel some enemies.
Continue Reading at GameSpotSkully Review – Feet Of Clay
It's hard to make a platformer stand out in 2020. Skully, a 3D platformer about a reanimated rolling skull imbued with magic clay that can create and control mud golems, can't shake the baggage of its genre's history. Though it has some distinctive details--like a surprisingly cute, bouncing skull-ball for a protagonist--Skully's mild platforming, item collecting, and puzzle-solving often elicits the feeling that you're just going through the motions. While it isn't without charm or challenge, there isn't enough of it to make a profound impression.
Skully the bouncing skull-ball is actually an elemental avatar created by the earth deity of an isolated island. In his natural form, Skully is a small, quick ball that can roll and hop across forest streams, wind-swept mountains, and lava-filled caves. There's a satisfying kinetic feeling to rolling down a path and picking up speed, which makes gracefully jumping through platforming challenges feel good.
Skully isn't always rolling, though. He also has the power to use pools of mud to create humanoid golems that trade speed for additional abilities. Each of the three golem forms has two skills, most of which are used in very specific ways to get past obstacles Skully can't. For example, the big golem has a punch that can be used to break through walls and a steam attack that can temporarily dispel some enemies.
Continue Reading at GameSpotPlayStation’s Spider-Man & Marvel’s Avengers
Welcome back to Game Scoop!, IGN's weekly video game podcast. This week we're discussing Marvel's Avengers Spider-Man exclusivity on PlayStation, Pikmin 3 Deluxe, Nintendo's incredible year, PS5 and Xbox Series X release dates, and more. Watch the video above or hit the link below to your favorite podcast service.
Listen on:
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Spotify
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Star Trek: Paramount Shelves Fargo Creator’s Movie
While the Star Trek franchise is currently thriving on television, its future on the big screen is more uncertain than ever. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Fargo creator Noah Hawley's Trek movie has been put on the back burner.
THR notes there are currently three Star Trek movies in the works at Paramount, including Hawley's project, Quentin Tarantino's R-rated Trek movie and a direct sequel to 2016's Star Trek Beyond. However, the studio's new motion picture group president Emma Watts is "re-assessing" upcoming projects, with the Hawley movie being one apparent casualty of that process.
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Interestingly, the COVID-19 pandemic may be a significant factor in the decision to pivot away from the Hawley project. Not because of cost or logistical concerns, but because the plot may hit a little too close to home in 2020. The movie reportedly revolves around a devastating virus that wipes out a significant portion of life in the Trek-verse.
Hawley previously spoke about his Star Trek movie in an interview with Deadline in 2020, indicating he hoped to move forward with the movie after wrapping work on Fargo: Season 4. He also hinted that it would revolve around a new cast rather than bringing back Chris Pine's Captain Kirk and the rest of the Kelvin Timeline Enterprise crew.
Hawley told Deadline, "There's nothing better than that moment when William Shatner puts on his reading glasses and lowers Khan's shields. It doesn't cost anything. But it's that triumphant feeling about smarting your enemy. For me it's about to getting to those elements of the show. I don't necessarily find action in and of itself interesting unless it's story. So, it's early days, I'm still talking with Paramount and I have a take and I gotta write a script."
Unfortunately, this wouldn't be the first time Hawley has become attached to a major Hollywood property, only for that project to be shelved. Hawley previously penned a script for a solo Doctor Doom movie, but that project appears to have been canceled in the wake of the Disney/Fox merger.
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The good news is that fans have plenty of new Trek content to look forward to in the TV realm. Star Trek Discovery: Season 3 is premiering on CBS All Access on October 15, while the animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks is off to a strong start. A second animated series dubbed Star Trek: Prodigy will debut on Nickelodeon in 2021.
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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.
Dr. Disrespect Returns to Streaming on YouTube, but Not Exclusively
Guy ‘Dr. Disrespect’ Beahm is officially back to streaming after a high-profile ban from Twitch back in June. Although Beahm made his return to livestreaming on YouTube, IGN has learned that Dr. Disrespect has not signed an exclusive deal with YouTube.
In June, Beahm was mysteriously banned from Twitch. Neither Beahm nor Twitch divulged the reason for the ban, and Beahm maintains that he doesn’t know why he was banned from the platform in the first place.
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After months of silence, aside from a handful of interviews where Beahm expressed interest in returning to streaming, a teaser of sorts premiered on the Dr. Disrespect Instagram account. The teaser suggested Beahm could return to streaming as early as that day, but nothing materialized.
Instead, Beahm premiered his Dr. Disrespect persona on YouTube a day later. IGN has learned that Beahm does not have any exclusive deal with YouTube and plans to “experiment” with other platforms including Facebook Gaming and his own Champions Club website.
