New World recently released its Into the Void update, bringing with it a host of new features and fixes. One thing players didn't reckon with, however, was that it also made the endgame harder — much harder.

Over the weekend, endgame players began noting on Reddit and elsewhere that certain high-level enemies had received a major buff. The net effect of this buff is that certain enemies are next to impossible to take down while playing solo, further elongating an already savage endgame grind.

"This is so dumb, solo people just cannot do anything even close to endgame now," one player wrote. "I get how [Amazon Game Studio] wants people to party up as it is an MMO but soloing should still be an option, especially if youre [sic] running the normal missions. I get if you want to go clear places like myrkgard or sirens or malevolence, you should group up but relatively normal elite zones should be hard, but also soloable."

Word of the changes soon spread throughout the rest of the community, spurring further controversy in a game racked by duplication exploits, a currency crisis, and other issues. It was followed by a fresh wave of negative reviews on Steam, dropping it to a "Mixed" rating despite remaining "Mostly Positive" overall.

In response, New World designer Mike "Berserker Mike" Willette said that the "proper context" wasn't delivered on the reasoning behind the update. Willette wrote that the team's goal is to have a "variety of areas" that players can go to for crafting materials and gear. However, Amazon Game Studios also wants players to feel challenged in return.

"Our vision for end game is multifaceted, and includes Outpost Rush and Wars, Invasions and Arenas, 60+ Corrupted breaches, 60+ Elite POIs and named creatures, and Expeditions, with more to come in the future. There will not be one single source for best in slot and our desire is to encourage players to engage with various activities," Willette wrote.

He added that New World's developers are "actively looking into the activities and reward balance."

The controversy is yet another example of how New World can be a rewarding and yet frustrating experience for players. Our review notes that it saves the "best moments for the endgame," but that you have to "grind like hell" to get them. While New World's growth has leveled off since its explosively popular launch, it retains a large and very active fanbase who seem willing to roll with its more frustrating elements in exchange for its rich and rewarding PvP.

For Marvel fans driven to seek out every shred of MCU story, Guardians of the Galaxy Director James Gunn says the latest Disney ride tie-in is not part of the MCU's canon. On Twitter, Gunn wrote that the ride is, "in its own universe", meaning Marvel fans shouldn't take the story and easter eggs within the ride too seriously.

It’s in its own universe

— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) November 20, 2021

Before you laugh, the canonical status of Galaxy's Edge's Star Wars rides has been discussed for years. According to Star Wars Fandom, the Star Tours business, characters, and ships are canon, while the stories that take place on the ride itself are not canon. The events that take place around Galaxy's Edge are also meant to be canon, even though the characters repeat them day after day so all guests can experience it. There's no need for MCU fans to wonder now, as Gunn's tweet can extinguish any questions of the new ride's place in the canon.

The new Guardians ride does include the actors from the MCU's Guardians, and it's coming to Disney World in Florida next summer. It includes the very first Disneyland reverse roller coaster launch, and Disney says it's one of the longest enclosed coasters in the world.

Disneyland already has its own Guardians of the Galaxy ride, called Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout. When the ride opened back in 2017, we said, "the vast majority who go on it will leave with a big grin on their face."

The Guardians are going to be busy over the next couple years. The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special will premiere on Disney+ next holiday season, and Gunn has said the special does take place within the MCU, after Thor: Love and Thunder, which Chris Pratt is also set to appear in.

Then, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is set to hit theaters on May 5, 2023. Last month, Chris Pratt was on the movie's set as the cast and crew was gearing up to start filming. The Guardians could go quiet after these two projects, as Vol. 3 may be the last Guardians film with the current team. We don't know a ton about the movie, but it recently cast Will Poulter as Adam Warlock

For more, check out Marvel's original plan to introduce the Guardians of the Galaxy with four short films.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Matrix fans can look foward to a "beautiful and weird" movie when they sit down to watch The Matrix Resurrections next month, according to one of the film's writers. Co-writer David Mitchell spoke to Greek newspaper To Vima (via IndieWire) about his reactions to seeing the completed film.

"I cannot tell you what this film is about, but I could explain what it is not," Mitchell said. "It's certainly not yet one more sequel, but something autonomous that contains the three Matrix that preceded in a really ingenious way. It's a very beautiful and weird creation. It also achieved a couple of things that we do not see in action films, meaning it subverts the rules of blockbusters."

Mitchell is the author of Cloud Atlas, and he previously worked with The Matrix's Lana Wachowski on the 2012 film adaptation of the book. The two wrote The Matrix Resurrections alongside Aleksandar Hemon.

