PS5 launch title Destruction AllStars has been delayed to February 2021, and will be released as a PlayStation Plus free game. Announced on the PlayStation blog, the move has been motivated, at least in part, by ensuring the multiplayer game has an audience. "Destruction AllStars is a multiplayer game that’s at its best when you’re competing with gamers online from all around the world", explains PlayStation director of product development Pete Smith. "We want as many people as possible to experience the mayhem on PS5, and what better way to do that than to provide the game to our PlayStation Plus members?" [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/11/destruction-allstars-announcement-trailer-ps5-reveal-event"] Sony makes clear that existing pre-orders will be refunded. The game - which has been notably quiet since its announcement in June - will get new details and a trailer next week, to explain what players will get when they download it. The game seems to mix destruction derby mechanics with some measure of on-foot action, with a series of different cars and heroes to choose from. It's one of the PlayStation games launching at a new higher price point of $70, meaning that new "free as part of PS Plus" price looks pretty appealing. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=confirmed-playstation-5-games&captions=true"]

We recently got our hands on a PS5, but for now we can only show you the retail box. In other PS5 news, here's a helpful comparison between the Xbox Series X and PS5 launch titles. Preorders for the console are currently sold out, but if more go up they'll be in our PS5 preorder guide right away. For everything you need to know about PlayStation 5, check out our PS5 guide.

[poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Sackboy: A Big Adventure brings the LittleBigPlanet star back into the spotlight for an adventure focused on platforming fun rather than the creation side of his former franchise. That doesn’t mean the new adventure is losing any of the charm, wit, or creativity of LBP, but is instead putting the focus on a platforming adventure crafted to offer variety, challenge, and a whole lot of slapstick fun. IGN recently spoke with developer Sumo Digital’s Ned Waterhouse about Sackboy’s new adventure as he goes on a quest to save Craftworld and the other Sackpeople from the villainous Vex, and what the developers are bringing to PS4 and PS5 players. Here are some of the big and small takeaways from what players can expect in the new Sackboy adventure. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=sackboy-a-big-adventure-ps5-screenshots&captions=true"]

Why Sackboy Will Run at a Locked 60 FPS

Though Sumo Digital has confirmed before that Sackboy will run at 60 FPS, Waterhouse spoke a bit at length about why, from the start of the project, this locked framerate was such a key facet of the game. “We said from day one, the absolute must was a smooth 60 frames per second because we focused on play and that was about creating the best platform we could. For us, that meant awesome character controls, and it meant a really responsive character,” Waterhouse said, explaining that that also meant a solid framerate on both the PS4 and PS5 versions of the game. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/sackboy-a-big-adventure-sumo-introduces-sackboy-video"] He continued, “So we said from the get-go, it has to be a solid 60 across all platforms. We use dynamic resolution scaling to ensure that we can keep it at a smooth 60, but that was our priority throughout development. And I hope that players feel the benefits of that when they play the game."

Approachable, But With Some True Challenges

Platformers often have to thread a difficult needle of, well, difficulty, ensuring that they can be approachable from the start for players to learn the ropes, while also letting those who crave a challenge really test their skills. “We wanted to create an experience with broad appeal that everyone can enjoy, he's a wonderfully endearing character, the world is rich and it's inviting, and we just wanted lots and lots of people to get the chance to experience that and to enjoy that,” Waterhouse explained. But, of course, platforming fans crave a good challenge, and the Sumo Digital team took an interesting approach — namely, the difference in mastering the campaign and mastering all of Sackboy’s content comes in his moveset. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=ps5-ui-screenshots&captions=true"] “So the way that we approached this was, we said we're going to broaden Sackboy's moveset. We're going to introduce loads of new moves... But we said, we will only use a subset of those moves to complete the main adventure. That doesn't mean the main adventure doesn't have challenge. It's familiar and welcoming when you start out, the challenge increases as you become more accustomed to the character and the world. “But what you don't need to do is learn every move and you don't need to learn how to chain them all together. You can complete this game with a subset of those moves. However, if you want to set all the high scores, find all the secrets, master all the levels, beat the post-game and platinum this game, you are going to have to learn how to master this character.” In particular, Waterhouse pointed to a subset of levels called the Knitted Knight Trials, which Waterhouse described as “quick-fire, fast-paced arcade-y, bits of gameplay where you've got this hazard strewn obstacle course, one life, and you have to get to the finish line as quickly as you can.”

