Square Enix’s Final Fantasy 7 Remake is a faithful retelling of the original story, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t big changes. In a new hands-on preview, it has been revealed that the Sector 5 Reactor - the second target of the Avalanche freedom fighters group - has been substantially reworked in a couple of key ways. As you’d expect of the remake, the area is notably larger and more detailed, with wider spaces to allow for the action-focused combat to unfold. The core journey through the reactor remains the same as in the 1997 original game; Cloud, Tifa, and Barret must place the bomb, use a simultaneous button switch to unlock the gates, and then fight the Airbuster boss battle. But the route through the reactor to this techno soldier fight involves a new mechanic unseen in the original game. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=final-fantasy-7-remake-over-100-screenshots&captions=true"] Spoiler warning: the following paragraphs reveal in detail how the contents of Sector 5 Reactor have changed. [poilib element="accentDivider"] As the party enters the reactor, they discover that this is not just an electric power plant. It is also an assembly line for anti-armour robots known as Airbusters. Pretty much the first thing you see is a powered-down shell of one held in a docking clamp. After placing the bomb and setting a remote trigger, the party is confronted by huge holographic representations of both President Shinra and Heidegger, Shinra’s head of Public Safety. They threaten the team with the Airbuster, but cannot immediately deploy it due to the robot not yet having been assembled. Subsequent rooms contain the production line being used to manufacture the Airbuster, which introduces a new mechanic for the reactor. Components can be removed from the production line, which prevents them from being installed into the robot and thus allowing for a slightly easier fight. Removing components is done by plugging a keycard into a console. After defeating a room’s enemies, the card is easily found, but there is a catch: there are not enough keycards to deactivate every console. After the first room, which has one card and one station that can deactivate one of the Airbuster's three ‘M Units’ that provide Mako-fuelled attacks, the further two rooms each have one keycard, but two and three consoles each respectively. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/14/final-fantasy-7-opening-movie-comparison"] This setup forces players to make a decision about which element is removed. Available to deactivate are 3x M Units, 3x Big Bomber Shells (hugely damaging explosives), and 4x AI Programming Cores (which enable a stunlock ability). The options provided in each room means you’re unable to completely deactivate any one of these attacks, but allows you to focus on reducing abilities you know you struggle with. For instance, if you know you’re often tripped up by stuns, then you can spend the keycards on removing two of the AI Programming Cores. For more Final Fantasy 7 Remake, check out our big hands-on preview for extra details on the Airbuster fight, the party’s abilities, and summons. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter. 

The playable demo for Square Enix's Final Fantasy 7 Remake is now available to download from the PlayStation Store. The demo allows you to play the first chapter of the game that includes the iconic Mako Reactor 1 bombing mission and the Guard Scorpion battle (now known as the Scorpion Sentinel). Downloading the demo not only allows you to dive into the game and experience the FF7 remake over a month before release, but will also bag you a PlayStation theme that will unlock when the game launches. If you want to check out what's in the demo before you play, check out the full Mako Reactor 1 in the gameplay video below. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/02/final-fantasy-7-remake-full-chapter-1-gameplay"] It should be noted that any progress that you make in the demo won't be carried over to the full version upon release however. A demo for Final Fantasy 7 had previously been leaked back in February, which resulted in spoilers making their way across the internet. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=final-fantasy-7-remake-over-100-screenshots&captions=true"] Final Fantasy 7 Remake launches April 10 this year on PS4, and could come to additional platforms in 2021. It will feature new boss fights alongside remakes of the classic ones, as well as new characters. Many elements have been remixed, including the Sector 5 Reactor and how much of Sephiroth is shown. You can see everything we know about Final Fantasy 7 Remake right here, too, or read our latest hands-on preview. [poilib element="accentDivider"]

The playable demo for Square Enix's Final Fantasy 7 Remake is now available to download from the PlayStation Store. The demo allows you to play the first chapter of the game that includes the iconic Mako Reactor 1 bombing mission. Any progress that you make in the demo won't be carried over to the full version upon release however. A demo for Final Fantasy 7 had previously been leaked back in February, which resulted in spoilers making their way across the internet. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=final-fantasy-7-remake-over-100-screenshots&captions=true"] Final Fantasy 7 Remake launches March 3 this year on PS4, and could come to additional platforms in 2021. It will feature new boss fights alongside remakes of the classic ones, as well as new characters. You can see everything we know about Final Fantasy 7 Remake right here, too.

