The Coalition's Gears 5 has been a recurring example of Xbox Series X's graphical capabilities, but The Coalition isn't just improving the already impressive visuals of Gears 5 for the console launch. When Gears 5 makes its way to Xbox Series X and Series S on November 10, it'll get a big campaign and multiplayer content update to go with it. IGN chatted with members of The Coalition to get a detailed look at what's coming with Gears 5's New Game+, the big multiplayer update, the development process of the visual upgrades, and a tease of what's coming next to Gears 5. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/10/23/gears-5-xbox-series-xs-update-trailer"]

Gears 5 Campaign New Game+ Details

To put it simply, Gears 5's New Game+ is a more customizable experience coming to all versions of Gears 5 that won't need to be unlocked regardless of where you're playing. Here's a rundown of the new features you'll find for the campaign on November 10:

• Two new difficulty modes (Ironman and Inconceivable)
• Character Skins for Kait, Del, and JD
• Weapon Skins
• Jack upgrades carry over
• Mutators (Big head mode, etc)
• New achievements

Zoë Curnoe, principal lead producer of Gears 5, told IGN that Inconceivable is one level of difficulty higher than what Gears 5 originally included, but Iron Man is a special challenge. "If you're familiar with that in games like XCOM, [which] maybe is the best example where you don't want to die ever -- you're trying to play through with one life [in Ironman mode]. That's really challenging and that's where bringing over your OP Jack is going to help you get through that. Or certainly playing through co-op if you're both in Ironman, that would be a really fun thing to challenge as well. So we certainly loved the couch co-op challenges for Gears," Curnoe said. Then, as for skins, Curnoe said you'll be able to use any you've unlocked. The one anyone will be able to use, though, is a special skin for Marcus Fenix.

Batista Joins the Campaign

Batista, Dave Bautista's WWE persona, made his first appearance in Gears 5 multiplayer. After plenty of support and enthusiasm from Bautista and the community, Batista is getting his Gears 5 campaign debut as an optional skin for Marcus Fenix complete with a new voice over. "He had his fan campaign on Twitter, vying to be the star in the much talked about movie ideas and things like that, but this is a great way of delivering that to fans," Curnoe said. "And of course he was super excited to participate when they did the skin for multiplayer. I think doing this in the campaign was just a natural evolution to say, okay, well the fans and him have said they want Batista as Marcus, so let's actually make it happen." To feature Batista in the campaign, all players need to do is choose to equip the Batista skin for Marcus when starting a new game. Then, any instance you'd see Marcus, you'd instead see and hear Batista.

Operation 5 Brings Versus Changes

Gears 5's multiplayer has had a number of large updates called Operations since launch, and Operation 5 features a change that came directly from player feedback. "What we've really done there is try to make a lot of the game more accessible, not only for people coming back, but also the people that are new to the game. We've done things like separation of characters in classes, which were funny," Alex Grimbley, Gears 5 executive producer said. "When we first launched the game, certain characters were tied to certain classes, which was a really cool system for us and there were a lot of people that really liked that system. But if we thought about how we want to kind of move forward, just giving players more choice was one of our key things. Giving the players the choice to choose which class they want to apply to which character is I think really powerful." In past Operations The Coalition also introduced an earnable currency for the store, a new ranked system, and plenty of other maps and changes. Going forward, though, Grimbley said The Coalition has aspirations to make their Operations have stronger themes to tie any new content or maps together as an added bonus for fans of the franchise. They're also committed to developing more maps for each Operation. [poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=But%20if%20we%20thought%20about%20how%20we%20want%20to%20kind%20of%20move%20forward%2C%20just%20giving%20players%20more%20choice%20was%20one%20of%20our%20key%20things."] On the tech side, multiplayer on Series X and Series S hits 120 FPS and supports cross-play between the Xbox One and PC. However, unlike how players on Xbox One were able to opt-out of queuing with PC players who'd likely have a framerate and other technical advantages, Xbox One players can't opt out of playing against others on Series S or Series X who will have similar advantages to PC players. Mike Rayner, studio technical director at The Coalition, isn't concerned about there being too much of a competitive advantage though. Even still, The Coalition did look at opportunities to improve Gears 5's performance on the Xbox One version. "We've actually worked on improving the latency response on both the base Xbox version, as well as the Xbox Series X and S. We look at it in terms of the internal latency of the game engine, how quickly we're responding to those inputs. Of course when we're running at a higher frame rate, yes, it's definitely going to be an even lower latency. In the PC space we've always had this. If you have a higher-end machine you can run it at higher frame rates. You can get the best hardware in the world, but ultimately it's player skill, that's ultimately going to dictate how well you're going to do," Rayner said.

