Battleborn Free-to-Play Multiplayer Version Announced
Gearbox Software has announced Battleborn's Free Trial, a free-to-play version of the hero shooter's multiplayer modes.
The free version of Battleborn includes unlimited access to all competitive multiplayer modes, "without any time limits, level caps or planned end date," according to the developer. Players will be able to choose from a weekly rotating roster of six playable heroes. Gearbox notes progress you make with each hero will be saved and carried over to when it inevitably reenters the rotation.
The Free Trial is now available globally on Xbox One and PC, and in the Americas on PS4; it will be released on PS4 in Europe and Japan on June 13.
Anyone who's played Battleborn prior to the launch of today's Free Trial will be rewarded with free loot packs, credits, and the Founder's Crown Flair—a new piece of cosmetic gear introduced today alongside the free-to-play version. Additionally, the developer announced a new multiplayer mode, Supercharge, will be "launching soon."
Pokemon Ultra Sun, Moon Not Coming to Nintendo Switch
Despite a listing suggesting the newly announced Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon would eventually be coming to the Nintendo Switch. The Pokemon Company International have now confirmed, however, that the upcoming games are Nintendo 3DS exclusive.
In a statement provided to IGN, The Pokemon Company explained that the website listing for a Switch version of Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon was "a clerical error" and that the two games "are not due for release on Nintendo Switch." The company's full statement reads:
"We would like to address rumours based on a clerical error on the Pokémon press site; Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon are coming exclusively to Nintendo 3DS family of systems and are not due for release on Nintendo Switch. This listing on the Pokémon press site was made in error and is not indicative of future plans. Please refer to the Pokémon Direct for more game details."
Star Wars Battlefront 2 Preorder Guide
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Honestly, who among us isn’t a Star Wars fan? Which means lots of people are going to be happy to play Star Wars Battlefront 2 when it launches this fall. Electronic Arts has listened to fan feedback from the first game and, most notably, added a single-player campaign this time around.
For more information about Battlefront 2, check out our hands-on previews of both the campaign and the multiplayer mode. Star Wars Battlefront 2 is set to release for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on November 17, 2017.
Destiny 2: Road to E3 2017
It's that time of year again: E3 2017 is just on the horizon. From June 10-15, we'll be covering the biggest games and hardware announcements of 2017 and beyond. While you can check out our continually-updated Games of E3 List, we're now going to start diving deeper.
Every day leading up to the show, we'll be highlight the stuff we want to see and play at E3 2017. Today's game: Destiny 2.
The last time we saw Destiny 2 (coincidentally was also the first time it was shown publicly) developer Bungie revealed the game to a packed theater in Los Angeles. The presentation included the first look at Homecoming, an action-lack campaign stage that takes place at the Tower in the middle of a Cabal invasion. We got the low-down on Dominus Ghaul, the sequel’s big villain who wants to control the Traveler’s light (aka the source of a Guardian’s power in Destiny). From there, Bungie and Activision used the the reveal event to give us a high-level overview and set expectations for Destiny 2.
Cowboy Bebop Is Getting a Live-Action TV Series
A live-action television adaptation of Cowboy Bebop is in development.
Deadline reports the beloved '90s anime, which follows a group of spacefaring bounty hunters, is in the works at Tomorrow Studios, a join venture between ITV Studios and television producer Marty Adelstein (Prison Break: Resurrection).
Tomorrow Studios is partnering with the Japanese animation studio behind the original anime, Sunrise, as well as Midnight Radio, who'll both executive produce the remake. Christopher Yost, the screenwriter behind both Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok, will pen the live-action series. No release date for the remake has been set yet.
Pokemon Gold and Silver Coming to 3DS Virtual Console
The original Game Boy Color versions of Pokemon Gold and Pokemon Silver will arrive on the Nintendo 3DS eShop as Virtual Console titles on September 22.
The 2nd generation Pokemon games will be compatible with Pokemon Bank (meaning captured Pokemon can be transferred into later games), and will be compatible with the 3DS' wireless communication features, allowing for trades and battles that used to be link cable-only with other Virtual Console Gold and Silver owners.
The games will also include the Time Capsule feature, allowing trading 'back in time' from Gold and Silver to the Virtual Console versions of Pokemon Blue, Red and Yellow.
To be clear, these new releases are the original versions of Gold and Silver, not the HeartGold and SoulSilver remakes for Nintendo DS.
Transformers: The Last Knight Optimus Prime Figure Revealed
Hasbro has unveiled one of its upcoming San Diego Comic-Con 2017 exclusives, a tie-in into this summer's Transformers: The Last Knight.
IGN can exclusively debut the Voyager Class Optimus Prime figure, which will be available for purchase exclusively at SDCC 2017 this July for $49.99. Check out the figure below:
The Optimus Prime figure is based on both Optimus' robot mode and Western Star truck mode featured in the upcoming Michael Bay-directed Transformers film. Additionally, the figure comes with a piece of actual truck tire used in The Last Knight with a certificate of authenticity from Western Star.
The figure will be available at booth #3329 on the SDCC show floor. After the convention, a limited supply of the figure will also be available on Hasbro's Toy Shop.
Scalebound Director Addresses Cancellation, Future Plans
Scalebound director Hideki Kamiya has offered an apology to fans for the game’s recent cancellation, plus offered a few hints about what he’d like to tackle next.
“For the fans, an apology is really all that I can offer. I’m terribly sorry,” Kamiya told IGN recently at PlatinumGames' headquarters in Osaka. “That goes for the fans, but it goes for the team members who worked on the game as well. The staff here at Platinum, the creative team at Microsoft, there were a lot of people who worked on this game and tried to make it special. I feel a lot of weight for not being able to have had something come from their efforts.”
How Interplay Founder Helped Jump-Start Blizzard
Brian Fargo, the founder of Interplay and inXile Entertainment, was instrumental in the creation of Silicon & Synapse, which ultimately became Blizzard Entertainment, and has shared the story behind its inception.
On that latest episode of our monthly interview show IGN Unfiltered, Fargo first explained how he knew the guys who would go on to found Blizzard—Michael Morhaime, Frank Pearce, and Allen Adham—saying that at the time, because there was no internet, they would all trade games with each other.
Then sometime later, Adham went into the military, and upon his return, he saw what Fargo was doing with Interplay and wanted to get into the business as well. "He got back and he said, 'I want to do what you're doing. That looks great.' And I said, 'Well, let me help you.' And so we gave them their first contracts to get them launched into the business," Fargo said.
This Anime About Millennials in a Small Town Is Too Relatable
The farming RPG Stardew Valley and slice-of-life anime Flying Witch are beautiful refuges from the hustle of everyday life. Their pleasant themes offer a magical perspective on rural living. But as nice as those are, animation studio P.A. Works’ (Shirobako, The Eccentric Family) newest anime, Sakura Quest, has a theme that I find to be generally more relatable and less dreamy.
Sakura Quest’s protagonist Yoshino Koharu puts it perfectly:
“I don’t care about my golden years, I want to be blessed now!”
Like Yoshino, I was desperate to get out of the midwest. I promptly moved out of old Oklahoma the morning after I received my college diploma; I needed to be in the thriving city with all its shining opportunities. Sakura Quest tackles this exact mindset from several different perspectives to challenge the youthful ambition of escaping small town life. It’s humbling, funny, and makes me wish I would have appreciated my time living not too far from cows a little more. Its differences from Stardew Valley and Flying Witch make it a wonderful follow-up to their idealistic rural towns.