Riot Games has officially revealed the title of its tactical shooter formerly known as Project A. Valorant is a 5v5, free-to-play shooter from the developers of League of Legends that is set launch in summer 2020. Valorant features a cast of characters known as agents who are from real-world cultures and locations, meaning it’s not tied to the lore of its League of Legends series. Set in a near-future Earth, characters will come from a wide range of locations and cultures. Each agent has a set of unique abilities, though the core gameplay is focused on tactical, team-based shooting. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=riot-games-fps-valorant&captions=true"] Riot Games executive producer Anna Donlon says that the shooter will “uphold the fundamental values of a competitive tactical shooter: precise shooting, lethal gunplay, and strategic execution.” Some examples Riot gives is how "a player with steady aim and a pistol will always beat an unsteady sniper." Time-to-kill is also low, meaning headshots are usually instant kills and rifle kills take 3-4 bullets. Recoil is said to be punishing. Two teams will work together and lock in as an agent for the entire duration of a round-based, attackers vs. defenders match. The team who wins a best-of-24-rounds match wins the game. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/10/16/riot-games-project-a-announcement-trailer"] Riot says it has high-end performance in mind for Valorant and as such implemented dedicated 128-tick servers for global players, a custom-built netcode for precise hit registration, and proprietary anti-cheat prevention and detection.

Valorant PC Specs

Recommended Specs - 60fps

• CPU: Intel i3-4150
• GPU: Geforce GT730

High-end Specs - 144+fps

• CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz
• GPU: GTX 1050 Ti

Minimum Specs - 30fps

• CPU: Intel i3-370M
• GPU: Intel HD 3000

PC Hardware recommendations:

• Windows 7/8/10 64-bit
• 4GB RAM
• 1GB VRAM

  Valorant is the latest game from Riot, which spent the previous decade focusing primarily on a single game, the MOBA League of Legends. At its 10th anniversary, Riot announced a variety of new projects including the League of Legends card game Legends of Runeterra, a fighting game called Project L, and a mysterious social game called Project F. For everything Riot has in the pipeline, including a new animated TV series, check out IGN’s recap of Riot’s 10th-anniversary livestream. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN.

Riot Games has officially revealed the title of its tactical shooter formerly known as Project A. Valorant is a 5v5, free-to-play shooter from the developers of League of Legends that is set launch in summer 2020. Valorant features a cast of characters known as agents who are from real-world cultures and locations, meaning it’s not tied to the lore of its League of Legends series. Set in a near-future Earth, characters will come from a wide range of locations and cultures. Each agent has a set of unique abilities, though the core gameplay is focused on tactical, team-based shooting. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=riot-games-fps-valorant&captions=true"] Riot Games executive producer Anna Donlon says that the shooter will “uphold the fundamental values of a competitive tactical shooter: precise shooting, lethal gunplay, and strategic execution.” Some examples Riot gives is how "a player with steady aim and a pistol will always beat an unsteady sniper." Time-to-kill is also low, meaning headshots are usually instant kills and rifle kills take 3-4 bullets. Recoil is said to be punishing. Two teams will work together and lock in as an agent for the entire duration of a round-based, attackers vs. defenders match. The team who wins a best-of-24-rounds match wins the game. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/10/16/riot-games-project-a-announcement-trailer"] Riot says it has high-end performance in mind for Valorant and as such implemented dedicated 128-tick servers for global players, a custom-built netcode for precise hit registration, and proprietary anti-cheat prevention and detection.

