Yearly Archives: 2020
Bloodroots Review – Wilder West
Have you ever seen an old cartoon where a fight breaks out and the brawlers turn into a cloud of punches that flips tables and breaks everything it touches? Bloodroots, a breakneck action-puzzle game from Quebec developer Paper Cult, lives inside that cloud. A short, speedy tale of mayhem and revenge, Bloodroots dares you stab, bludgeon, squash, and otherwise murder dozens of thugs with the ruthless efficiency of the Wild West’s greatest outlaw and the zany gusto of Bugs Bunny trolling Yosemite Sam. Whether you do this for the sake of its well-written story and/or the thrill of a score chase, Bloodroots can be stylish, graceful (once you know what you’re doing), and surprisingly easy to pick up despite demanding a tremendous attention to detail. In its pre-release state, however, its most elating moments are easily and frequently disrupted by technical issues, keeping you from really hitting your stride as often as you should.
Bloodroots puts you on the warpath with the Wild West outlaw Mr. Wolf, who’s out for revenge against his gang, the Blood Beasts. The Beasts, who all wear animal skins and go by Reservoir Dogs-style code names like Mr. Boar and Mrs. Crow, betray and nearly kill him after murdering an entire town in the name of their new leader, Mr. Black Wolf. From the moment he recovers from his attempted assassination, Mr. Wolf has one goal: to kill his former gang and anyone who gets between them.
The story, though simple and predictable, is made compelling through strong dialogue that forges complex characters. Though Mr. Wolf rarely speaks, you learn a lot about him; his story and the history of the gang are told in carefully constructed interactive flashbacks and through his encounters with the Beasts. You don’t spend too much story time with any one character--this is an action game and the gameplay comes first--but in tracking down each former partner, you come to understand and savor your time with them. Everyone, and I mean everyone, in Bloodroots is a bad guy, but you come to see that every character has their own perspective on how the gang rose and fell. In hearing about Mr. Wolf’s past from the Beasts, in their own unique voices, you not only understand the situation better, but come to understand that there’s more in their lives than a single act of vengeance. That isn’t to say you won’t have reservations about your mission--they’re bad guys through and through--but you understand why they made their choices, which makes your hunt more satisfying.
Continue Reading at GameSpotThe Simpsons Take On Avengers: Endgame in New MCU-Style Poster
Bart takes the spotlight in the centre of the colourful image, where he appears alongside a Simpsonized version of big bad Thanos, who goes by the name of "Chinnos" and will be voiced by Marvel boss Kevin Feige. On the opposite side, there are two grinning movie executives, who will be voiced by Endgame directors Anthony and Joe Russo in the episode.
Meanwhile, Homer, Marge and Lisa take their rightful place on the cinema seats at the forefront of the image, surrounded by an eclectic cast of new characters, though Maggie is notably absent from the poster. Fox has since clarified in a tweet that "she's a little too young to watch superhero movies."
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In the episode, Bart sees an unauthorized early preview of an unreleased sequel from an extremely popular Vindicator superhero movie franchise. After his advanced screening, he realises that he wields the power to spoil the movie for millions of people who have yet to watch it, while the studio execs desperately try to silence the Springfield youngster.
Before the release of Avengers: Endgame, the Russo Brothers encouraged moviegoers to try and see a screening on the opening weekend for a better chance of a spoiler-free experience. They even shared a letter in which they asked people not to ruin the twists and surprises in the film, as they coined the hashtag #DontSpoilTheEndgame.
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For more on The Simpsons, check out how the iconic cartoon referenced The Outer Wilds and Stranger Things in the recent Treehouse of Horror, find out how Danny Elfman conceived the iconic theme song for the show, and get the latest news on whether there will ever be a Simpsons movie sequel.
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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.Xbox Series X Can Quick Resume a Game Even After a Full System Reboot
The Xbox Series X's quick resume feature was confirmed earlier this week but it's now been revealed that it even lets you resume games after rebooting the console.
Microsoft's Larry Hryb discussed the feature on the February 26 episode of his Major Nelson podcast with Jason Ronald, the director of program management at Xbox. Ronald explained that the Xbox One already lets you quick resume games you're playing, but says that the SSD of the Xbox Series X lets you do that with multiple titles, instantly jumping between them to pick up right where you left each one.
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Hryb then recounts a time that he admits he'll "probably get in trouble for talking about," during which he discovered how far the quick resume feature goes. "One of the things that I was noticing when I was in the lab when I was playing it, I was switching back and forth just real quickly and seamlessly between games, but then I had to reboot because I had a system update. And then I went back to the game and went right back to it. So it survives a reboot. That's amazing."
Ronald confirms that this is the case and remarks that it's hard to go back to older consoles after using the quick resume of the Xbox Series X. "If I just want to have a quick gaming experience, I can instantly jump in have a great time, and then know that the next time I come back I'll be right where I was," Ronald said.
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That means you can turn the Xbox Series X on, even have it fully update the system, and get right back to a game without having to go through any of the typical loading procedures. This is just one of the features that was announced, if not fully detailed, by Microsoft after revealing the Xbox Series X power levels and the features that have been built around that.