Beahm was once banned from Twitch back in 2019 after streaming out of an LA Convention Center bathroom during E3, but that ban was only temporary.
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Meanwhile, streaming services like Twitch, Facebook, and YouTube Gaming have begun signing streamers to exclusive contracts. Something Mixer did when it signed Ninja to the platform before the service shut down. Logic recently retired from rapping to stream exclusively on Twitch.
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Matt T.M. Kim is a reporter for IGN.
Our PlayStation Team Reacts to State of Play
On a special second episode this week of IGN's PlayStation show, Podcast Beyond!, host Jonathon Dornbush is joined by Max Scoville and Brian Altano to discuss Sony's latest State of Play presentations.
Watch the new episode below.
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The cast goes into the PS4, PS5, and PSVR game reveals, what worked, what didn't, and what the future of State of Play can look like.
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Podcast Beyond! is live every Wednesday. For more on PS5, check out the PS5 full specs list, why we're excited about PS5's 3D audio focus, and an analysis of what teraflops really mean for the PS5 and Xbox Series X.
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Jonathon Dornbush is IGN's Senior News Editor, host of Podcast Beyond!, and PlayStation lead. Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush.
State of Play’s Aeon Must Die Reveal Overshadowed By Alleged Workplace Abuse
The purported developers behind Aeon Must Die, a new beat’em up game that was shown off during the Sony State of Play livestream, have gone public with accusations against their CEO for gross mismanagement and IP theft. The publisher, Focus Home Interactive, has also released a statement on the matter.
Shortly after Aeon Must Die premiered during the State of Play livestream, reports began circulating that the newly announced title was “stolen” from developers at Limestone Games. A second Aeon trailer appeared on YouTube from a private user with the description: “This trailer was created with abuse, manipulation, theft.”
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Among the allegations from the developers that IGN has reviewed include “unbearable work conditions with endless crunch,” legal threats, a failure to establish a dialogue between employees and management, and IP theft.
There was also a link to a Dropbox folder meant for media detailing a full list of allegations from the developers against the CEO, Yaroslv Lyssenko. The developers also allege that they’ve notified the publisher, Focus Home Interactive, but claim that the publisher did not help them.
In a statement published on Twitter, Focus Home Interactive says that “These grievances are directed at Limestone, their employer. As the publisher of this video game, Focus is carefully looking into these allegations and will draw the necessary conclusions if they are proved to be well-founded, and then take appropriate measures.”
Since the allegations have gone public, Limestone’s official website includes a link to a new company Twitter account that only has a single link to the same Dropbox folder containing the allegations of abuse. Focus Home says no further comment will be shared until the publisher as a “clearer and complete view on this matter.” [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt T.M. Kim is a reporter for IGN.Our statement regarding Limestone Games and Aeon Must Die!. pic.twitter.com/75ldhtp27T
— Focus Home Interactive (@FocusHome) August 7, 2020
Facebook Gaming App on iOS Restricted by Apple Guidelines
Facebook has released a limited version of its dedicated gaming app on iOS. Due to Apple's App Store guidelines, users will be limited to engaging with livestreams — the mini-game functionality has been cut from the iOS version.
In a series of tweets, Facebook explained how "months of submissions and repeated rejections by Apple" led them to "remove instant games entirely from the standalone app."
"Citing App Store guideline 4.7, Apple rejected the app claiming the primary purpose of the Facebook Gaming app is to play games," the company wrote. "It’s not. ~95% of app activity on Android is from watching livestreams. We shared this stat with Apple, but no luck."
Facebook appealed Apple's decision, a process Apple introduced for app developers earlier this year, but "did not receive a response." Rather than pursue additional appeals, Facebook says it decided to launch the app Friday as is "for livestreamers and fans."
"We’ll keep building a games platform," it wrote. "Playing games will always be part of Facebook Gaming whether Apple allows it in a standalone app or not."
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Facebook's public frustration with Apple's policies comes shortly after Microsoft revealed it's facing similar trouble with bringing Project xCloud to iOS. "Unfortunately, we do not have a path to bring our vision of cloud gaming with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate to gamers on iOS via the Apple App Store," Microsoft said earlier this week after ending xCloud's iOS public preview.
"Apple stands alone as the only general purpose platform to deny consumers from cloud gaming and game subscription services like Xbox Game Pass," the company added. "And it consistently treats gaming apps differently, applying more lenient rules to non-gaming apps even when they include interactive content."
Despite the roadblock, Microsoft says it's "committed to finding a path to bring cloud gaming with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate to the iOS platform."
Apple defended its decision in a statement to Business Insider, citing the trust and safety of its customers. It added, "Our customers enjoy great apps and games from millions of developers, and gaming services can absolutely launch on the App Store as long as they follow the same set of guidelines applicable to all developers, including submitting games individually for review, and appearing in charts and search."