Valorant PC Specs

Recommended Specs - 60fps

• CPU: Intel i3-4150
• GPU: Geforce GT730

High-end Specs - 144+fps

• CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz
• GPU: GTX 1050 Ti

Minimum Specs - 30fps

• CPU: Intel i3-370M
• GPU: Intel HD 3000

PC Hardware recommendations:

• Windows 7/8/10 64-bit
• 4GB RAM
• 1GB VRAM

  Valorant is the latest game from Riot, which spent the previous decade focusing primarily on a single game, the MOBA League of Legends. At its 10th anniversary, Riot announced a variety of new projects including the League of Legends card game Legends of Runeterra, a fighting game called Project L, and a mysterious social game called Project F. For everything Riot has in the pipeline, including a new animated TV series, check out IGN’s recap of Riot’s 10th-anniversary livestream. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN.

Raphael van Lierop, the director of the popular survival game The Long Dark has a bone to pick with Nvidia’s GeForce Now game streaming service. In a post shared on Sunday, Lierop said that the studio had asked Nvidia to take The Long Dark off of their service, saying the graphics card and technology company did not ask for permission to host the game. The matter calls into question what rights a game company may have when a service like Nvidia’s GeForce Now aims to sell access to their product.

“Sorry to those who are disappointed you can no longer play #thelongdark on GeForce Now,” Lierop tweeted. “Nvidia didn't ask for our permission to put the game on the platform so we asked them to remove it. Please take your complaints to them, not us. Devs should control where their games exist.”

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/10/21/the-long-dark-episode-3-the-first-9-minutes"]

Lierop followed up his statement by saying that “[Nvidia] offered us a free graphics card as an apology, so maybe they'll offer you the same thing,” though it’s not entirely clear if he meant the comment in jest or was serious.

Nvidia GeForce Now is a game streaming service, much like Google Stadia or Microsoft’s Project xCloud, wherein customers stream games from a central cloud hub over wi-fi or a mobile connection. The trick with GeForce Now is that you can link your account to other services, such as Steam or the Epic Games Store, to prove that you already own a game. Depending on what level of membership you’re paying for (or not paying for), you may also have to wait a few minutes for an available PC rig to open up so you can play. Check our review of Nvidia GeForce Now for more details. There’s no one centralized page listing every game available on GeForce, but those interested in checking out the catalog (which Nvidia says includes “hundreds of games from more than 50 publishers) can use a search bar to see if a game they want pops up.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/10/nvidia-geforce-now-review"]

When pushed on the subject of game ownership and why The Long Dark developers should have any say in the matter (since any GeForce user playing The Long Dark ostensibly already paid for the game), Lierop reiterated that Nvidia had never formally signed any deal with the developer Hinterland Studio.

“Because they sell this service based on access to a library of content,” Lierop said. “We have the choice whether to be in that library or not. Our distribution agreement is with Valve, not with Nvidia.”

After another Twitter user pushed Lierop on the same subject, he responded: “It's our content. We determine where it lives and where it does not.”

Funnily enough, this isn’t even the first time Nvidia has found itself being asked to remove a game from its service. Activision-Blizzard, the publisher of such massive properties as Overwatch, Diablo, Call of Duty, and Hearthstone, pulled its games from GeForce after the service exited its beta last month. Nvidia blamed the incident on a misunderstanding between the two companies, and says it hopes to work with Activision-Blizzard to bring the games back to its service.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/11/22/google-stadia-review"]

Regardless, the string of incidents raises the question of just what legal rights and ethical guidelines game developers and publishers have when streaming services such as Nvidia GeForce Now hope to bolster their libraries with popular titles.

Business lawyer Richard Hoeg (of Hoeg Law and Virtual Legality) generally agrees with The Long Dark developer's position, saying that Nvidia should have asked for the consent of the developer.

