Yearly Archives: 2020
Here’s Every Peacock Original Available at Launch
NBCUniversal's upcoming Peacock streaming service has announced which original shows will be available to stream on July 15, 2020, when the service launches in the US. Peacock subscribers will be able to binge all the episodes of Brave New World, The Capture, Intelligence, Lost Speedways, In Deep with Ryan Lochte, and the entire full-length film Psych 2: Lassie Come Home on July 15.
In addition to these originals, Peacock will have popular movie and TV titles like the Jurassic Park franchise, E.T., Parks and Recreation, and Saturday Night Live, with The Office joining the lineup in 2021. Looking ahead, Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail is executive producing a reboot of Battlestar Galactica for the streamer and Saved By the Bell is getting a revival, but no release dates have been revealed.
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Here's the full list of the Peacock streaming service shows available at launch on July 15:
Based on Aldous Huxley’s groundbreaking novel, Brave New World imagines a utopian society that has achieved peace and stability through the prohibition of monogamy, privacy, money, family, and history itself. As citizens of New London, Bernard Marx (Harry Lloyd, Game of Thrones, The Theory of Everything) and Lenina Crowne (Jessica Brown Findlay, Winter’s Tale, Downton Abbey) embark on a vacation to the Savage Lands, where they become embroiled in a harrowing and violent rebellion. Bernard and Lenina are rescued by John the Savage (Alden Ehrenreich, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Hail, Caesar!), who escapes with them back to New London. John’s arrival in the New World soon threatens to disrupt its utopian harmony, leaving Bernard and Lenina to grapple with the repercussions.
The Capture is a conspiracy thriller that looks at a troubling world of fake news and the extraordinary capabilities of the intelligence services. When soldier Shaun Emery’s (Callum Turner, War & Peace, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald) conviction for a murder in Afghanistan is overturned due to flawed video evidence, he returns to life as a free man with his young daughter. But when damning CCTV footage from a night out in London comes to light, Shaun’s life takes a shocking turn and he must soon fight for his freedom once again. Detective Inspector Rachel Carey (Holliday Grainger, Strike, Patrick Melrose) is drafted to investigate Shaun’s case, but she quickly learns that the truth can sometimes be a matter of perspective. The Capture also stars Ron Perlman (Hellboy, Hand of God), Famke Janssen (X-Men, Taken), Ben Miles (The Crown, Coupling), Laura Haddock (Transformers: The Last Knight, Guardians of the Galaxy), Lia Williams (The Crown, Kiri), Sophia Brown (Clique, Marcella) and Paul Ritter (Chernobyl, Friday Night Dinner).
Intelligence is a workplace comedy set in the UK's Government Communications Headquarters - a kind of weedier, geekier, more bureaucratic version of MI5 and MI6, where they tackle international and domestic Cyber Crime from a desktop. When a pompous maverick NSA agent Jerry Bernstein (David Schwimmer, American Crime Story, Friends, Band of Brothers) comes over from the U.S. to join the team, he enlists an inept and tactless computer analyst Joseph (Nick Mohammed, The Martian, Ted Lasso, Christopher Robin) in a power grab that threatens to disrupt the team's ability to combat cyber terrorism.
Santa Barbara Police Chief Carlton Lassiter (Timothy Omundson, This Is Us, American Housewife) is ambushed on the job and left for dead. In a vintage Psych-style Hitchcockian nod, he begins to see impossible happenings around his recovery clinic. Shawn (James Roday, A Million Little Things, Psych) and Gus (Dulé Hill, Suits, Psych) return to Lassie’s side in Santa Barbara and are forced to navigate the personal, the professional, and possibly the supernatural. Separated from their new lives in San Francisco, our heroes find themselves unwelcome in their old stomping grounds as they secretly untangle a twisted case without the benefit of the police, their loved ones, or the quality sourdough bakeries of the Bay Area. What they uncover will change the course of their relationships forever. Psych 2 is a full-length film.
At the 2016 Rio Olympics Ryan Lochte (Celebrity Big Brother, Dancing with the Stars) was at the center of a scandal that has since overshadowed a decorated swimming career that includes 12 Olympic medals. Now a 35-year-old husband and father of two young children, Lochte is hoping for one more chance to make Team USA and prove he's not the same man he was four years ago.
Created and hosted by Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Dale Jr. Download), this series is an exploratory look at great racing cathedrals of the past. Dale Jr. and co-host Matthew Dillner (Dale Jr. Download) tell the stories of speedways that have been forgotten, abandoned, and overtaken by nature. Racing legends join as guests throughout the series.
First introduced to the world of children’s literacy over 75 years ago, Curious George was created by Margret and H.A. Rey in 1941 and remains one of the most beloved children’s classics of all-time. The animated series targets preschool viewers and follows the adventures of everyone’s favorite monkey and his insatiable curiosity to bring delightful antics, gentle humor, and heartfelt emotion to each fun-filled episode. With a focus on education, the Emmy award-winning program incorporates early concepts in math, science, technology, and engineering and encourages children to use their imagination and expand their own investigations of the world.