PS4 Players Shouldn’t Be Disappointed

Sackboy is going to be a launch PS5 game and also hit PS4. It is aiming to take advantage of the new system’s advanced capabilities, including the DualSense controller, the system’s SSD, and more. But Waterhouse made it clear that PS4 players should not expect to be disappointed by the experience. “When it comes to the PlayStation 4 version of this game, I don't think anyone's going to be disappointed if they buy that version," he said. "For me and for the team, it was really important for us to be on that platform because we wanted as many people as possible to get a chance to play this game. That said, the new console is more powerful. It's got new features, and that allowed us to enhance both the visuals, take advantage of the SSD, and do some work with the DualSense and the haptics.” [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/sackboy-a-big-adventure-reveal-trailer-ps5-reveal-event"] Waterhouse and I were speaking in the context of what the DualSense brings to Sackboy’s adventure, but he wanted to make it clear that even without its unique capabilities, PS4 players can still expect the same platforming levels and challenges, along with the same performance goal of 60 FPS the devs had for both versions.

A Slapstick Approach

Sackboy has always had a charming humor to him and his world, both the ones devised by players in the LittleBigPlanet series and in the levels built around him by Media Molecule and Sumo Digital. And injecting his new adventure with a Monty Python-esque style of comedy was something Waterhouse explained the team wanted to do not just in the game’s story but also through its gameplay. And it helps, as he described them, that the devs have a bit of “mischief” in them, anyway. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/sackboy-a-big-adventure-story-trailer"] “LittleBigPlanet has a rich vein of slightly irreverent and Python-esque comedy to it. And we were very mindful of that and we looked to carry that through the story of this game,” he said, continuing: "We've got a host of quirky characters... We've got 60 costumes in the game. They all break down into their constituent parts, you can paint all of those parts. We have some amazing looking costumes, but there is real flexibility in the system. And honestly, some of the things that the development team create are abominations,” he joked. He even went on to elaborate that the team found as many ways as possible to allow co-op players to interact with one another, both in ways to meaningfully make progress and to grief each other. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=ps5-box-pictures&captions=true"] “One thing that we did is we said there should be lots of ways for players to interact with each other. So in this game, you can slap each other. You can bounce off each other's heads, you can pick each other up and shock them. You can grapple them, you can do [the new move called] a roll run. “There are perfectly legitimate ways to use all of those moves in the game in order to progress. But also, you can sneak up behind your little brother and Slap him off a platform,” Waterhouse explained, mentioning that he wouldn’t be surprised if the game caused a few arguments during the holidays.

Making a Great Co-Op Experience

And on the note of co-op, Waterhouse really drove home the point that, while Sackboy is built to be a great single player game, the team also always had co-op in mind for the adventure. In addition to the fun ways to grief your co-op partners, as well as interact through cooperative-specific emotes, there are a host of co-op specific levels that will really require players to put their skills to the test by working together. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/10/21/ps5s-launch-lineup-and-ui-beyond-episode-671"] Every level in the adventure is also possible in co-op, but Sumo Digital wanted to make sure that no two players ever felt like different skill levels or handling on the controls would deter from the overall experience. “We know that players of different abilities will want to play together. We have a few things in the game that allow you to [level the playing field]. We have an option that we call the assist copter. You can call in the copter when playing in multiplayer, Sackboy will light a flare, and this little crafted copter comes down and picks him up. “And what the copter does is it follows the lead player. Providing that one person can get through a section of gameplay, everyone can get through. We also have a shared life system in the game because it's there to encourage collaboration and teamwork and a little bit social responsibility. If you want to turn that off and enable infinite lives and just enjoy the platforming challenge, then you can do that." Sackboy: A Big Adventure will look to offer players plenty of ways to play, with dozens of varied levels, costumes to unlock and mix and match, and both single-player and co-op challenges to face. For more on what to expect from Sackboy and others, check out the list of PS5 preorder bonuses currently announced, as well as the full PS5 launch lineup. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jonathon Dornbush is IGN's Senior News Editor, PlayStation lead, and host of Podcast Beyond! Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush.