"I think Nvidia thought that they could convince developers/publishers of the value proposition of participating in “Now” and that just hasn’t coalesced, particularly with big publishers that may have their own streaming solutions in the works," Hoeg told IGN, adding he'd be "very surprised" if Hinterland Studio somehow gave up distribution rights to their own game.

"As you know, a developer owns the copyright to their game, and they don’t lose the rights associated with that copyright when they license their game to a 'buyer,'" Hoeg continued. "And games are, in general, licensed and not sold, with terms related to that license applied to the 'buyer.' Most of these are known or otherwise non-controversial ('you won’t reverse engineer this product,' 'you won’t use it to post speech we find hateful.' But some are probably less well known. Most licenses are going to say (some version of) 'you have the right to play a single copy of the game on a personal computer/system in your control' and you can’t use your copy for “commercial access, use your copy to run an arcade, etc.' So in this case, the Long Dark folks (and probably Steam, GoG, Epic above that too) have similar language in their EULAs, and Nvidia probably should have gotten permission."

IGN has reached out to both Nvidia and Lierop for comment, but did not immediately receive a reply. We'll update this story accordingly.

[poilib element="accentDivider"]

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer with IGN.

Raphael van Lierop, the director of the popular survival game The Long Dark has a bone to pick with Nvidia’s GeForce Now game streaming service. In a post shared on Sunday, Lierop said that the studio had asked Nvidia to take The Long Dark off of their service, saying the graphics card and technology company did not ask for permission to host the game. The matter calls into question what rights a game company may have when a service like Nvidia’s GeForce Now aims to sell access to their product.

“Sorry to those who are disappointed you can no longer play #thelongdark on GeForce Now,” Lierop tweeted. “Nvidia didn't ask for our permission to put the game on the platform so we asked them to remove it. Please take your complaints to them, not us. Devs should control where their games exist.”

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/10/21/the-long-dark-episode-3-the-first-9-minutes"]

Lierop followed up his statement by saying that “[Nvidia] offered us a free graphics card as an apology, so maybe they'll offer you the same thing,” though it’s not entirely clear if he meant the comment in jest or was serious.

Nvidia GeForce Now is a game streaming service, much like Google Stadia or Microsoft’s Project xCloud, wherein customers stream games from a central cloud hub over wi-fi or a mobile connection. The trick with GeForce Now is that you can link your account to other services, such as Steam or the Epic Games Store, to prove that you already own a game. Depending on what level of membership you’re paying for (or not paying for), you may also have to wait a few minutes for an available PC rig to open up so you can play. Check our review of Nvidia GeForce Now for more details. There’s no one centralized page listing every game available on GeForce, but those interested in checking out the catalog (which Nvidia says includes “hundreds of games from more than 50 publishers) can use a search bar to see if a game they want pops up.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/10/nvidia-geforce-now-review"]

When pushed on the subject of game ownership and why The Long Dark developers should have any say in the matter (since any GeForce user playing The Long Dark ostensibly already paid for the game), Lierop reiterated that Nvidia had never formally signed any deal with the developer Hinterland Studio.

“Because they sell this service based on access to a library of content,” Lierop said. “We have the choice whether to be in that library or not. Our distribution agreement is with Valve, not with Nvidia.”

After another Twitter user pushed Lierop on the same subject, he responded: “It's our content. We determine where it lives and where it does not.”

Funnily enough, this isn’t even the first time Nvidia has found itself being asked to remove a game from its service. Activision-Blizzard, the publisher of such massive properties as Overwatch, Diablo, Call of Duty, and Hearthstone, pulled its games from GeForce after the service exited its beta last month. Nvidia blamed the incident on a misunderstanding between the two companies, and says it hopes to work with Activision-Blizzard to bring the games back to its service.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/11/22/google-stadia-review"]

Regardless, the string of incidents raises the question of just what legal rights and ethical guidelines game developers and publishers have when streaming services such as Nvidia GeForce Now hope to bolster their libraries with popular titles.