Cleopatra in Space is a comedic adventure focusing on the untold story of Cleopatra’s teenage years. Viewers can follow Cleo (Lilimar Hernandez, Bella and the Bulldogs, Knight Squad) as she is transported 30,000 years into the future, to an Egyptian-themed planet that is ruled by talking cats and where she discovers she is the prophesied savior of the future world. In order to prepare for her role and mission, Cleo is sent to an elite academy where she has to train to take on the bad guys, figure out how to eventually get herself back home to Egypt, as well as tackling the highs and lows of being a teenager in high school.
Twelve-year-old Waldo (Joshua Rush, The Lion Guard, Andi Mack) and his best friend Wenda (Haley Tju, Bella and the Bulldogs) are members of the Worldwide Wanderer Society—the international order of curious travelers who circle the globe celebrating cultures and solving problems through observation. Their mentor—Wizard Whitebeard (Thomas Lennon, The State; Reno 911: The Odd Couple), a seasoned wanderer—sends these inquisitive young adventurers on international travel missions so they can earn their stripes and someday become wizard-level wanderers too. But standing in Waldo and Wenda’s way is their rival Odlulu (Eva Carlton, Little), who can’t help but cause trouble wherever she goes.
For more from the world of streaming, check out every HBO Max Original you can watch in the streaming platform's first three months.
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David Griffin still watches DuckTales in his pajamas with a cereal bowl in hand. He's also the TV Editor for IGN. Say hi on Twitter.
- Brave New World
- The Capture
- Intelligence
- Psych 2: Lassie Come Home
- In Deep With Ryan Lochte
- Lost Speedways
- Curious George
- Dreamworks' Cleopatra in Space
- Dreamworks' Where's Waldo
Brave New World
Based on Aldous Huxley’s groundbreaking novel, Brave New World imagines a utopian society that has achieved peace and stability through the prohibition of monogamy, privacy, money, family, and history itself. As citizens of New London, Bernard Marx (Harry Lloyd, Game of Thrones, The Theory of Everything) and Lenina Crowne (Jessica Brown Findlay, Winter’s Tale, Downton Abbey) embark on a vacation to the Savage Lands, where they become embroiled in a harrowing and violent rebellion. Bernard and Lenina are rescued by John the Savage (Alden Ehrenreich, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Hail, Caesar!), who escapes with them back to New London. John’s arrival in the New World soon threatens to disrupt its utopian harmony, leaving Bernard and Lenina to grapple with the repercussions.
The Capture
The Capture is a conspiracy thriller that looks at a troubling world of fake news and the extraordinary capabilities of the intelligence services. When soldier Shaun Emery’s (Callum Turner, War & Peace, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald) conviction for a murder in Afghanistan is overturned due to flawed video evidence, he returns to life as a free man with his young daughter. But when damning CCTV footage from a night out in London comes to light, Shaun’s life takes a shocking turn and he must soon fight for his freedom once again. Detective Inspector Rachel Carey (Holliday Grainger, Strike, Patrick Melrose) is drafted to investigate Shaun’s case, but she quickly learns that the truth can sometimes be a matter of perspective. The Capture also stars Ron Perlman (Hellboy, Hand of God), Famke Janssen (X-Men, Taken), Ben Miles (The Crown, Coupling), Laura Haddock (Transformers: The Last Knight, Guardians of the Galaxy), Lia Williams (The Crown, Kiri), Sophia Brown (Clique, Marcella) and Paul Ritter (Chernobyl, Friday Night Dinner).
Intelligence
Intelligence is a workplace comedy set in the UK's Government Communications Headquarters - a kind of weedier, geekier, more bureaucratic version of MI5 and MI6, where they tackle international and domestic Cyber Crime from a desktop. When a pompous maverick NSA agent Jerry Bernstein (David Schwimmer, American Crime Story, Friends, Band of Brothers) comes over from the U.S. to join the team, he enlists an inept and tactless computer analyst Joseph (Nick Mohammed, The Martian, Ted Lasso, Christopher Robin) in a power grab that threatens to disrupt the team's ability to combat cyber terrorism.
Psych 2: Lassie Come Home
Santa Barbara Police Chief Carlton Lassiter (Timothy Omundson, This Is Us, American Housewife) is ambushed on the job and left for dead. In a vintage Psych-style Hitchcockian nod, he begins to see impossible happenings around his recovery clinic. Shawn (James Roday, A Million Little Things, Psych) and Gus (Dulé Hill, Suits, Psych) return to Lassie’s side in Santa Barbara and are forced to navigate the personal, the professional, and possibly the supernatural. Separated from their new lives in San Francisco, our heroes find themselves unwelcome in their old stomping grounds as they secretly untangle a twisted case without the benefit of the police, their loved ones, or the quality sourdough bakeries of the Bay Area. What they uncover will change the course of their relationships forever. Psych 2 is a full-length film.