The Matrix Resurrections has already proven its willingness to be weird, as its website was reverse-engineered to let fans watch highly specific teaser trailers ahead of the movie's official reveal. Plus, certain reveals already have us scratching our heads, wondering about Yahya Abdul-Mateen II's Morpheus, and how Neo is alive. After the trailer was revealed, our biggest takeaway was that The Matrix 4 seems to be calling back to the original film in multiple ways.

We're exactly a month out from the movie's release, as The Matrix 4 will arrive in theaters and on HBO Max on December 22, 2021. While you wait for the film, you can check out the latest poster for The Matrix Resurrections, which shows Neo and Trinity reuniting.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Marvel’s Hawkeye is about to launch on Disney+ as an action-packed TV series – and that's because the original plan for a Hawkeye solo movie was simply too packed with details that needed explaining.

During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, producer Trinh Tran explained why Hawkeye was eventually turned into a TV series.

“It allows us the creative flexibility to explore the characters a lot more because we have the time and space to do so,” she explained. “We decided to move Hawkeye from the feature side over to the Disney+ side for that very reason.”

The Hawkeye TV series has been in the works for a while, with Marvel boss Kevin Feige confirming that Hawkeye almost had his own solo movie. Now, Marvel producer Trinh Tran has explained why it was so important to turn the project into a TV series. And it’s all about how much story they have to tell.

“The big question was, ‘How are we going to fit all of this into a two-hour timeframe? We have an Avenger whose backstory we haven’t quite had time to explore yet,” she explained. “We also have to introduce a new character [Kat Bishop], as well as allow enough time for them to bond and create that special dynamic that everybody finds so appealing in the comics’.”

Although Kate Bishop (played by Hailee Steinfeld) will be well known to comic book fans, the Hawkeye TV series marks her Marvel Cinematic Universe debut. Here, the character is a self-taught archer and Hawkeye fan who draws Clint Barton’s attention by masquerading as Ronin – Hawkeye’s deadly alter-ego who made an appearance in Avengers: Endgame. This show will also introduce Echo, who will be getting her own spin-off show in future.

There’s certainly a lot of backstory to cover, so it makes sense for Marvel to develop Hawkeye into a TV series rather than a movie – even more so considering the phenomenal success of WandaVision and other MCU series.

“In moving it over, it allowed us six hours, three times as much time, which really gave us the creative flexibility we needed to tell the story,” added Tran. “But challenges come with it as well. We have a process at Marvel, and we try to maintain that same process both on the feature side and the TV series side. We treat it as one process that works well for us.”

“But things happen faster on the TV end,” she said. “We have the same amount of time that we normally do on the feature end, but we have three times as much content that we have to deliver in a shorter time span.”

If you need to get caught up before Hawkeye begins this week, we've got a full MCU timeline for the character, and if you want to know what's next, we've got a full list of upcoming MCU projects.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Death Stranding developer Kojima Productions has opened a new division in Los Angeles that will be dedicated to movies, TV and music.

As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, the new studio will be led by former PlayStation Vice President of business affairs, Riley Russell, who will lead the California team as the developer looks to branch out into a wider range of media.

"The team has as its charter, the goal of expanding the reach and awareness of the properties now under development at Kojima Productions, and to make them even more a part of our popular culture," explains Russell in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz.

"Although we are a global organization, the new business development team will be centred in Los Angeles, CA. We are truly excited and looking forward to working with the very best entertainment talent we can, across all of the entertainment industries."

Kojima Productions was set up by video game designer Hideo Kojima in 2015 following his split with Konami. While the studio has since only produced one game in Death Stranding (or two if you count the subsequent Director's Cut), many fans have been speculating as to what the studio's next project might be.

Since the release of Death Stranding, the rumour mill has churned up a number of different reports surrounding what Kojima is currently working on. From fan speculation earlier this year suggesting that Blue Box Games' Sony exclusive Abandoned might be a secret Kojima game to alternate rumours indicating that he might be working on a completely different title alongside Xbox, there's been a lot to unpick.

In June, Kojima offered some insight into the future during an interview where he stated that he was rethinking his creative process following the events of the COVID-19 pandemic. “In the past, about creating things, I was always thinking about what could happen in society in 5, 10, or 20 years,” Kojima said in the interview.

“It was like predicting the future and adding the entertainment essence. And that’s how I always created. But this time, [the pandemic] came much too soon. The reality came much too soon, especially on Death Stranding. So I’ve changed how I think and create now.”