Business lawyer Richard Hoeg (of Hoeg Law and Virtual Legality) generally agrees with The Long Dark developer's position, saying that Nvidia should have asked for the consent of the developer.

"I think Nvidia thought that they could convince developers/publishers of the value proposition of participating in “Now” and that just hasn’t coalesced, particularly with big publishers that may have their own streaming solutions in the works," Hoeg told IGN, adding he'd be "very surprised" if Hinterland Studio somehow gave up distribution rights to their own game.

"As you know, a developer owns the copyright to their game, and they don’t lose the rights associated with that copyright when they license their game to a 'buyer,'" Hoeg continued. "And games are, in general, licensed and not sold, with terms related to that license applied to the 'buyer.' Most of these are known or otherwise non-controversial ('you won’t reverse engineer this product,' 'you won’t use it to post speech we find hateful.' But some are probably less well known. Most licenses are going to say (some version of) 'you have the right to play a single copy of the game on a personal computer/system in your control' and you can’t use your copy for “commercial access, use your copy to run an arcade, etc.' So in this case, the Long Dark folks (and probably Steam, GoG, Epic above that too) have similar language in their EULAs, and Nvidia probably should have gotten permission."

IGN has reached out to both Nvidia and Lierop for comment, but did not immediately receive a reply. We'll update this story accordingly.

[poilib element="accentDivider"]

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer with IGN.

Daniel Craig's final James Bond film, No Time to Die, doesn't even hit theaters until April, but Billie Eilish's song for the film, also titled "No Time to Die," is already a smash hit in the U.K. As reported by MI6 HQ, Eilish has topped the U.K. charts with the biggest opening week ever for a James Bond song. The track has sold 90,000 copies in its first seven days of release, and racked up 10.6 million streams. The only other Bond song to nab the number one spot was 2015's "Writing's On The Wall" by Sam Smith, selling close to 70k copies in its debut. Both Adele and Duran Duran got close to hitting the top, but just missed. Adele, however, holds the record for most weeks on the Top 100 chart for a Bond song. Here's a quick look at the highest positions each released Bond song got on the charts (ranked from highest to lowest)...

• 1 No Time To Die - Billie Eilish (2020)
• 1 Writing's On The Wall - Sam Smith (2015)
• 2 Skyfall - Adele (2012)
• 2 A View To A Kill - Duran Duran (1985)
• 3 Die Another Day - Madonna (2002)
• 3 We Have All The Time In The World - Louis Armstrong (1994)
• 5 The Living Daylights - a-ha (1987)
• 6 Licence To Kill - Gladys Knight (1989)
• 7 You Know My Name - Chris Cornell (2006)
• 7 Nobody Does It Better - Carly Simon (1977)
• 8 The James Bond Theme Re-Version - Moby (1997)
• 8 For Your Eyes Only - Sheena Easton (1981)
• 9 Another Way To Die - Jack White & Alicia Keys (2008)
• 9 Live And Let Die - Paul McCartney & Wings (1973)
• 10 GoldenEye - Tina Turner (1995)
• 11 The World Is Not Enough - Garbage (1999)
• 11 You Only Live Twice - Nancy Sinatra (1967)
• 12 Tomorrow Never Dies - Sheryl Crow (1997)
• 13 The James Bond Theme - The John Barry Orchestra (1963)
• 20 From Russia With Love - Matt Munro (1963)
• 21 Goldfinger - Shirley Bassey (1964)
• 35 Thunderball - Tom Jones (1965)
• 38 Diamonds Are Forever - Shirley Bassey (1971)
• 39 From Russia With Love - John Barry (1963)
• 49 If There Was A Man - The Pretenders (1987)
• 75 All Time High - Rita Coolidge (1983)