If you want to know more, you can see how the Xbox Series X stacks up against modern PCs, or if you prefer to find out what you'll be able to play on the next-gen console, check out the confirmed Xbox Series X launch titles.
[poilib element="accentDivider"]Chris Priestman is a freelancer who writes news for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.
Hideo Kojima to Receive BAFTA’s Highest Honour
Metal Gear and Death Stranding creator Hideo Kojima will be given the Fellowship at the BAFTA Game Awards on April 2, 2020.
The Fellowship is the highest award given by BAFTA to an individual. It recognises and celebrates a person's creative contributions to film, television, or games. Those in the game industry who have received a Fellowship previously include Tim Schafer, John Carmack, Gabe Newell, Peter Molyneux, Will Wright, and Shigeru Miyamoto.
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On hearing the news, Kojima said: "Thank you very much for this precious BAFTA Fellowship award. I am very honored, and would like to take this moment to reflect on the many predecessors that came before me, as I deeply respect their contributions to entertainment, whether in movies, television, or games. I would also like to thank those who have supported me over the years and I will continue my commitment to creating new and innovative ways that will push the world of ‘play’ entertainment forward."
Kojima's first big breakthrough in games came in 1987, when he designed Metal Gear at Konami, which contributed greatly to the stealth genre. He went on to make games with distinctly cinematic presentations, such as Snatcher and Policenauts, which are influenced by his love of movies.
He also has a passion for mecha, as seen throughout his Metal Gear and Zone of the Enders series. Kojima left Konami in 2015 after nearly 30 years at the company to create his own studio, Kojima Productions, which so far has produced one game, Death Stranding.
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In November 2019, Kojima was awarded with two Guinness World Records for being the game developer with the most fans on Instagram and Twitter. He is now working on his next project with his team at Kojima Productions. It is likely to be a game, perhaps even Death Stranding 2, however, Kojima has said he would also like to make films in the future.
[poilib element="accentDivider"]Chris Priestman is a freelancer who writes news for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Leaked Screenshots Look More Impressive Than Expected
However, it appears that the game also has third-person perspective segments. Dialogue with other characters is shown at a scale akin to The Witcher or Dragon Age, with very impressively drawn character models that are notably more detailed than what we'd expect from an isometric game. There are also what appear to be stills taken from cutscenes, also shown from a similar third-person perspective.
While Divinity: Original Sin 2 was graphically impressive for an isometric RPG, it appears that Larian has striven for something more ‘AAA’ in appearance for Baldur’s Gate 3. It’s unclear if the Divinity engine is being used, but small indicators such as the same fonts suggest that it may be a heavily upgraded version of that tech.
Beyond being graphically impressive, the screenshots also provides hints to the gameplay design, which seems very much within the lineage of the Divinity: Original Sin games. The HUD contains a bottom hotbar with quick access to a variety of what look like abilities, spells, and items. There are also the traditional party portraits, which appear to display icons above them. It’s unclear what those icons represent, but they look like they could symbolise queued actions rather than status effects.
The environments on show are classic Forgotten Realms fare, with tombs, foreboding forests, fire-lit dungeons, and lush woodlands. Within the snippets of conversation shown by the subtitles there’s talk of the Mind Flayers - the C’thulu like horrors shown in the announcement trailer - as well as an indicator that your character’s traits can affect the responses you can provide (one answer is marked ELF, suggesting only an elvish character can say it). The responses are also, unusually, written akin to a character retelling their adventures, rather than just a written out variant of what your character can say. For example, in a scene with a demonic-like character, the options include “This man was a devil! I drew my weapon” and “I told the hell spawn to cut to the chase. What did he want?”
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The Baldur’s Gate 3 gameplay reveal takes place at PAX East today at 12pm PT / 3pm ET / 8pm UK, so there's not long to wait until we can see more of this in gameplay form. You can watch the reveal live on our YouTube channel. Dungeons & Dragons owner Hasbro announced that Baldur’s Gate 3 will be available in early access later this year.
