Why Westeros’ New Leader Is a Terrifying Choice
It’s bizarre that the first thing King Bran says when he rolls into the Small Council meeting is to complain about the lack of a Master of Whisperers because that position is now completely redundant. The entire point of Varys’ job was to gather information via a vast network of spies, many of them children, and pass it along to the king. This king, however, already knows more than any spymaster could gather. He’s the Three-Eyed Raven.
With Bran the Broken installed as king of Westeros, the seven/six kingdoms are now effectively a terrifying surveillance state. As demonstrated when he used his powers to reveal Littlefinger’s past deceptions, which led to his execution, Bran’s omniscient power to see anything and everything anyone does makes him the ultimate Big Brother – or Little Brother, in this case. And given that the previous Three-Eyed Raven lived for a thousand years, Bran’s totalitarian regime could last for a very long time (which makes the question of succession rather moot).
The Best VR Games for the Oculus Quest
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The Oculus Quest is finally here, making wireless, room-scale virtual reality an affordable reality—no PC required. The headset is launching with over 50 games, but there are a few that stand out from the pack.
You can read more about the Quest in our review, but it comes in two sizes: a 64GB version for $399, and a 128GB version for $499. So far, most games seem to come in around 1GB or less, but that could change if developers push more and more full-size games to the headset.
Twisted Metal TV Series in Development at PlayStation Productions
Sony confirmed during an investor relations presentation today that it is developing a TV show based on the Twisted Metal game series. It also stated that the Uncharted movie is in “advanced development.”
Sony Pictures Entertainment Chairman and CEO Tony Vinciquerra explained that the recently announced PlayStation Productions has closed the deal for a Twisted Metal show, though he didn’t share many hard details beyond that. "We have a TV show we just agreed to get underway that will be developed from the IP on PlayStation, it’s called Twisted Metal,” Vinciquerra explained. “It’s a game that was put out many years ago and we’re going to develop a TV series around that."
Why Drogon Did What He Did in the Game of Thrones Finale
Jon Snow didn’t want to kill Daenerys Targaryen, but being the guy who always does the right thing no matter what, he knew he had to. Jon surely would've sacrificed himself first if it meant he could stop his queen from committing more atrocities like the razing of King's Landing. And chances are, if anyone else had murdered Daenerys the way Jon did, they would've been killed themselves shortly thereafter. For when the queen falls to the floor dead, her dragon Drogon seemingly senses what has happened and quickly appears in what is now the open-air Great Hall of the Red Keep.
Blizzard Learned A Lot From Controversial Diablo Immortal Reveal
Blizzard Entertainment president J. Allen Brack recently spoke with IGN, saying the studio learned “A huge number of lessons” from the less-than-warmly-received Diablo Immortal reveal.
In an interview with IGN conducted by James Duggan, we asked Brack about the lessons learned from this adverse fan reaction. He said the company learned "A huge number of lessons. I think that one of the things that we failed to do was to really help articulate that we are a PC gaming company and that we’re going to continue to be a PC gaming company."
Brack addressed fan concerns that, with Diablo Immortal being a mobile game and various PC games moving over to consoles, Blizzard has shifted its focus away from PC. "We started our journey in ye-olden times as a console company, and then we migrated to PC,” said Brack. "And in the last few years, we’ve moved Diablo 3 to console, we’ve moved Overwatch to console, we’ve moved Diablo 3 to Switch. And those have been good things, that I think a lot of people have resonated with. But fundamentally our roots are PC, a strong PC game company, and that’s not going to change.
Why Blizzard Changed Its Mind And Made World of Warcraft Classic
World of Warcraft Classic has been in closed beta for just under a week. In that time hundreds of players clashed in the Arathi Highlands, the Classic WoW subreddit crested 100,000 subscribers, and the beta has garnered over 150,000 concurrent viewers on Twitch. I've personally invested 20 hours into the beta at this point and am shocked to find myself enjoying parts of the 15-year-old MMO that I remember as mundane. Going in, I knew I'd love the single-shard servers, non-homogeneous classes, lack of flying mounts, and many reasons to interact with other players, but I didn't expect to enjoy the surprising difficulty of simply questing on my own. It's easy to take what I'm playing for granted but the fact of the matter is that WoW Classic wouldn't exist without years of deliberation on the part of a passionate fanbase, followed by years of development on the part of an equally passionate developer.
Nintendo Shutting Down Mobile Games In Belgium Due to Loot Box Laws
Nintendo is shutting down two of its mobile games in Belgium due to the “current unclear situation in Belgium regarding certain in-game revenue models". From August 27 both Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp will be unavailable in the country.
Vanwege de huidige onduidelijke situatie in België omtrent bepaalde verdienmodellen van games, zal de service voor Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp en Fire Emblem Heroes op 27 augustus 2019 in België worden stopgezet. https://t.co/8xvDHr0zkO
— Nintendo België (@NintendoBE_NL) May 21, 2019
Dota 2’s Battle Pass 2019 Lets You Avoid Certain Players
This year’s Dota 2 Battle Pass includes an experimental “Avoid Player” list that aims to ensure you won’t match with players you don’t want to.
Revealed on Dota 2’s International Battle Pass 2019 page (via GamesIndustry.biz), the page states "Not all players and playstyles work well together. To help keep your team chemistry balanced and fun, we've added an experimental Avoid Player list that guarantees you won't match with a player again. Designate players to avoid on the post-game screen to filter them out of your matchmaking pool."
How Ghost Recon Breakpoint Is Redefining Survival
We’re rolling right along with our Ghost Recon Breakpoint IGN First this month, and today we’re bringing you a look at its survival features. Now, there’s an important distinction to be made here: Breakpoint isn’t a “survival” game, it’s a game about survival. Watch the video above to hear Ubisoft breakdown what that actually means, and explain why you won’t need to drink or eat to stay alive.
You can also catch up with all of our previous Breakpoint IGN First features right here, including a first look at its online social hub and a look back at how the Ghost Recon series has evolved. You can also watch our hands-on Breakpoint preview below.
Dauntless Becomes First Game To Launch With PS4 Cross-Play
Dauntless has fulfilled its "One Dauntless" promise as it launches today with full cross-play and cross-progression on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on the Epic Games Store and is the first game to launch with this functionality for PS4.
Phoenix Labs' free-to-play co-op action-RPG Dauntless' promise of a "One Dauntless" for all players around the world to play together, no matter where they play, was a "truly audacious goal," but one that was very important for the team in its mission.
“When we first started talking about ‘One Dauntless,’ we knew it was a truly audacious goal," Jesse Houston, CEO and co-founder of Phoenix Labs said. "No one has ever launched on console with full cross-play support from the start, but we believed in our vision and, thankfully, our friends at Epic Games, Sony, and Microsoft did too. Keeping the community connected is one of our top priorities, and with all the new players coming in at launch, there’s never been a better time to be a Slayer in Dauntless.”