In Deep with Ryan Lochte
At the 2016 Rio Olympics Ryan Lochte (Celebrity Big Brother, Dancing with the Stars) was at the center of a scandal that has since overshadowed a decorated swimming career that includes 12 Olympic medals. Now a 35-year-old husband and father of two young children, Lochte is hoping for one more chance to make Team USA and prove he's not the same man he was four years ago.
Lost Speedways
Created and hosted by Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Dale Jr. Download), this series is an exploratory look at great racing cathedrals of the past. Dale Jr. and co-host Matthew Dillner (Dale Jr. Download) tell the stories of speedways that have been forgotten, abandoned, and overtaken by nature. Racing legends join as guests throughout the series.
Curious George
First introduced to the world of children’s literacy over 75 years ago, Curious George was created by Margret and H.A. Rey in 1941 and remains one of the most beloved children’s classics of all-time. The animated series targets preschool viewers and follows the adventures of everyone’s favorite monkey and his insatiable curiosity to bring delightful antics, gentle humor, and heartfelt emotion to each fun-filled episode. With a focus on education, the Emmy award-winning program incorporates early concepts in math, science, technology, and engineering and encourages children to use their imagination and expand their own investigations of the world.
Dreamworks' Cleopatra in Space
Cleopatra in Space is a comedic adventure focusing on the untold story of Cleopatra’s teenage years. Viewers can follow Cleo (Lilimar Hernandez, Bella and the Bulldogs, Knight Squad) as she is transported 30,000 years into the future, to an Egyptian-themed planet that is ruled by talking cats and where she discovers she is the prophesied savior of the future world. In order to prepare for her role and mission, Cleo is sent to an elite academy where she has to train to take on the bad guys, figure out how to eventually get herself back home to Egypt, as well as tackling the highs and lows of being a teenager in high school.
Dreamworks' Where's Waldo
Twelve-year-old Waldo (Joshua Rush, The Lion Guard, Andi Mack) and his best friend Wenda (Haley Tju, Bella and the Bulldogs) are members of the Worldwide Wanderer Society—the international order of curious travelers who circle the globe celebrating cultures and solving problems through observation. Their mentor—Wizard Whitebeard (Thomas Lennon, The State; Reno 911: The Odd Couple), a seasoned wanderer—sends these inquisitive young adventurers on international travel missions so they can earn their stripes and someday become wizard-level wanderers too. But standing in Waldo and Wenda’s way is their rival Odlulu (Eva Carlton, Little), who can’t help but cause trouble wherever she goes.
For more from the world of streaming, check out every HBO Max Original you can watch in the streaming platform's first three months.
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David Griffin still watches DuckTales in his pajamas with a cereal bowl in hand. He's also the TV Editor for IGN. Say hi on Twitter.Ghost of Tsushima Gameplay, Story Details Revealed
Sony and Sucker Punch have finally revealed more about Ghost of Tsushima, the upcoming PS4 exclusive, which tells the story of Jin Sakai (voiced by actor Daisuke Tsuji) during the first Mongol invasion.
Thanks to a new Tsushima-focused State of Play, we now know a lot more about the next game from the Infamous and Sly Cooper developers. Read on for all the latest we've learned about Ghost of Tsushima's story, world, and gameplay.
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Exploring Tsushima
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/14/ghost-of-tsushima-gameplay-exploring-tsushima"]- Use the "Guiding Wind" to navigate the open world - picking spots on Ghost of Tsushima's menu map will lead to an in-game wind appearing as you play. Players can then follow those winds to that location, a
- Players have a horse they can call as needed. It is unclear when this is unlocked in the game.
- Bamboo and Yew-Wood can be picked as a resource in the environment.
- Locations include: Kashine Hills, Yagata Forest and Farmstead
- A Mongol controlled farm is shown with objectives, like rescuing hostages.
- In the new Tsushima demo, the protagonist Jin Sakai comes across a person by a campfire who warns him of spirits in the forest.
- Jin can stop and investigate points of interest, like abandoned homes.
- Foxes will guide Jin to shrines around the island of Tsushima, at which Jin can honor those shrines. Doing so earns Jin upgrades, like a new Minor Charm slot.
- Once discovering a key spot, players can fast travel.
Combat, Stealth Gameplay
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/14/ghost-of-tsushima-combat-and-stealth-gameplay"]- Jin can challenge enemies to a standoff in the environment.
- Combat shown near a shipyard shows Jin using only a single slice to fell each enemy.
- "Every strike must count,"
- Players can parry enemies, and doing so at the last possible moment will open them up to attacks.
- Change combat stances to inflict the most damage on enemies.
- The same shipyard combat sequence is shown as a stealthy option. Jin uses distractions to silently sneak up on enemies as the titular Ghost.
- Distractions include firecrackers, which Jin can use to lure enemies out of hiding and assassinate them. If quickly enough, Jin can assassinate multiple enemies before being spotted.
- Smoke bombs can be used to avoid attacks and evade enemies who spot Jin.
- Kunai can be used for quick kills.
- The Mongols will "learn to fear the Ghost" and may even attempt flee Jin's stealthier actions, which players can use to their advantage.