Fortnite has "many years of Marvel integration" planned beyond the current Nexus War featured in Chapter 2, Season 4 of the game, and has years of general storytelling for the Battle Royale in the works. As reported by Eurogamer, Epic Games Studio's Worldwide Creative Director Donald Mustard revealed the news as part of his appearance on episode 469 of the This Week in Marvel podcast. "The reason we called this season Nexus War is that this is just the start of lots of stuff we have planned for many years of Marvel integration," Mustard told the hosts. "This is not the end, this is the beginning." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/08/27/fortnite-x-marvel-season-4-nexus-war-update-explained"] Mustard goes onto explain how they teased it with Deadpool and Captain America throughout the year, building up to the introduction of Galactus, who according to Mustard, had been planned even prior to Fortnite's blockbuster black hole event. "The Zero Point reorganised all the matter around the island and kind of created this new island." "Galactus kind of felt this re-organising of reality and was like 'huh, there's this energy source at kind of the centre of everything and if I can consume that, I can consume not just the Marvel reality, I can consume everything,' Mustard continued. "We knew in the background that Galactus is feeling this and is on his way. That was the inciting event that attracted his attention." Mustard goes on to talk about how Fortnite is a "nexus of all of these realities," hence the crossover between branded worlds. "We're only three years into an arc we have way planned out," Mustard adds. At a wider level, Mustard explains that Fortnite's story is planned for years beyond the point it's reached right now: "What if instead of treating [Fortnite's story] like a normal narrative, I'm going to create a world where the island is the main character - so I'm going to treat the island like that traditional arc," he explained. "And we've planned it that way. Like, I have the story and the narrative structure planned out for many, many, many years. And we're only three years in to an arc we have way planned out - like, the big beats of how that'll work." He goes onto explain that there are "big hints" as to the mythology of Fortnite in the current season, but also makes clear that the develoepr works around its audience, too. He points to the community's conviction that Tilted Towers would be destroyed in2018, and said that Epic purposely made an approaching comet look as though it would hit that location, before veering away. Fortnite's current season is rumoured to end in November, at which point we'll likely learn about the next steps for the metaverse. Fortnite recently added a series of Ghostbusters skins and cosmetics, available for a limited time. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

While David Ayer’s Suicide Squad was a critical bomb and is not seen favourably by many fans, James Gunn - director of the upcoming The Suicide Squad - belives that Ayer’s approach to characters has “added” to his version of the team. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/08/22/the-suicide-squad-behind-the-scenes-teaser-dc-fandome"] “Listen, David Ayer’s gotten trouble for the movie,” said Gunn while talking to Empire. “I know it didn’t come out how David wanted it to come out. But he did one really, really great thing, and that is he picked fantastic actors to work with, and he dealt with these actors in building their characters in a really deep and fearless way. It’s something David definitely deserves to be lauded for, and it’s definitely added to this movie.” The Suicide Squad features several returning cast and characters from David Ayer’s film, including Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn and Jai Courtney’s Captain Boomerang. But despite the returning characters, Gunn suggests that the connection between the two is hazy. “Um, it’s its own thing,” Gunn said. “It does not contradict the first movie, I don’t think. It might in some small ways… I don’t know…” [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-suicide-squad-whos-who-full-cast-and-character-reveals&captions=true"] Gunn’s words certainly suggest that he was more concerned with pulling the best elements of Ayer’s film - the cast - and forgetting/ignoring everything else. That’s something all but the most die-hard Suicide Squad fans will probably be on board for. For more The Suicide Squad, check out Gunn explaining how he was allowed to kill any character he wanted, our explainer for TDK and Peacemaker, and the first image of the whole Suicide Squad crew assembled. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. 