Xbox Series X Visual Upgrades

As a game developed in the Unreal Engine, Rayner said the team effort of getting Gears 5 up and running on the Xbox Series X only took a short time to test, polish, and demo features on the Xbox Series X. "When we first showed that demo in March, at that time, we had already lit up a whole bunch of high spec, PC ultra spec features that we already support on the highest end [PC] hardware. We were able to light those up and turn those on and the [Xbox Series X] just sort of absorbed it and it. There were no performance issues. And then we went beyond that. I think even at that time, we didn't enable some of the new features we've added, like contact shadows and screen space global illumination, which really just increased the quality of the lighting and shadowing in the game. So yeah, that was about a two-week effort," Rayner said. Rayner said the speed of the Xbox Series X also enables a visual quality in an open-world, even when you're zooming past the details on, say, a skiff. "We have some open-world elements in our game where we're streaming high-res textures and, you know, we have geometry streaming in and out. And so what you see is you see the highest-quality version of the assets as you kind of fly around the world as fast as you can, whereas before, especially at some of the lower-spec hardware, like the base Xbox One, you might see a little bit of popping or text or popping. These types of things are just a non-issue. In the future I think you'll be able to see – not that I should talk too much about future stuff – you're going to see the types of open-world games that just simply wouldn't have been possible on earlier hardware." Another spot Rayner said players will notice a difference is in Gears 5's cinematics. They'll now run at 60 frames per second rather than 30 frames per second as they did originally. Rayner said this is just one of the many other visual upgrades they've been able to make on the hardware for a more seamless performance and a generally higher level of detail. Excluding the visual upgrades specific to the Xbox Series X, all content updates are planned for all versions of Gears 5. They'll also get a DLC expansion later this year, which you can read a little more about in IGN's announcement story. For more on all the games coming to the Xbox Series consoles, be sure to visit IGN's Xbox Series X guide. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Miranda Sanchez is the executive editor of guides at IGN. You can chat with her about video games and anime on Twitter.

The Coalition is taking its shot at Gears 5 story DLC in December, Gears developers told IGN, and it'll be available on the Xbox One, PC, and Xbox Series consoles. "All I can say is December and the title is Hivebusters, so it might give you a little hint as to what that content might contain," said Zoe Curnoe, Gears 5 principal lead producer. "That'll be available on the new consoles as well, so it'll be optimized for those two." In Gears 5, the Hivebusters are a squad of three who never make an appearance in the campaign but instead star in the new mode Escape. Team Scorpio's Keegan, Lahni, and Mac are the default squad (though you can go in with one of your choosing) that infiltrate Swarm hives on what would be considered suicide missions to destory the enemy strongholds from the inside. Team Scorpio doesn't have much of an identity in Gears 5, though they do have an origin story in the Gears of War: Hivebusters comics. Other than an estimated playtime of 3-4 hours, Curnoe said more DLC details, including whether or not it'll cost anything, will be shared in early December. Members of The Coalition previously said they weren't interested in developing story DLC for Gears. Curnoe said the philosophy of the statement is still true in that they don't want to hold anything back when developing a campaign, but chose to develop the expansion after fan requests. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-complete-gears-of-war-timeline-so-far&captions=true"] Mike Rayner, studio technical director at The Coalition, also mentioned the story DLC will be the first Gears story reviewed, tuned, and polished on the Series X and Series S during the content's original development rather than upgrades made after. "So the things that we're doing with global illumination and constant mapping I think are a good example, and we've made sure that the content is really set up to take advantage of that," Ryaner said. "The ultra-res textures are now there and we can kind of tune them and make sure that they really show up in 4K resolution with the additional memory we have on these consoles and the ability to stream them in super fast." Gears 5 is also getting a campaign update with its New Game+ mode in November. Be sure to read about what that entails along with major multiplayer updates in IGN's interview with The Coalition, and for all the games coming to the Series X at launch, check out the IGN Series X launch guide. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=gears-5-new-game-and-xbox-series-x-screenshots&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Miranda Sanchez is the executive editor of guides at IGN. You can chat with her about video games and anime on Twitter.