- Jin's grappling hook can be used to swing across gaps or climb up ledges.
- An environmental attack is shown, as Jin uses the Mongol's own weapons as an explosive, destroying their cache and eventually decimating the shipyard.
Character Customization
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/14/ghost-of-tsushima-gameplay-customization-and-upgrades"]- Jin can be customized with various armor, which gives different mechanical advantages. It is not just cosmetic.
- Players will discover charms that give Jin different benefits.
- Players can choose the techniques with skill points they wish to give Jin and customize his attack strategy depending on their playstyle.
Photo Mode
- Ghost of Tsushima's photo mode allows players to control the wind and its spend in a photo or video.
- Songs from the score can also be chosen.
- And particle effects can be changed out to let players choose different scenes.
- Players can collect flowers to change the color of armor.
Voice Track, Visual Settings
- A Japanese voice track can be chosen before players even begin the adventure.
- A black-and-white, film grain mode can be turned on from the beginning of the game to emulate classic samurai films.
Ghost of Tsushima Platforms and Release Date
Ghost of Tsushima has a release date of July 17, 2020. As for platforms it will be playable on, Ghost of Tsushima is a PlayStation Exclusive and will only be available on the PS4 at launch. [poilib element="accentDivider"]The CW’s Next Arrowverse Crossover to Star Superman and Batwoman
The CW has shed light on its next major Arrowverse crossover, but it's shaping up to be much smaller in scale than 2019's Crisis on Infinite Earths. According to The CW chairman and CEO Mark Pedowitz, the next crossover will likely revolve around only two Arrowverse series - Batwoman and the recently greenlit Superman & Lois.
As reported by Deadline, the news came during a press call detailing the network's upcoming schedule for the 2020-2021 TV season. Pedowitz confirmed the Batwoman/Superman & Lois crossover will only comprise of two episodes and won't be happening in the traditional December window, as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to play havoc on the network's schedule. He pointed to either Q1 or Q2 2021 as a more likely timeframe.
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“We’re still working on it. It will be a smaller event than usual, we’re only planning a two-hour event. We are talking about doing Superman and Batwoman together. There’s a lot of characters coming from our other shows,” Pedowitz said.
While this may be disappointing for fans hoping for a larger-scale event, we already knew the next Arrowverse crossover will be much smaller in scope than Crisis. Arrow's executive producer Marc Guggenheim confirmed as much back in December 2019, saying "Last year we sort of took a step back and... took a breath and then took the giant bite out of the cake. [Next year] we're going to take a step back again. We're going to take several."
This pairing of Batwoman and Superman does make sense given the Batwoman/Supergirl friendship established in Crisis and recent developments in Batwoman: Season 1. Kate Kane has already wrestled with her reluctance to trust her new metahuman comrades and a fear of becoming like the corrupt Bruce Wayne of Earth-96, and we imagine the Batwoman/Superman & Lois crossover will build on those plot points. Perhaps the crossover will even elaborate on Batwoman's recent Joker-related bombshell.
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Batwoman and Supergirl will end their current seasons on Sunday, May 17. None of the current Arrowverse series are scheduled to return until January 2021. The good news, at least, is that the current lineup will be one show larger come January. Now we're just waiting to learn the fate of Green Arrow and the Canaries.
Let us know what you think about the prospect of a Batwoman/Supergirl crossover in the comments below.
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Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
Maestro Hulk Returns: Marvel Finally Reveals This Villain’s Origin
28 years after his original debut, Marvel villain Maestro is finally getting an origin story. And who better to tell that story than Maestro co-creator and seminal Incredible Hulk writer Peter David?
Marvel revealed a new Maestro limited series written by David and drawn by Dale Keown (Incredible Hulk) and Germán Peralta (Thanos), with Keown also providing covers. You can check out Keown's cover to Maestro #1 below:
In another treat for Maestro fans, co-creator George Pérez is also drawing a variant cover to issue #1, despite having retired from comics in 2019 due to health issues. Here's Pérez's variant:
Maestro is among the most popular characters introduced during David's long tenure on Incredible Hulk in the '80s and '90s. Basically an evil, super-charged version of Hulk from a future timeline, the villain originally debuted in the 1992 limited series Incredible Hulk: Future Imperfect. Future Imperfect hints at Maestro's origin story, revealing that this version of Hulk absorbed the radioactive fallout from a nuclear war, growing stronger and smarter but also more malevolent. Maestro rules his Earth with an iron grip, having killed most of the world's heroes and villains and lined his trophy room with relics of their battles.
Though Maestro was seemingly killed after battling Hulk in Future Imperfect, the character has continued to play a role in later Marvel stories. David previously revisited the character in 2015's Secret Wars: Future Imperfect series, and a version of Maestro served as a recurring villain in the recently concluded Old Man Logan series. Maestro is also a central character in the mobile game Marvel's Contest of Champions.
While Future Imperfect established the basics of Maestro's origin story, this new series will finally explore that story in greater depth and show fans how Hulk became warped and corrupted.
