IGN UK Podcast #335: Big Fat E3 Preview 2016
E3 has reared its wonderfully engorged head once again, and so we're duty bound to look ahead to the greatest video game show on earth. What new games will be announced (if they haven't leaked already)? Will we learn more about these mythical-but-almost-certainly-happening new consoles? And we also talk a bit about kebabs – it's sort of related, if you listen really hard you'll find the connection.
Don't forget, for some reason we're running 10 kilometres/perish for charity - here's our Just Giving page if you'd like to sponsor us!
Blizzard on the State of Hearthstone
It’s been a month and a half since the world of Hearthstone was turned upside down by the introduction of Standard mode, a number of nerfs to basic and classic cards, and the release of the new expansion, Whispers of the Old Gods. Today I caught up with senior game designer Mike Donais and game designer Peter Whalen to chat about how things are going with the game.
Stay tuned for the second part of this interview (publishing after E3), which deep dives into the creation of the Old Gods themselves.
Blizzard: World of Warcraft: Legion Will Be ‘Dungeon-Centric’
Legion, the upcoming expansion for World of Warcraft due out on August 30, sounds rather magnificent. It's a wonderland where level requirements for most zones have been stripped away, allowing players to level with their friends without the annoyances of coordinating play sessions. The launch oozes with dungeon updates, order halls with quests that grant each class an individuality they had before, and jaunts into long-anticipated locations from lore like the Emerald Dream. It's almost certainly going to turn out to be a launch that gets Blizzard to a point where they'll happily report WoW's subscription numbers again.
And yet I'm worried about what comes after. I had such high hopes for the Warlords of Draenor expansion, which I scored with a 9. And as far as the launch version and the promise it brought goes, it deserves that score. But as the months went past, Blizzard failed to capitalize on that renewed vigor and ages went by without a patch. They neglected it. As strong as the foundation is, many people left out of sheer boredom. As of right now, we've been almost exactly a year without a real World of Warcraft patch, and many of the remaining die-hards just log in to collect their garrison gold.
Mafia 3: How it Tackles a Hugely Turbulent Time
The Mafia series is renowned for compelling storytelling and three-dimensional characters, but have you ever stopped to think about how important its city settings have been to making it so believable?
“The city is a character in its own right," says Haden Blackman, studio head at Hangar 13 and creative director on Mafia III. “That was certainly established in Mafia II that Empire Bay is a character in its own right, so we wanted to bring that forward
...
was really important to us.”
It wasn’t just the case for Mafia II, either. In the original Mafia, the 1930s city of Lost Heaven was a combination of San Francisco and Chicago. Lost Heaven facilitated the rags-to-riches tale of Tommy Angelo during the Great Depression, which helped to position the protagonist as a sympathetic character, creating a compelling context for why he might want to join the Italian Mob.
3DS Sales Pass 60 Million Units Worldwide
Nintendo 3DS has reached a new sales milestone, as global sales for the platform have now surpassed 60 million units.
"May was a milestone month for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems," Nintendo said in a statement provided to IGN, noting the entire 3DS family—including the standard, XL, New 3DS, New 3DS XL and 2DS models— is "the current generation’s top-selling dedicated-gaming platform."
As of March 31, 3DS sales were at the 58.5 million mark, but have since climbed past 60 million, thanks in large part to last month's $20 price drop for the 2DS, lowering it to the suggested retail price of $80. Nintendo notes that NPD Group's data shows a "38 percent sales boost over April and a 148 percent increase year-on-year" for the handheld, which comes just one week after the budget-friendly model's price was slashed.
Mel Gibson Working on Passion of the Christ Sequel
The Passion of the Christ is getting a sequel, as Mel Gibson is moving forward on a film that tells the story of Jesus' resurrection.
Braveheart writer Randall Wallace confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that he's started work on a script, noting it's become too difficult to keep the project a secret any longer.
Jim Caviezel as Jesus in The Passion of the Christ.
Hunger Games Series Director May Take on Battlestar Galactica
Universal restarted development on its long-awaited Battlestar Galactica film earlier this year, and now it looks like the project may have found a director.
According to Deadline, Francis Lawrence -- the director behind Constantine, I Am Legend and the final three Hunger Games films -- is currently in talks to helm the project. Additionally, the outlet has heard that Lisa Joy -- who is executive producing and writing HBO's upcoming series Westworld, based on the 1970s film, with her husband Jonathan Nolan -- is on board to write the script.
Fast 8: Charlize Theron’s Villain Likened to Hannibal Lecter
Charlize Theron will star as Cipher in The Fast and The Furious 8, and according to the film's composer, Brian Tyler, her villainous role will both disturb and intrigue viewers.
"It’s like a siren kind of thing," Tyler told Entertainment Weekly. "There’s no question the havoc and villainy she brings
you’re attracted to it. There’s something where you can kind of see yourself in this villain that makes it more disturbing and, at the same time, more interesting."
Millions of Twitter Passwords Exposed
Nearly 33 million Twitter accounts' usernames and passwords have reportedly leaked and that information is being sold online, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The data is available via LeakedSource, which published a blog post on June 8 indicating that a user had provided a copy of all the Twitter user information for the site's database, which can be accessed for a fee. Though no specific number has been given, Twitter reportedly told the Journal that the company has informed millions of users about the security issue and is requiring them to create new passwords.
How Supergirl Could Join the Arrowverse
Spoilers for The Flash Season 2 finale follow.
With the recent news that Supergirl will be flying from CBS next season to join her superhero cousins at The CW, fans are excited at the prospect of Kara Danvers and company lining up more closely with the worlds of The Flash, Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow. But there’s one big question in particular surrounding this move, and it has to do with the fact that, technically speaking, Kara doesn’t even live in the same world as Barry Allen and Oliver Queen.
Of course, that’s not necessarily a big deal in the Arrowverse, where the Flash proved this past season that visiting alternate Earths is easy enough. In fact, he even met up with Supergirl when he used the Speed Force to jump across an even greater obstacle than the dimensional barrier -- yep, the Flash managed to cross networks and show up on CBS.