The Coalition is taking its shot at Gears 5 story DLC in December, Gears developers told IGN, and it'll be available on the Xbox One, PC, and Xbox Series consoles. "All I can say is December and the title is Hivebusters, so it might give you a little hint as to what that content might contain," said Zoe Curnoe, Gears 5 principal lead producer. "That'll be available on the new consoles as well, so it'll be optimized for those two." In Gears 5, the Hivebusters are a squad of three who never make an appearance in the campaign but instead star in the new mode Escape. Team Scorpio's Keegan, Lahni, and Mac are the default squad (though you can go in with one of your choosing) that infiltrate Swarm hives on what would be considered suicide missions to destory the enemy strongholds from the inside. Team Scorpio doesn't have much of an identity in Gears 5, though they do have an origin story in the Gears of War: Hivebusters comics. Other than an estimated playtime of 3-4 hours, Curnoe said more DLC details, including whether or not it'll cost anything, will be shared in early December. Members of The Coalition previously said they weren't interested in developing story DLC for Gears. Curnoe said the philosophy of the statement is still true in that they don't want to hold anything back when developing a campaign, but chose to develop the expansion after fan requests. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-complete-gears-of-war-timeline-so-far&captions=true"] Mike Rayner, studio technical director at The Coalition, also mentioned the story DLC will be the first Gears story reviewed, tuned, and polished on the Series X and Series S during the content's original development rather than upgrades made after. "So the things that we're doing with global illumination and constant mapping I think are a good example, and we've made sure that the content is really set up to take advantage of that," Ryaner said. "The ultra-res textures are now there and we can kind of tune them and make sure that they really show up in 4K resolution with the additional memory we have on these consoles and the ability to stream them in super fast." Gears 5 is also getting a campaign update with its New Game+ mode in November. Be sure to read about what that entails along with major multiplayer updates in IGN's interview with The Coalition, and for all the games coming to the Series X at launch, check out the IGN Series X launch guide. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=gears-5-new-game-and-xbox-series-x-screenshots&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Miranda Sanchez is the executive editor of guides at IGN. You can chat with her about video games and anime on Twitter.

Nintendo announced today that it will permanently cut the price of a single Joy-Con controller in the US from $49.99 to $39.99. Announced in a tweet, Nintendo says that, starting November 9, the price of a single Joy-Con controller will be reduced by $10. The price of a Joy-Con pair package will remain the same at $79.99. At time of writing, the price cut has only been announced in the US and Japan.

Starting on 11/9, single #NintendoSwitch Joy-Con controllers will be available for purchase for $39.99. Choose from the left Joy-Con controller in Neon Blue, and the right Joy-Con controller in Neon Red. pic.twitter.com/wXW8BEssS7

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) October 23, 2020

As you can see in the tweet above, Nintendo only specifically mentions the Neon Blue left Joy-Con controller and the Neon Red right Joy-Con controller. It's unclear if Nintendo is just specifically advertising those two Joy-Con colors or if the company is saying that only those two colors are receiving the price cut. Our bet is on the latter considering the phrasing of Nintendo's tweet. IGN has reached out to Nintendo for further comment and will update this story accordingly when we hear back. After this new price cut is in place, the price of a single controller will align more equitably with the price of the dual pack. Before, it was $79.99 for the dual pack and $49.99 for a single controller, which gave the dual pack a roughly $20 discount over buying two individual Joy-Con. Following the price cut, buying the dual pack is practically the same price as buying two individual Joy-Con. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/11/joy-con-drift-is-still-a-huge-problem-3-years-later"] If you're looking for some extra savings on Nintendo controllers, Joy-Con and Pro controllers are currently $10 off on sale right now. If you're someone who's purchased multiple Joy-Con, there's a good chance you've run into the unfortuante phenomenon of Joy-Con drift. If you have, be sure to read Nintendo's formal apology for this unfortunate controller phenomenon. Here's how to fix Joy-Con drift if you're curious to repair your controller yourself. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes. 

Nintendo announced today that it will permanently cut the price of a single Joy-Con controller in the US from $49.99 to $39.99. Announced in a tweet, Nintendo says that, starting November 9, the price of a single Joy-Con controller will be reduced by $10. The price of a Joy-Con pair package will remain the same at $79.99. At time of writing, the price cut has only been announced in the US and Japan.