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“I had no idea that when I first created the Maestro for Future Imperfect, that he would have the kind of popularity and staying power he has now,” said David in Marvel's press release. “Until now, I’ve only been able to allude to his origins, so I was thrilled to have the opportunity to explore them in this series, and I can’t wait for fans to see all the artwork that's been coming in!”
Marvel Comics editor-in-chief C.B. Cebulski also sought to reassure readers starved for new Marvel content during the Diamond Comic Distributors shutdown, saying “We couldn't be more excited that we're resuming distribution of Marvel Comics to the best fans in the world. As we’ve announced, we will be observing a balanced release schedule over the next few weeks as the industry returns to normal – but we're hard at work on many more new stories like this one, and we can’t wait to tell you all more about them! Expect more announcements very soon.”
Maestro #1 is slated to hit stores in August 2020, barring any further COVID-19-related delays. Let us know in the comments below if you're excited for this iconic Marvel villain's return.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/08/12/the-mcus-infinity-saga-ranked"]
And for more great Hulk reading, find out why Immortal Hulk is a terrifyingly good comic and where that book ranked in our picks for the best comic book series of 2019.
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Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
In another treat for Maestro fans, co-creator George Pérez is also drawing a variant cover to issue #1, despite having retired from comics in 2019 due to health issues. Here's Pérez's variant:
Maestro is among the most popular characters introduced during David's long tenure on Incredible Hulk in the '80s and '90s. Basically an evil, super-charged version of Hulk from a future timeline, the villain originally debuted in the 1992 limited series Incredible Hulk: Future Imperfect. Future Imperfect hints at Maestro's origin story, revealing that this version of Hulk absorbed the radioactive fallout from a nuclear war, growing stronger and smarter but also more malevolent. Maestro rules his Earth with an iron grip, having killed most of the world's heroes and villains and lined his trophy room with relics of their battles.
Though Maestro was seemingly killed after battling Hulk in Future Imperfect, the character has continued to play a role in later Marvel stories. David previously revisited the character in 2015's Secret Wars: Future Imperfect series, and a version of Maestro served as a recurring villain in the recently concluded Old Man Logan series. Maestro is also a central character in the mobile game Marvel's Contest of Champions.
While Future Imperfect established the basics of Maestro's origin story, this new series will finally explore that story in greater depth and show fans how Hulk became warped and corrupted.
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“I had no idea that when I first created the Maestro for Future Imperfect, that he would have the kind of popularity and staying power he has now,” said David in Marvel's press release. “Until now, I’ve only been able to allude to his origins, so I was thrilled to have the opportunity to explore them in this series, and I can’t wait for fans to see all the artwork that's been coming in!”
Marvel Comics editor-in-chief C.B. Cebulski also sought to reassure readers starved for new Marvel content during the Diamond Comic Distributors shutdown, saying “We couldn't be more excited that we're resuming distribution of Marvel Comics to the best fans in the world. As we’ve announced, we will be observing a balanced release schedule over the next few weeks as the industry returns to normal – but we're hard at work on many more new stories like this one, and we can’t wait to tell you all more about them! Expect more announcements very soon.”
Maestro #1 is slated to hit stores in August 2020, barring any further COVID-19-related delays. Let us know in the comments below if you're excited for this iconic Marvel villain's return.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/08/12/the-mcus-infinity-saga-ranked"]
And for more great Hulk reading, find out why Immortal Hulk is a terrifyingly good comic and where that book ranked in our picks for the best comic book series of 2019.
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Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.Ubisoft Teases One More AAA Mystery Game to Come in Next Year
Earlier this year, Ubisoft teased it would have five major AAA games set to be released in its next fiscal year. And as part of its most recent earnings call, the publisher reaffirmed that commitment while also confirming four of those games and teasing one in an unannounced franchise will be the fifth game.
In its fiscal year 2019-2020 report, Ubisoft confirmed that Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Watch Dogs Legion, Gods & Monsters, and Rainbow Six Quarantine are four of its five previously teased AAA games coming in the new 2020-2021 fiscal year. Meanwhile, the fifth game is from "a yet to be announced franchise," seemingly indicating it is part of a known property in the Ubisoft portfolio. However, Ubisoft did not explain further at this time, and so it remains to be seen whether that game could be a new (and oft-rumored) Splinter Cell, a new Far Cry, a new Prince of Persia, the frequently delayed Skull & Bones, or something else.
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Ubisoft of course also has in the works Beyond Good & Evil 2, but during that previous earnings report Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said at the time the long-awaited sequel was not one of these five games.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla was the most likely candidate for one of these five games, as its reveal came along with a promised holiday 2020 launch, including on Xbox Series X and PS5. Meanwhile, Ubisoft unexpectedly delayed Watch Dogs Legion, Gods and Monsters, and Rainbow Six Quarantine from their early 2020 launches to allow for next-gen versions as well.