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Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer and Larian devotee. You can follow him on Twitter. Astronomer Discovers Mini-Moon Orbiting Earth
Wierzchos expanded on his first tweet, explaining that 2020 CD3 has actually been in Earth's orbit for three years. The mini-moon has a diameter between 1.9 meters and 3.5 meters based on his assumption that it's a C-type asteroid albedo. "But it's a big deal as out of ~1 million known asteroids, this is just the second asteroid to orbit Earth," Wierzchos said. The first asteroid to orbit earth was 2006 RH120. This asteroid completed a few trips around Earth from 2006 to 2007 before it left the planet's orbit and continued on elsewhere in the solar system. As the discovery is still somewhat new, not much is known of the object, although we imagine astronomers like Wierzchos and NASA will have their eyes glued to while it remains in orbit. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/13/nasa-spots-potentially-hazardous-asteroid-rapidly-approaching-earth-ign-news"] For more on space, be sure to check out the new method MIT engineers have found to deflect asteroids, a "potentially hazardous" asteroid that was headed towards earth, and the sad fate of an asteroid belt may face in six billion years. Baby Yoda was cute, but we're Team #BabyMoon now. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN who hates that he has to pick a side in the great Baby Yoda vs. Baby Moon debate. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.BIG NEWS (thread 1/3). Earth has a new temporarily captured object/Possible mini-moon called 2020 CD3. On the night of Feb. 15, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Teddy Pruyne and I found a 20th magnitude object. Here are the discovery images. pic.twitter.com/zLkXyGAkZl
— Kacper Wierzchos (@WierzchosKacper) February 26, 2020
Astronomer Discovers Mini-Moon Orbiting Earth
Wierzchos expanded on his first tweet, explaining that 2020 CD3 has actually been in Earth's orbit for three years. The mini-moon has a diameter between 1.9 meters and 3.5 meters based on his assumption that it's a C-type asteroid albedo. "But it's a big deal as out of ~1 million known asteroids, this is just the second asteroid to orbit Earth," Wierzchos said. The first asteroid to orbit earth was 2006 RH120. This asteroid completed a few trips around Earth from 2006 to 2007 before it left the planet's orbit and continued on elsewhere in the solar system. As the discovery is still somewhat new, not much is known of the object, although we imagine astronomers like Wierzchos and NASA will have their eyes glued to while it remains in orbit. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/13/nasa-spots-potentially-hazardous-asteroid-rapidly-approaching-earth-ign-news"] For more on space, be sure to check out the new method MIT engineers have found to deflect asteroids, a "potentially hazardous" asteroid that was headed towards earth, and the sad fate of an asteroid belt may face in six billion years. Baby Yoda was cute, but we're Team #BabyMoon now. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN who hates that he has to pick a side in the great Baby Yoda vs. Baby Moon debate. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.BIG NEWS (thread 1/3). Earth has a new temporarily captured object/Possible mini-moon called 2020 CD3. On the night of Feb. 15, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Teddy Pruyne and I found a 20th magnitude object. Here are the discovery images. pic.twitter.com/zLkXyGAkZl
— Kacper Wierzchos (@WierzchosKacper) February 26, 2020
Microsoft Edge Adds SkiiFree-like Surf Game Directly Into the Browser
There’s no online functionality, but as a nice little Easter egg that’s available whenever you’re bored, it’s not a bad experience. The surfing game was added as part of a new developer build for Microsoft Edge such as a Share button, and other more browser-specific features that aren’t related to the fun surf game. Check it out if you’re running the latest version of Edge. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN.The edge://surf game is now available as the offline game in Microsoft Edge! We've made a ton of improvements based on your feedback. Here's what's new in Canary/Dev:
3 new modes! Play with keyboard, mouse, touch, or gamepad High scores Improved UX And much more! pic.twitter.com/UyLHED2loR — William Devereux (@MasterDevwi) February 26, 2020
Microsoft Edge Adds SkiiFree-like Surf Game Directly Into the Browser
There’s no online functionality, but as a nice little Easter egg that’s available whenever you’re bored, it’s not a bad experience. The surfing game was added as part of a new developer build for Microsoft Edge such as a Share button, and other more browser-specific features that aren’t related to the fun surf game. Check it out if you’re running the latest version of Edge. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN.The edge://surf game is now available as the offline game in Microsoft Edge! We've made a ton of improvements based on your feedback. Here's what's new in Canary/Dev:
3 new modes! Play with keyboard, mouse, touch, or gamepad High scores Improved UX And much more! pic.twitter.com/UyLHED2loR — William Devereux (@MasterDevwi) February 26, 2020
Move Over Luke Skywalker, Iron Man’s ‘Real’ Father Is [SPOILER]
Art by Robert Gill. (Image Credit: Marvel Comics)[/caption]
Mephisto again implies he's Tony's true father and that the real Howard sold his son's soul long ago. Tony refuses the offer to become Mephisto's "Devil in Iron." Instead, he realizes Mephisto is carrying the Time Stone and blasts it with his gauntlet, sparking a reaction that drags him forward through time. Tony is bombarded by visions of the hellish future from writer Jason Aaron's King Thor miniseries before finally returning to the present.
Tony immediately travels to Las Vegas to confirm the present-day Mephisto is still imprisoned and to let the demon lord know he failed in his efforts to lure Iron Man to the dark side. Mephisto, however, is pleased with how his plot is unfolding. He's sown the seeds of doubt in Iron Man's mind, and he has a secret weapon - his faithful servant Howard Stark.
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Art by Mattia De Iulis. (Image Credit: Marvel Comics)[/caption]
It's hard to say right now if Mephisto is literally Tony's birth father or if he merely considers Tony to be his son because Howard sold him Tony's soul. It may be that Amanda and Jude are still technically Tony's birth parents, but their short-lived union was orchestrated by Mephisto. Either way, the fact that Howard himself is apparently alive and plotting with Mephisto against Tony is easily the biggest reveal in this bizarre story. Hopefully upcoming issues will shed more light on what Mephisto and Howard have planned, and what this Iron Man multiverse story entails. Are we about to enter the Iron-Verse?
For other big Marvel developments, find out about the X-Men's twisted new death ritual and learn why Wolverine has become a vampire hunter.
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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.