Starting on 11/9, single #NintendoSwitch Joy-Con controllers will be available for purchase for $39.99. Choose from the left Joy-Con controller in Neon Blue, and the right Joy-Con controller in Neon Red. pic.twitter.com/wXW8BEssS7

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) October 23, 2020

As you can see in the tweet above, Nintendo only specifically mentions the Neon Blue left Joy-Con controller and the Neon Red right Joy-Con controller. It's unclear if Nintendo is just specifically advertising those two Joy-Con colors or if the company is saying that only those two colors are receiving the price cut. Our bet is on the latter considering the phrasing of Nintendo's tweet. IGN has reached out to Nintendo for further comment and will update this story accordingly when we hear back. After this new price cut is in place, the price of a single controller will align more equitably with the price of the dual pack. Before, it was $79.99 for the dual pack and $49.99 for a single controller, which gave the dual pack a roughly $20 discount over buying two individual Joy-Con. Following the price cut, buying the dual pack is practically the same price as buying two individual Joy-Con. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/11/joy-con-drift-is-still-a-huge-problem-3-years-later"] If you're looking for some extra savings on Nintendo controllers, Joy-Con and Pro controllers are currently $10 off on sale right now. If you're someone who's purchased multiple Joy-Con, there's a good chance you've run into the unfortuante phenomenon of Joy-Con drift. If you have, be sure to read Nintendo's formal apology for this unfortunate controller phenomenon. Here's how to fix Joy-Con drift if you're curious to repair your controller yourself. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes. 

Head of Xbox Phil Spencer has raised the idea of releasing 'streaming sticks' as part of Xbox Game Pass, which could be used to stream games through xCloud after being plugged into the TV. Speaking to Stratechery (via The Verge) Spencer explained: “I think you’re going to see lower priced hardware as part of our ecosystem when you think about streaming sticks and other things that somebody might want to just go plug into their TV and go play via xCloud. "You could imagine us even having something that we just included in the Game Pass subscription that gave you an ability to stream xCloud games to your television and buying the controller.” [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=28-best-xbox-game-pass-games&captions=true"] It's worth pointing out that Spencer is speaking somewhat hypothetically at this point, but it wouldn't be a surprise to see Microsoft leverage its streaming resources beyond high-priced consoles and smaller-screened mobile devices. Spencer has been talking up the idea of moving beyond the traditional Xbox console ecosystem for some time, repeatedly espousing a games-first approach. “I find it completely counter to what gaming is about to [...] force someone to buy my specific device on the day that I want them to go buy it, in order to partake in what gaming is about. Gaming is bigger than any one device," he told GamesIndustry earlier this year. Streaming sticks that play a selection of Xbox games on TVs - without the need for console hardware - would certainly fit into that philosophy. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/xbox-series-x-the-final-preview"] This isn't to say Spencer is against the idea of console hardware altogether. In the same Stratechery interview, he also mooted the idea of an Xbox Game Pass Platinum tier that would guarantee access to new hardware as part of the subscription. After a long period of testing, xCloud and Xbox Game Streaming are taking shape, letting you play Xbox games across multiple devices. xCloud is now available as part of your Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription, and should be coming to iOS in 2021 via a browser-based solution. If you would like some new Xbox hardware, the Series X and S are coming on November 10. Xbox Series X retails at $499 USD / £449 / $749 AUD, while Xbox Series S comes in at $299 USD / £249.99 / $499 AUD. Xbox Series X and S are currently sold out ahead of launch but, with more units promised, keep an eye on our Xbox Series preorders page - and if you want to know everything about the consoles before you nab one, we have our Xbox Series X and S 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.

Head of Xbox Phil Spencer has raised the idea of releasing 'streaming sticks' as part of Xbox Game Pass, which could be used to stream games through xCloud after being plugged into the TV. Speaking to Stratechery (via The Verge) Spencer explained: “I think you’re going to see lower priced hardware as part of our ecosystem when you think about streaming sticks and other things that somebody might want to just go plug into their TV and go play via xCloud. "You could imagine us even having something that we just included in the Game Pass subscription that gave you an ability to stream xCloud games to your television and buying the controller.” [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=28-best-xbox-game-pass-games&captions=true"] It's worth pointing out that Spencer is speaking somewhat hypothetically at this point, but it wouldn't be a surprise to see Microsoft leverage its streaming resources beyond high-priced consoles and smaller-screened mobile devices. Spencer has been talking up the idea of moving beyond the traditional Xbox console ecosystem for some time, repeatedly espousing a games-first approach. “I find it completely counter to what gaming is about to [...] force someone to buy my specific device on the day that I want them to go buy it, in order to partake in what gaming is about. Gaming is bigger than any one device," he told GamesIndustry earlier this year. Streaming sticks that play a selection of Xbox games on TVs - without the need for console hardware - would certainly fit into that philosophy. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/xbox-series-x-the-final-preview"] This isn't to say Spencer is against the idea of console hardware altogether. In the same Stratechery interview, he also mooted the idea of an Xbox Game Pass Platinum tier that would guarantee access to new hardware as part of the subscription. After a long period of testing, xCloud and Xbox Game Streaming are taking shape, letting you play Xbox games across multiple devices. xCloud is now available as part of your Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription, and should be coming to iOS in 2021 via a browser-based solution. If you would like some new Xbox hardware, the Series X and S are coming on November 10. Xbox Series X retails at $499 USD / £449 / $749 AUD, while Xbox Series S comes in at $299 USD / £249.99 / $499 AUD. Xbox Series X and S are currently sold out ahead of launch but, with more units promised, keep an eye on our Xbox Series preorders page - and if you want to know everything about the consoles before you nab one, we have our Xbox Series X and S 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.