Ubisoft's fiscal years typically end on March 31 of their respective years, meaning we should see these five games before that date in 2021, barring any delays, which Guillemot makes note could be a possibility in this most recent earnings call. Due to considerations needing to be made because of COVID-19's impact, Guillemot said the new earnings forecast "notably reflects the possibility that we decide to postpone the release of a AAA title to 2021-22, if it ensures to maximize the long-term potential of our line-up" but that "Our initial targets for 2020-21 remain in sight."
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Whatever the fifth unannounced game may be, it's likely we may hear something about it, or at the very least these other four confirmed games, at Ubisoft Forward, the company's E3 conference-like digital event scheduled for July. Ubisoft will also be part of IGN's Summer of Gaming showcase event, which kicks off in June.
For more on Ubisoft's upcoming slate of games, check out everything we've learned about Assassin's Creed Valhalla so far, including what we learned in our interview with Valhalla's director Ashraf Ismail.
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Jonathon Dornbush is IGN's Senior News Editor, host of Podcast Beyond!, and is currently making his way through Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush.
Titanfall: No New Games Currently in Development, Suggesting 2019 Title Was Cancelled
There are no Titanfall games in development right now - suggesting a Titanfall game teased last year may have been cancelled - but Respawn co-founder Vince Zampella wants to make a new game happen.
Asked by IGN if the Titanfall franchise was over in an interview about the studio's 10th anniversary, Zampella explained, "There’s nothing currently in development. But it’s always there."
Last year, Zampella teased that there would be more Titanfall coming in 2019, with EA CEO Andrew Wilson subsequently mentioning a premium Titanfall game that would be a "twist on the franchise". It's possible that teased game isn't being developed by one of the studios Zampella is responsible for and has been delayed, but it seems more likely to have been cancelled.
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It's clear the studio head still has a soft spot for the franchise that helped build his company's reputation, however: "You see the little bits of stuff coming back [through the lore in Apex Legends]. At some point, I would personally like to see some kind of resurrection there. We’ll see if I can make that happen."
Titanfall and Titanfall 2 were critically acclaimed, but never saw AAA scale success. Respawn's latest games, Apex Legends and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order have achieved that success, leading some to believe Titanfall won't be returned to directly - although Zampella's words offer a glimmer of hope.
Famously, Titanfall 2 was released just a week after fellow EA-published FPS, Battlefield 1, which undoubtedly hurt its early sales. "I would say that I’ve been on record as saying that it was not ideal," says Zampella, looking back at that decision.
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Titanfall 2 has gone onto become something of a cult classic, with many citing its campaign as one of the best FPS stories in recent history. We awarded the game a 9/10 review, saying it's "rare that a sequel evolves on every part of the original concept so consistently for the better, but Titanfall 2 is that exception."
Zampella address much more than Titanfall in our 10th Anniversary interview, hinting at DICE LA's new shooter, teasing what may be to come at EA Play this year, and more.
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Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter.
Halo Co-Creator Talks About His New Real-Time Tactical Game, Disintegration
According to the President of V1 Interactive, the studio's upcoming real-time tactical first-person shooter, Disintegration, draws inspiration from Myth: The Fallen Lords, and one of the hardest things about making new properties stand out is delivering a high level of polish.
In this month's IGN Unfiltered, Ryan McCaffrey sat down with Halo co-creator and ex-Bungie exec Marcus Lehto to discuss his new real-time tactical game, Disintegration, his advice for up-and-coming game designers, the origins of Master Chief, and much more.
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When comparisons were drawn to Full Spectrum Warrior and Brothers In Arms, Lehto said Disintegration was inspired by his own love for Bungie's real-time tactics game; Myth: The Fallen Lords.
"Not that I wanted to stay too close to my roots with Bungie, but Myth: The Fallen Lords was one of those games that I think I most connected with... especially as I had a hand in helping build it, initially, and then it became a game that I stayed connected with. After we moved from Cleveland into the Chicago zone, I could stay connected with my friends. We played it all the time, online, together."
"The most visceral aspect of the game that I think I was really interested in connecting with, was that real-time tactical element and how that played out on the battlefield in a way that was really tactile and very visceral and very exciting to watch play out."
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"So that was the kind of thing that... when I first started exploring what we wanted to do with our first game here at V1, that this hearkening back to Myth: The Fallen Lords and building something that was almost a spiritual successor to that, was the initial underpinning of what we started with an actual playable prototype. It was sci-fi, it was based in the universe of Disintegration, but it was something that was a very different beast at that time."
"It's so weird how it paralleled Halo, going from [real-time strategy] to first-person shooter... It wasn't intentional, by any means, but it was... this natural progression of how we explored the idea, initially, and then led to something we felt was much, much more exciting... From there, things just exploded, to the point where we got so excited about what we were building, because we understood that there wasn't really anything else like it out there."
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In recent years, in large part due to the massive number of games released, it has been increasingly difficult to gain visibility with new intellectual properties, unless they are given a massive marketing push by major publishers (Destiny, etc.). Lehto went on to elaborate on how he, and the rest of the team at V1, approach this challenge.