Tom Holland has shared a video of him touching down in Atlanta, Georgia, to officially start filming Spider-Man 3. The actor shared a couple of Instagram stories from a private plane before landing on the tarmac and celebrating the start of production on his latest sequel in the Spider-Man franchise following 2017's Homecoming and 2019's Far From Home. In the short clip, Holland excitedly announces: "We just landed in Atlanta, and uh... it's time for Spider-Man 3. Let's go!" [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/20/spider-man-sony-executive-hopes-new-mcu-deal-will-continue-after-third-tom-holland-film-ign-news"] Holland's impending arrival on the set of Spider-Man 3 indicates that principal photography is likely to get underway soon, as it was recently reported that production had already commenced on Spider-Man: Far From Home's sequel, which is expected to drop a first-look later this year. Sony Pictures has reportedly spun a web around the release date for Spider-Man 3, as the studio is said to be sticking to its plans of releasing the film on December 17, 2021, with the sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse currently scheduled to follow later in 2022. The still-untitled Spider-Man threequel was originally set to be released in theaters on July 16, 2021, before being pushed back to November and then later December of the same year. In Sony's schedule, Holland was set to shoot Uncharted first before once again becoming Peter Parker. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=ranking-the-spider-man-movies&captions=true"] Holland recently shared the first photo from the long-in-development Uncharted movie, showing his character Nathan Drake in a tan-coloured shirt and cargo pants. Holland will now swap out of this get-up and suit up in the iconic Spidey costume, as he gears up to start work on Spider-Man 3 alongside Zendaya, Marisa Tomei, Jacob Batalon, and Tony Revolori. Benedict Cumberbatch will also make an appearance in the forthcoming film, reprising Doctor Strange in what's described as a "mentor role" for Holland's Spider-Man. The web-slinger might need all of the help that he can get, as he is expected to face Jamie Foxx's Electro in the new film, though he'll apparently look quite different from his previous appearance in 2014's The Amazing Spider-Man 2. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

A timed PlayStation exclusive Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War mode has been revealed by Activision, titled Zombies Onslaught. Unveiled in a post on the PlayStation Blog, Zombies Onslaught is a "two-person, fast-paced Zombies experience" and will be a timed exclusive for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 owners of Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War. Those who own the game on  PC or Xbox One, or Xbox Series X and S will have to wait until November 1, 2021, to get access to the new mode. Zombies Onslaught is a wave survival mode which takes place on modified versions of the game's multiplayer maps. A duo must defend themselves against hordes of zombies while a "mysterious orb" keeps them trapped an energy barrier. Killing zombies powers the orb, causing it to move around the map - step outside of the orbs barrier and you'll take Dark Aether damage (think of it as a pocket-sized version of CoD: Warzone's circle, essentially). [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/09/16/call-of-duty-black-ops-cold-war-gameplay-trailer"] Powering the orb also creates surges that summon more and more powerful assailants, even summoning elite enemies and "more resilient, faster, and deadlier zombies." Players will be ranked based on how many elites they take down during the match. To help you through the Onslaught, ou'll be able to use your loadouts from Zombies and Multiplayer in Zombies Onslaught mode, and players will be able to pick up special transferable rewards in Zombies Onslaught which will refresh each season, alongside the map pool. For more details on the more traditional four-player Zombies mode coming to Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War, check out our article which details the new map Die Maschine and so much more. Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War will launch on November 13. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

The Suicide Squad writer-director James Gunn has revealed that Warner Bros. gave him free rein over killing off characters in the upcoming DCEU movie. Taking to Twitter, Gunn retweeted a fan who pondered which members of Task Force X were likely to survive the movie, alongside the cover image to the December 2020 issue of Empire magazine, which features the entire ensemble cast gathered together. Gunn then posed the question to his own Twitter followers, asking them which two characters they thought were most likely to stay alive.