While in the past, rumours about the what's next for Kojima Productions and the game designer himself have largely revolved around projects from within the games industry, the addition of a new division created to branch out into other realms of media will only likely add to that fire and fans excitement.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

After pushing back the release date three separate times, Analogue, Inc. has announced today that its handheld game console, the Pocket will begin shipping next month.

As noted in a recent blog post, the device will begin shipping on December 13. Due to unprecedented shipping constraints, those who preordered the handheld can expect their unit to arrive sometime between December 14 - December 30. With the holiday season approaching, Analogue notes that it will hold packages for those that may be away from their home, with those units slated to ship on January 3, 2022.

Pocket is shipping on December 13th. An email has been sent out to everyone who has pre-ordered with details on address updating and more: https://t.co/Y5W6Qg7WVP pic.twitter.com/e7rJwhJikz

— Analogue (@analogue) November 22, 2021

Analogue Pocket was originally announced in 2019. This sleek device allows users to play handheld games released during the fourth, fifth, and sixth generation, such as GameBoy Color cartridges. The Pocket features a 3.5-inch 665ppi LCD display made of Gorilla Glass with an estimated battery life of six hours.

Alongside the ability to play through a huge number of retro handheld games, Analogue, Inc. also announced last month that Pocket will have its own operating system, which will allow you to save games to and from cartridges, among other things.

Analogue Pocket, like many other devices, has been negatively impacted by the global chip shortage. But despite the last two delays for the Pocket coming out of COVID-related impacts, Analogue Pocket will make its 2021 release date, unlike Valve's Steam Deck and Panic's Playdate, which have been delayed into early 2022 due to supply shortages.

Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster

Sony has finally patented the PlayStation 5's faceplates after threatening a number of other companies with legal action over making them – sparking speculation that it may begin selling its own variant editions.

A patent filed by the publisher can be found on the US States Patent and Trademark Office website, which states that the patent was officially recognized on November 16.

While it's released several official controller colorways for PS5, Sony has yet to offer differently colors of the PS5 itself. The patent has caused speculation that Sony may now be planning to sell individual faceplate replacements, perhaps to match the Midnight Black and Cosmic Red DualSense controllers.

As Sony hasn't officially commented on its reasons for filing the patent (we've contacted the company for comment), it isn't yet clear whether the company has done so for the purpose of producing its own variant faceplates, granting licenses to third-party manufacturers to do the same, or to avoid future legal encounters with companies acting to create their own faceplates without consent from the publisher.

On at least two different occasions since the launch of the PlayStation 5, Sony has threatened companies with legal action over their plans to sell unofficial faceplates to consumers. Last year the company Customize My Plates announced that it was canceling all pre-sales of its custom-ready PS5 faceplates following legal pressure from Sony.

In a statement to IGN, the company explained that its decision had come following discussions with Sony's legal team, where it became apparent that trademarks over the console's removable side panels were too complex an issue for the company to navigate without risking legal infringement.

In a separate dispute, Sony sent out a cease-and-desist letter to Canadian peripherals company Dbrand following its plans to release custom faceplates for the console. Dbrand announced that it was pulling its custom faceplates from sale before stating in a separate statement on the company's subreddit that it would be creating its own range of new PS5 faceplates that were far enough detached from Sony's original design to risk further infringement.

When considering at the time whether or not Sony would still pursue the company over the new faceplates, a statement from Dbrand read: "Probably. The difference this time is that we’ve created an original design for which they have no basis to allege infringement. If they want to try, they'd better be ready to pay our legal fees."

For more on the PlayStation 5, make sure to check out this article posted surrounding the console's first birthday and the lengthy list of first-party exclusive games coming to Sony fans in the future.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Rockstar's recent release of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy appears to contain an unfinished VR mode for the game.

As spotted by Eurogamer, Rockstar Intel reporter Ben Walker recently tweeted a video (below) showing what seems to be a semi-working first-person mode in GTA: San Andreas, but which is marked as a VR option in back-end menus. "There is a debug Unreal command for GTA VR but it looks a little bit unfinished," says Walker in the tweet.

"Maybe it would be cool if they implemented this as a first-person option? It plays pretty well. Gunfights and punching will need tweaking, would be super cool for screenshots!"

There is a debug Unreal command for GTA VR but it looks a little bit unfinished. Maybe it would be cool if they implemented this as a first-person option? It plays pretty well. Gunfights and punching will need tweaking, would be super cool for screenshots! pic.twitter.com/pxq5ivwGOA

— Ben (@videotech_) November 20, 2021

Footage of the VR mode appears to display in a similar way to the first-person perspective granted in GTA V. As part of a thread on the mode, Walker notes that the mode plays well despite elements such as player collisions needing work.