"Part of it is, we rely on the fact that we have a legacy in building games [Halo, etc.] that allows us to, at least, talk to the people that we feel like we want to talk to... to discuss what this game is about. That's, of course, one part of it that we have to acknowledge."
"The other big part of it... I really try to focus on as much as I possibly can, is making sure that we built something that is as polished as possible. There are so many great game ideas out there that just aren't executed to the point where they get into that quality level that is actually something that can be showcased."
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"It's also a huge challenge for us, as a brand new indie studio, with only 30 people in it, and we have this one opportunity to make a mark, one way or the other."
For more on the best, brightest, most interesting minds in the games industry, be sure to check out every episode of Unfiltered, which includes interviews with 343's Bonnie Ross, Valve's Robin Walker and Chris Remo, Respawn's Stig Asmussen, and many, many more.
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Brian Barnett writes features, wiki guides, & more for IGN. Check out his Final Fantasy VII Remake walkthrough, and get your fix of Brian's antics on Twitter and Instagram (@Ribnax).Demand for GTA 5 Might Have Just Crashed Epic Games Store and Fortnite
With so many players keen to get a free copy of GTA, Epic has run into service trouble.
Studio Ghibli Hopes Hayao Miyazaki’s Next Film Will Be Completed in 3 Years
Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki has shared an update on Hayao Miyazaki's next film, Kimi-tachi wa Dō Ikiru ka (How Do You Live?), revealing that the animators have completed 36 minutes so far.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Suzuki, who has produced a number of Miyazaki's biggest hits in his filmography, admitted that he initially expressed reservations about the director coming out of retirement to take on a new project.
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"Many directors make films on and on and on throughout their careers as they grow older," he said through a translator. "When Miyazaki came back and said that I want to make a film again, I actually said that's not a great idea because he's achieved so much already. You can't come back and do something that you've already done in the past, you have to do something different. One of the ideas that came out from that was, why not spend more time and spend more money [to make a film]? So, that's one of the new approaches."
Suzuki confirmed that the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which has affected multiple film and television productions across the globe, has not impacted the studio's progress on Miyazaki's ambitious feature film, though he expects it could still take another three years to complete the animation.
"The film that Hayao Miyazaki's working on at the moment is a big, fantastical story," he explained. "We are still hand-drawing everything, but it takes us more time to complete a film because we're drawing more frames. So, there are more drawings to draw than before. Back when we were making [1988's] My Neighbor Totoro, we only had eight animators. Totoro we made in eight months. [For] the current film that Hayao Miyazaki is working on, we have 60 animators, but we are only able to come up with one minute of animation in a month. That means 12 months a year, you get 12 minutes worth of movie."
He added, "Actually, we've been working on this film for three years, so that means we have 36 minutes completed so far. We're hoping it will finish in the next three years."
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Earlier this year, Studio Ghibli announced that a second film was being developed alongside Miyazaki's coming-of-age fantasy adventure. Suzuki confirmed that Miyazaki's son, Gorō Miyazaki, is responsible for the second project, which he described as a computer-generated animation "based on a book or story from England" about "a very wise girl."
If you want to get acquainted with the Miyazaki family's past anime classics before these new works join their back catalogue, a number of titles from Studio Ghibli's library will be available to stream on HBO Max when it launches later this month.
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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.
Green Versus Purple: The Alien Gang War That Hijacked GTA Online
As pandemic lockdown has brought an unearthly quiet to our streets, a different kind of unearthly has infected the streets of Los Santos. Gangs of players dressed in neon alien costumes are embroiled in a battle, beating each other to death with baseball bats, night sticks, and hatchets. What was once a practical joke has evolved into a war, and the final climactic battle takes place this week, where the runways of Los Santos International Airport will become the battleground for GTA Online’s most bizarre community phenomenon.
If you’ve logged on to Grand Theft Auto Online within the past couple of weeks you’ll no doubt have witnessed groups of players causing chaos. The basic premise of the war is that those wearing green alien bodysuits are agents of anarchy, attacking players at random and restricted by just one ‘moral code’: no guns. Those wearing purple alien costumes are out to stop the greens, acting as a sort of vigilante army protecting other players. Over a matter of days those missions have blurred, and now it’s largely just a case of green versus purple in a strange echo of the turf war fought between GTA’s Families and Ballas.
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With the war dominating GTA Online, from the lobbies to the subreddit, a final battle has been declared by players. On May 15 at 8pm Eastern Time, the war will conclude in a colossal showdown at Los Santos International Airport, and afterwards things can go back to normal. At least, as normal as GTA Online can be in the wake of this community-shifting event.
That’s the end point of the alien gang wars story. But what of the start? Well, that’s all down to Adam Long. On April 15, Long published a video to Reddit. The clip shows him and a few friends - all dressed in neon green alien bodysuits - pull a handbrake turn on Los Santos’ pier and bail out of their van, startling another player. They then beat him to death with baseball bats and drive away. As of writing, the video has over 28,000 upvotes, and has inspired an all-encompassing movement.