No character was protected by DC. They gave me carte blanche to do what I wanted. That was one of the things we agreed to before I came to work for them. I wasn't looking for shock value but I wanted the audience to know anything could happen. #StoryReignsSupreme #TheSuicideSquad https://t.co/VxH2ChdqWf

— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) October 24, 2020

In response, one fan shared their opinion that some Suicide Squad characters have "franchise armour" that would prevent them from appearing on the director's kill list. This person suggested that Harley Quinn, King Shark, and Amanda Waller would be "protected" from death because "DC has them in other things" while there is an 80% chance that any of the other characters could die. Gunn quickly debunked this suggestion, as he revealed that one of his conditions for taking on the project was that he could kill any character. He tweeted: "No character was protected by DC. They gave me carte blanche to do what I wanted. That was one of the things we agreed to before I came to work for them. I wasn't looking for shock value but I wanted the audience to know anything could happen." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/08/22/the-suicide-squad-behind-the-scenes-teaser-dc-fandome"] In the DC comics, the Suicide Squad gained a reputation for having an increasingly high body count — a trend that continued in the antihero team's various other incarnations and adaptations. With every member of the squad being expendable once again, no one can be sure who will survive Gunn's soft reboot, which stars Idris Elba as Bloodsport, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag, John Cena as Peacemaker, Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang, David Dastmalchian as Polka-Dot Man, Daniela Melchior as Ratcatcher II, Steve Agee as King Shark (mo-cap) and John Economos, Sean Gunn as Weasel (mo-cap), Flula Borg as Javelin, Nathan Fillion as TDK, Peter Capaldi as The Thinker, Pete Davidson as Blackguard, Alice Braga as Solsoria, Mayling Ng as Mongal, and Michael Rooker as Savant. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-suicide-squad-whos-who-full-cast-and-character-reveals&captions=true"] The Suicide Squad is currently scheduled to hit theaters on August 6, 2021. Speculation is now rife as to who will survive the movie's runtime, though Gunn admitted that he doesn't have time to tally up the results because he is busy writing the upcoming HBO Max spinoff series focused on John Cena's Peacemaker, which will be produced by Gunn's Troll Court Entertainment and The Safran Company in association with Warner Bros. Television. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

Chinese indie game developer Pathea Games has announced the sequel to My Time At Portia, titled My Time At Sandrock.

My Time At Portia was a charming farming sim RPG that sold over 1.7 million copies worldwide. My Time At Sandrock will release into Steam Early Access in March 2021, with a full release due on next-gen consoles, PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Switch in Summer 2022. Check out a first trailer below:

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My Time At Sandrock, like the previous game, shares elements with games like Stardew Valley and Harvest Moon but with its own unique twists. The player will take the role of a builder who owns a workshop in Sandrock. They will need to complete different commissions from local townspeople and government to learn more about the storyline.

In order to complete their orders, players need to collect different resources through digging, harvesting, scavenging, cooking, and battling. They will also meet lots of brand new interesting creatures, separate from those they met in the ocean town of Portia. All characters in the game are promised to be more interactive, and dozens of NPC will have their own personalities and independent AI. One of them may even become your future husband or wife.

Players still experience the same post-apocalyptic universe and timeline as My Time At Portia, and will encounter a few surprise connections to My Time At Portia, including some familiar NPCs. Pathea Games also added in plenty of new characters, more drama, while players can enjoy transforming a desert into an oasis.

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Sandrock is a city-state located in the Eufaula Desert within the Alliance of Free Cities. Water is at a premium in Sandrock, with the only source being the nearby oasis. The hard-working people at Sandrock use wood and metal that they gather from relics to build their own unique buildings and also build railroads that connect with the outside world and turn this place into the traffic hub of the Alliance of Free Cities.

After gathering players’ feedback about the original game, Pathea Games is planning on releasing a new multiplayer mode in the future.

We awarded the first game an 8/10 review, saying "My Time at Portia's many parts don't always shine on their own, but together they make for a pleasant building adventure."

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