"Submitting games individually for review" appears to be where Apple finds issue with apps such as Project xCloud and Facebook Gaming, as each game included in Microsoft and Facebook's respective services aren't being individually submitted. To this point, Microsoft noted all xCloud games "are rated for content by independent industry ratings bodies such as the ESRB and regional equivalents."
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Jordan is a freelance writer for IGN.
"Citing App Store guideline 4.7, Apple rejected the app claiming the primary purpose of the Facebook Gaming app is to play games," the company wrote. "It’s not. ~95% of app activity on Android is from watching livestreams. We shared this stat with Apple, but no luck."
Facebook appealed Apple's decision, a process Apple introduced for app developers earlier this year, but "did not receive a response." Rather than pursue additional appeals, Facebook says it decided to launch the app Friday as is "for livestreamers and fans."
"We’ll keep building a games platform," it wrote. "Playing games will always be part of Facebook Gaming whether Apple allows it in a standalone app or not."
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/06/13/hands-on-with-microsofts-xcloud-streaming-service-and-halo-5-e3-2019"]
Facebook's public frustration with Apple's policies comes shortly after Microsoft revealed it's facing similar trouble with bringing Project xCloud to iOS. "Unfortunately, we do not have a path to bring our vision of cloud gaming with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate to gamers on iOS via the Apple App Store," Microsoft said earlier this week after ending xCloud's iOS public preview.
"Apple stands alone as the only general purpose platform to deny consumers from cloud gaming and game subscription services like Xbox Game Pass," the company added. "And it consistently treats gaming apps differently, applying more lenient rules to non-gaming apps even when they include interactive content."
Despite the roadblock, Microsoft says it's "committed to finding a path to bring cloud gaming with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate to the iOS platform."
Apple defended its decision in a statement to Business Insider, citing the trust and safety of its customers. It added, "Our customers enjoy great apps and games from millions of developers, and gaming services can absolutely launch on the App Store as long as they follow the same set of guidelines applicable to all developers, including submitting games individually for review, and appearing in charts and search."
"Submitting games individually for review" appears to be where Apple finds issue with apps such as Project xCloud and Facebook Gaming, as each game included in Microsoft and Facebook's respective services aren't being individually submitted. To this point, Microsoft noted all xCloud games "are rated for content by independent industry ratings bodies such as the ESRB and regional equivalents."
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Jordan is a freelance writer for IGN.GTA Online: Rockstar Details Upcoming Los Santos Summer Special Update
Rockstar has announced the upcoming August 11 update for GTA Online, called the "Los Santos Summer Special."
Animaniacs Hulu Revival Premiere Date Announced
Hulu has revealed the release date for its revival of beloved 1990s cartoon Animaniacs. The antics begin on November 20.
It’s been 22 years since the final, 99th episode of Animaniacs, but 2020 sees the return of the popular show. “Hulu, Amblin Television and Warner Bros. Animation are proud to unveil a brand-new version of the iconic family-friendly cartoon series for the whole family, as the Warner siblings, Yakko and Wakko, and the Warner sister Dot, have a great time wreaking havoc and mayhem in the lives of everyone they meet,” said Hulu in a statement.
Yakko, Wakko, and Dot are not the only characters returning for the revival, though. The show wouldn’t be complete without Pinky and the Brain, two lab mice on a quest to take over the world. They’ll be scheming in all 13 of the new episodes.
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As with the original run, Steven Spielberg returns as executive producer of the series. And the 13 Animaniacs episodes being released in November are just the start; Hulu has confirmed that the show will return for a second 13-episode season in 2021. The revival itself reportedly came about because of a surge of popularity for Animaniacs on Netflix.
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Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.
It’s been 22 years since the final, 99th episode of Animaniacs, but 2020 sees the return of the popular show. “Hulu, Amblin Television and Warner Bros. Animation are proud to unveil a brand-new version of the iconic family-friendly cartoon series for the whole family, as the Warner siblings, Yakko and Wakko, and the Warner sister Dot, have a great time wreaking havoc and mayhem in the lives of everyone they meet,” said Hulu in a statement.
Yakko, Wakko, and Dot are not the only characters returning for the revival, though. The show wouldn’t be complete without Pinky and the Brain, two lab mice on a quest to take over the world. They’ll be scheming in all 13 of the new episodes.
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As with the original run, Steven Spielberg returns as executive producer of the series. And the 13 Animaniacs episodes being released in November are just the start; Hulu has confirmed that the show will return for a second 13-episode season in 2021. The revival itself reportedly came about because of a surge of popularity for Animaniacs on Netflix.
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Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.