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“Our country is on lock-down, so we were constantly looking for new stuff to do on lots of different games,” Long says while explaining why he and his friends pulled the in-game prank.
Lockdown is one reason behind the wildfire-like spread of the alien gang wars - almost everyone I’ve spoken to about the phenomenon is of school age and now forced to stay at home - but social media has provided more fuel for the fire. “It's even more fun just watching all the posts on Reddit, TikTok, and YouTube of the community just coming together and having so much fun during these crazy times,” says Long.
TikTok has been a surprisingly strong arm of the alien gang wars movement. The right GTA Online clip posted to the micro-video social network can lead to big boosts in follower counts, and generate viral memes. TikTok content creator Zhi Ko, known online as Nekoztek, quickly saw the potential in getting behind this new phenomenon. Despite having never made Grand Theft Auto videos before, he began to run updates on the alien gang wars. His follower count jumped.
“All of a sudden all my notifications are kids DMing me asking me ‘Hey, can you please play with me?’” he says, despite not being a previously established GTA personality.
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“When I started my TikTok it was going to be mainly about general facts and technology,” Ko, who works in the blockchain industry, explains. “It wasn’t going to be curated around gaming or specifically GTA. I’m trying not to post just GTA videos, but it’s very difficult when all these kids are asking all this stuff and I want to respond to them. I’m trying to produce at least a minimum of four or five TikToks a day, now my friend is telling me I need to start producing ten!”
With the community behind the war growing at an exponential rate, it needed a home. Intergalactics, created by Florent Gradit-Perier, is one of two major subreddits dedicated to the alien gang wars. When Gradit-Perier, known on Reddit as FloFlan, created the subreddit and its associated Discord server and in-game Crews, the green versus purple element of the war had yet to break out. The craze was simply anarchy on the streets of Los Santos.
“I set up Intergalactics Inc because I wanted to unite all the aliens to be more coordinated and make the war funnier,” Gradit-Perier says. “It wasn't a purple vs green [war] but just aliens jumping on poor random players.”
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Alongside r/intergalactics is r/GreenVSPurple, set up by Reddit user tapwaterbread. While the subreddit also has aims of bringing alien players together, it has an interesting side goal: “it also allowed for the main subreddit to become less flooded with alien content,” says tapwaterbread.
Unsurprisingly, the alien war isn’t enjoyed by all GTA Online players. Their usual home has been transformed into a ganking arena, and it can feel impossible to escape. And that’s why, explains Ko, the final battle has been declared.
“This final battle came from Reddit,” he says. “They were talking about how the core game of GTA was being ruined, and this war had to be over. It was getting to a point where you can’t even get on GTA without seeing a hundred aliens going around killing you every five seconds.”
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While those who want GTA Online to return back to normal are no doubt cautiously waiting for the final battle to be over, for the warriors of the alien gang war the showdown is set to be the shining star of some of the game’s most enjoyable times. “It has made GTA 5 so much more fun for me and my friends,” says Lui, creator of the Official Purple Gang Discord server. “It’s really easy to make friends and play with them on here and find some greens.”
“I think the alien war has made GTA Online a lot more fun and has brought back a lot of veteran players to the game,” agrees tapwaterbread. “With everything going on in our world and us being stuck at home for most of the day, the alien war has definitely made my quarantine more enjoyable.”
Ko highlights how important the war and viral TikTok videos can be for lonely people stuck in lockdown. “Imagine being a kid who can’t even go see his friends because of this quarantine, and all of a sudden you have a thousand people who want to play games with you because of your clips.”
With the final battle fast approaching, this new community is already planning how it will adapt to life on the other side of the Los Santos International Airport showdown. “We host car meets every two days and gang meet-ups too sometimes to keep us all together,” says Lui. And the Official Purple Gang Discord isn’t the only group adopting non-alien activities to do with newfound allies; servers I’ve visited are already planning name changes to reflect their new identities in peacetime.
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Of course, some of the war’s supporters hope this fight won’t be the last of its kind. “I hope that Rockstar will make something similar to this in the future,” says Lui.
Ko also thinks Rockstar would be sensible to pay attention to the phenomenon. “I’m curious about how the game will evolve from here,” he says. “What future conflict will come from this? How will Rockstar adapt to this?” He notes that he’d like to see an official “Gangs” DLC expansion for GTA Online.
Rockstar is, of course, watching. On May 7 the developer made the alien bodysuits - which usually cost a huge $358,000 of in-game cash to buy - temporarily free of charge for all players. And since guns are prohibited by the war’s code, it means there’s now no in-game charge for anything required to take part. You just need to suit up, hijack a car, and you’re part of something huge.
At a time when the world is feeling more isolated than it ever has, being a part of something unifying is perhaps more important than ever. The fact that the players of GTA Online created this alien gang war themselves, with no input from Rockstar at all, only makes it all the more impressive and uplifting. In-game concerts may distract for an evening, but pledging allegiance to a gang? Well, that’s for life. Or at least until May 15.
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Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer, and occasional from-the-Los-Santos-frontlines reporter. You can follow him on Twitter.