Files found in Microsoft Flight Simulator's PC release suggest that Microsoft has investigated the potential of VR on Xbox Series X & S. As spotted by WindowsCentral, Flight Sim forum user Cygnifick posted a series of filename strings that refer to the codename of the Xbox Series range, Scarlett. Strings such as "Scarlett_VR" and "EDITION_Scarlett PublishedPackages_Scarlett.xml" suggest that Microsoft has, at the very least, been considering the implementation of VR on its next-gen consoles the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, for use with Microsoft Flight Simulator. It's nothing concrete - perhaps Microsoft is testing the functionality internally. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/09/09/microsoft-flight-simulator-accolades-trailer"] Microsoft Flight Simulator is coming to the Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S in 2021, but Microsoft hasn't said anything about VR support for its next-gen console range, which is why these strings are so interesting. Microsoft Flight Simulator is already available on PC as of writing, with VR support on the way via the HP Reverb G2 "later this fall," according to an Xbox blog post published in July. Compatibility with other HMDs will arrive later down the line. You can sign up for the VR Closed Beta on the Flight Simulator website here. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Files found in Microsoft Flight Simulator's PC release suggest that Microsoft has investigated the potential of VR on Xbox Series X & S. As spotted by WindowsCentral, Flight Sim forum user Cygnifick posted a series of filename strings that refer to the codename of the Xbox Series range, Scarlett. Strings such as "Scarlett_VR" and "EDITION_Scarlett PublishedPackages_Scarlett.xml" suggest that Microsoft has, at the very least, been considering the implementation of VR on its next-gen consoles the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, for use with Microsoft Flight Simulator. It's nothing concrete - perhaps Microsoft is testing the functionality internally. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/09/09/microsoft-flight-simulator-accolades-trailer"] Microsoft Flight Simulator is coming to the Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S in 2021, but Microsoft hasn't said anything about VR support for its next-gen console range, which is why these strings are so interesting. Microsoft Flight Simulator is already available on PC as of writing, with VR support on the way via the HP Reverb G2 "later this fall," according to an Xbox blog post published in July. Compatibility with other HMDs will arrive later down the line. You can sign up for the VR Closed Beta on the Flight Simulator website here. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

X-Men's Simon Kinberg has signed on to write and produce Universal's long-gestating Battlestar Galactica movie. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Kinberg, who has been shepherding X-Men stories to the screen since 2006's The Last Stand, is on board to write a new script for the upcoming feature adaptation of the Battlestar Galactica sci-fi franchise. Kinberg is also set to produce the movie with Dylan Clark, who has already been attached to the project for some time. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/06/05/dark-phoenix-review"] "Battlestar Galactica is one of the holy grails in science fiction, and I couldn't be more excited about bringing something new to the franchise, while honoring what's made it so iconic and enduring," Kinberg said in a statement. "I'm so grateful that Dylan [Clark] and my partners at Universal have trusted me with this incredible universe." Over the years, Kinberg has become well-known for his work on the X-Men film franchise, though he has also penned scripts for such films as Mr. & Mrs. Smith and Sherlock Holmes. He made his feature film directorial debut with X-Men: Dark Phoenix last year, and also recently served as one of the producers on The New Mutants, which is coming to Blu-ray and Digital HD on November 17. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-25-best-sci-fi-movies&captions=true"] The Battlestar Galactica movie reboot has been in the works for quite some time now, with Brian Singer initially attached to direct the film when Syfy's BSG TV series was drawing to a close in 2009. Ultimately, Singer left the project, and the studio decided to take the film in a different direction with a completely new production crew. Jack Paglen and Lisa Joy were both previously assigned to scriptwriting duties. The feature film adaptation of Battlestar Galactica is not connected to the new BSG TV series, which is currently in development for NBCUniversal's Peacock streaming service. However, it has been confirmed that this new series, which is being executive produced by Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail, will be taking place in the "same universe" as the original cult favourite TV series. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.