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/04/no-time-to-die-official-trailer"] Looking for more No Time to Die content? Read more about Rami Malek's supervillain and check out everything we know about Bond 25, including plot details, shooting locations and specifics on the cast and crew. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

Daniel Craig's final James Bond film, No Time to Die, doesn't even hit theaters until April, but Billie Eilish's song for the film, also titled "No Time to Die," is already a smash hit in the U.K. As reported by MI6 HQ, Eilish has topped the U.K. charts with the biggest opening week ever for a James Bond song. The track has sold 90,000 copies in its first seven days of release, and racked up 10.6 million streams. The only other Bond song to nab the number one spot was 2015's "Writing's On The Wall" by Sam Smith, selling close to 70k copies in its debut. Both Adele and Duran Duran got close to hitting the top, but just missed. Adele, however, holds the record for most weeks on the Top 100 chart for a Bond song. Here's a quick look at the highest positions each released Bond song got on the charts (ranked from highest to lowest)...

• 1 No Time To Die - Billie Eilish (2020)
• 1 Writing's On The Wall - Sam Smith (2015)
• 2 Skyfall - Adele (2012)
• 2 A View To A Kill - Duran Duran (1985)
• 3 Die Another Day - Madonna (2002)
• 3 We Have All The Time In The World - Louis Armstrong (1994)
• 5 The Living Daylights - a-ha (1987)
• 6 Licence To Kill - Gladys Knight (1989)
• 7 You Know My Name - Chris Cornell (2006)
• 7 Nobody Does It Better - Carly Simon (1977)
• 8 The James Bond Theme Re-Version - Moby (1997)
• 8 For Your Eyes Only - Sheena Easton (1981)
• 9 Another Way To Die - Jack White & Alicia Keys (2008)
• 9 Live And Let Die - Paul McCartney & Wings (1973)
• 10 GoldenEye - Tina Turner (1995)
• 11 The World Is Not Enough - Garbage (1999)
• 11 You Only Live Twice - Nancy Sinatra (1967)
• 12 Tomorrow Never Dies - Sheryl Crow (1997)
• 13 The James Bond Theme - The John Barry Orchestra (1963)
• 20 From Russia With Love - Matt Munro (1963)
• 21 Goldfinger - Shirley Bassey (1964)
• 35 Thunderball - Tom Jones (1965)
• 38 Diamonds Are Forever - Shirley Bassey (1971)
• 39 From Russia With Love - John Barry (1963)
• 49 If There Was A Man - The Pretenders (1987)
• 75 All Time High - Rita Coolidge (1983)

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/04/no-time-to-die-official-trailer"] Looking for more No Time to Die content? Read more about Rami Malek's supervillain and check out everything we know about Bond 25, including plot details, shooting locations and specifics on the cast and crew. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

Appearing at Chicago's C2E2 this weekend, MCU star Mark Ruffalo revealed that there have been preliminary discussions about him appearing on Marvel's She-Hulk series as Bruce Banner/Hulk. Created in 1980 by Stan Lee and John Buscema, She-Hulk -- real name: Jessica Walters -- is Bruce Banner's cousin. In the comics, it's a life-saving blood transfusion from Bruce that turns Jessica into her own (eventually smarter) version of Hulk. Check out The Laughing Place's tweets for what Ruffalo said about a possible Hulk appearance on the show...

Ruffalo says there is talk about his Hulk potentially showing up in the #SheHulk series... but talks are preliminary. #C2E2

— LaughingPlace.com (@laughing_place) March 1, 2020

Previously announced, Jessica Gao, who wrote Rick and Morty's Emmy-winning "Pickle Rick" episode, will be the head writer on She-Hulk. Production on She-Hulk will wrap in 2020, though the Disney+ series will most likely air in 2021. Check out our full rundown of She-Hulk's origins and most famous storylines here. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=she-hulk-through-the-years&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.