Overwatch Punishment, Reporting Improvements to Come
Overwatch is due a series of big changes for player reporting and punishments including possible email notifications, less silences, and generally harsher penalties all round.
Blizzard's Jeff Kaplan responded to concerned fan threads on the Overwatch forums today, giving some new details on the Overwatch team's long-term plans when it comes to player behavior.
Kaplan said, initially, the team is, “… re-evaluating every punishment,” including increasing suspension length across the board, removing silences in favor of suspensions and also testing a new email notification system. This system will, “let you know when someone you've reported has been actioned,” hopefully meaning fans won’t feel like their feedback is falling on deaf ears. Season 5 boosters will also be getting bans imminently, Kaplan said, noting that a developer update regarding these changes will air soon. In fact, it's already been recorded.
Justice League: Whedon Will Get Screenplay Credit
Joss Whedon will receive a screenplay credit for his work on Justice League, Warner Bros. has revealed. The film's original mastermind, Zack Snyder, will receive the sole directing credit.
Whedon, who took over for Snyder earlier this year following a family tragedy, will share a screenplay credit with the film's original writer, Chris Terrio. Terrio and Snyder will still share a story credit. These credits were revealed in Warners' fall preview press notes today.
It's notable that, following the seemingly extensive reshoots on Justice League, Whedon won't be getting any kind of co-directing credit with Snyder. It's still unclear just how much Justice League has changed since Snyder departed the project and Whedon stepped in.
Duke Nukem Forever ‘Exceeded’ Pitchford’s Expectations
The infamously long-in-development Duke Nukem Forever didn't garner the greatest critical reception when, after 15 years of development, it finally launched in 2011. Still, the game managed to exceed the expectations of Gearbox Software CEO Randy Pitchford.
On the latest episode of our monthly interview show IGN Unfiltered, Pitchford reflected back on the project, saying there was an "obscene amount of dysfunction that happened at 3D Realms." So when considering the development trouble Duke Nukem Forever went through, he's pleased with how it ultimately turned out.
"I actually love it, and not because I think it's the greatest game ever, but because my expectations..." he explained, noting "the problem with Duke is it was legendary, so to the outside world, expectations were the highest possible thing."
WWE 2K18: The Next 41 Playable Superstars Revealed
We've got ourselves a slobberknocker this week, folks! IGN and WWE have exclusively teamed up to bring you the next batch of playable WWE 2K18 superstars.
In this week's roster reveal video WWE's Renee Young and WWE Raw commentator Corey Graves are joined by Canadian beardo Kevin Owens, who spends around 40% of the video chatting about shoes...
Here's all 41 of those superstars - starting with our shoe-loving Canadian friend....
We're big fans of anything from the Geordie shores of Newcastle in the UK so seeing Neville (or Big Nev as he's known around our office) heading up this week's exclusive screenshots got us vibrating with excitement!
The Authors of Pain are making their WWE 2K debut this year and we've got their full entrance for you to pore over as well as the Demon King himself, Finn Bálor.
Justice League Dark: Live-Action Movie Gets New Writer
DC's long-gestating live-action movie Justice League Dark is undergoing a "script polish" from Gerard Johnstone.
As reported by Deadline, Johnstone was one of the potential directors in the running to take the helm of the darker take on DC's heroes, following Doug Liman's departure from the film to direct Lionsgate's upcoming sci-fi adaptation Chaos Walking.
While DC have chosen not to announce a new director (or any casting) as of yet, they were reportedly impressed enough with Johnstone's presentation and his work on the 2014 film Housebound that they've asked him to take a look at the script.
Need for Speed Payback Preorder Guide
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One glance at the trailer for Need for Speed Payback, and you’ll notice that this racer wears its influences on its sleeve. The game clearly owes its debts to the Fast and Furious franchise as well as to the racing masterpiece Burnout 3: Takedown. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Need for Speed Payback launches November 10, 2017 for PS4, Xbox One and PC.
IGN Debuting Six New Shows This Fall
IGN has a slate of brand new shows coming this fall to Facebook's new "Watch" platform, which is a new destination for premium original programming. Our new video series are aimed to not only inform, but also entertain. And you won't have to wait long to watch along with us.
The first of six series, IGN's Expert Mode, will premiere this Friday, September 1, exclusively on Facebook's new Watch platform. All of IGN's upcoming series will premiere on Watch, starting with Expert Mode, and continue throughout the end of the year.
Part documentary, part let's play, Expert Mode will look at some of the industry's biggest, most fascinating games. In the debut episode, IGN's Brian Altano sits down with Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle creator, Davide Soliani, and discusses what it was like fulfilling the dream of working with Nintendo and why he gave Mario guns. Following episodes will dive into Rocket League, Overwatch, Hearthstone, and Fallout: New Vegas.
Pokemon Ultra Sun/Moon “Veteran” Dual Pack Announced
Nintendo of America has announced an additional release version of upcoming Poke-sequels Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.
Titled the "Veteran Trainer's Dual Pack", this release contains a copy of both Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, along with 16 art cards and a download code for 200 additional Poke Balls, at a cost of $79.99. Releases outside of North America are yet to be confirmed.
Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon: Veteran Trainer's Dual Pack
Sonic Mania Launches for PC, is Accidentally Online-Only
Following a two-week delay, Sega's latest hedgehog-central title Sonic Mania has now launched on PC, with one unexpected restriction - the game is only playable for Steam users who are logged in to their account, despite Sega's insistence that the game is intended to be playable offline.
As reported over on Ars Technica, users attempting to play the game in offline mode will be met with an error message informing that they must be logged on and connected to the Internet in order to play the game.
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