As the mode is currently hidden inside the game's code, accessing it is a little trickier than pressing a button or enabling an option in the game's menus. For starters, as noted by Walker in the tweet below, you'll need access to additional in-game mods and a debug menu.

Try the command "GTA.VR 1" with this mod to enable the debug consolehttps://t.co/X9Zq9Olq50

— Ben (@videotech_) November 20, 2021

While a first-person (or VR) mode would certainly offer an exciting addition to the game, it isn't likely to have been top of Rockstar's priority list since launch. With users across a number of platforms criticizing the wide array of bugs across the trilogy, the publisher recently launched its first major patch for the games. According to Rockstar, this should fix a number of notable problems with the titles such as issues causing holes in the map, to character models in cutscenes and more.

For more on GTA: The Trilogy, make sure to check out our review of the game where we gave it a 5/10 calling it "defective, disappointing, and surprisingly disrespectful to three classic games and their many legions of fans." Alternatively, if you're currently playing through the trilogy and need a refresher on the best cheat codes available in the series, then you can use our handy wiki guide to catch up on any you might have missed.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Director Ridley Scott has confirmed that live-action TV shows for both Blade Runner and Alien are in production, with plots already written.

During an interview with Today on BBC Radio 4, the 83-year-old director confirmed that the pilot for the upcoming Blade Runner TV series has been written.

“We have already written the pilot for Blade Runner and the bible,” he said. “So, we’re already presenting Blade Runner as a TV show, probably the first 10 hours.”

A Blade Runner TV series had been rumoured back in February, but nothing was confirmed about the project until now.

Although details are scarce, it’s thought that the show will debut on a streaming service, but it’s unclear where. It’s also unclear whether this will affect Denis Villeneuve’s hopes to make another Blade Runner movie.

“It's such an inspiring place, the Blade Runner world," said Villeneuve. "The problem I have is the word 'sequel.' I think cinema needs original stories. But if you ask me if I'd like to revisit this universe in a different way, I can say yes. It would need to be a project on its own. Something disconnected from both other movies. A detective noir story set in the future… I wake up sometimes in the night dreaming about it.”

Scott also confirmed that Alien is in a “similar” position, with a TV series currently in the works. “Alien is now being written for pilot,” he said. He added that an 8–10 hour bible was also being put together.

The Alien TV series was announced earlier this year and will be heading to FX. FX boss John Landgraf has described the series as “the first ‘Alien’ story set on Earth — and by blending both the timeless horror of the first ‘Alien’ film with the non-stop action of the second, it’s going to be a scary thrill ride that will blow people back in their seats.”

However, Ridley Scott himself expressed doubt that the TV show will ever be as good as the original Alien:

“It’ll never be as good as the first one,” he said. “That’s what I’ll say.”

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Marvel’s Avengers’ upcoming Spider-Man DLC will not feature story missions like those seen in the Kate Bishop, Hawkeye, and Black Panther updates.

Rather than a short campaign with bespoke missions, Avengers’ Spider-Man: With Great Power story is told through audio logs and illustrated cutscenes that are unlocked by completing challenges that have been added to the regular Avengers Initiative multiplayer missions. Working through these challenges gradually unfolds a storyline in which Spider-Man uncovers AIM’s new plan to upgrade their Synthoid army.

Talking to IGN, Avengers’ Gameplay Director, Philippe Therien, explained why Crystal Dynamics chose this direction. “We want to spend our efforts on content that everyone can enjoy, so we chose to spend a lot of our energy on the Klaw raid that's coming up at the same time,” he said.

“Really that's a simple decision for us. Spider-Man can play all the content, but then we release a piece of content that's good on all platforms. Really that was a decision that's been that way since the beginning,” he concluded.

Since the Spider-Man DLC doesn’t come with its own story missions, it is not being branded in the same way as previous character DLC; Crystal Dynamics call it a Hero Event. Kate Bishop and Hawkeye’s DLC, which came with in-engine animated cutscenes and story missions, were known as Operations. Black Panther’s more substantial additions in War for Wakanda came branded as an expansion.

A Hero Event, then, feels more akin to how games like Rainbow Six Siege or League of Legends will add a new character. There’s a certain amount of lore and cosmetics content around them, but the new playable content is essentially just the character themself. For more on that, take a look at our Avengers Spider-Man DLC preview, which goes into detail on how Peter Parker feels to play.

For other Avengers news, check out the cool suits Spider-Man has access to in the DLC, our story on Square Enix’s president’s feelings on Avengers, and our report on the removal of paid XP boosters from the game.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.