Yearly Archives: 2020

Former Dragon Age Director Announces New Studio

Mike Laidlaw, the former creative director of Dragon Age, has established a new development studio alongside other industry veterans. Called Yellow Brick Games, the independent studio is located in Quebec City and aims to create "original, new games of high quality". [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2014/03/06/dragon-age-inquisition-discover-the-dragon-age"] Laidlaw is joined by Thomas Giroux, Jeff Skalski, and Frédéric St-Laurent B., meaning the studio is comprised of EA, BioWare, and Ubisoft veterans, with a body of work covering Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Watch Dogs, and Assassin's Creed. Laidlaw takes on the role of Chief Creative Officer, while Skalski acts as Chief Operating Officer, and Giroux as Chief Executive Officer. Frédéric St-Laurent B., meanwhile, will take on the position of Game Director for the studio's first project. St-Laurent B. was previously Lead Game Designer for Assassin's Creed: Syndicate at Ubisoft Quebec. The studio currently numbers 15 staff, but is expected to grow in the coming months and years. The goal is to create an original game that will "leverage the capabilities of the next generation gaming platforms", done so with a "craftsmanship approach". [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/04/09/the-top-10-modern-rpgs-of-all-time"] “The market for independently produced games is growing rapidly and the technology is keeping pace,” said Laidlaw in a press release announcing the studio. “Small, diverse teams can now create high-quality experiences. For veterans of big-studio productions like myself and much of our team, this is the perfect time to get back to a small, agile, and highly motivated group. We want our games here at Yellow Brick to take potentially millions of players on wonderous journeys, and we want every member of our team to have a direct impact on the new worlds we’re creating.” To look back at Laidlaw's credentials, he was Lead Designer on Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2, and Creative Director of Dragon Age: Inquisition. He was at BioWare for 14 years, where he also worked on Jade Empire and Mass Effect. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. 

Former Dragon Age Director Announces New Studio

Mike Laidlaw, the former creative director of Dragon Age, has established a new development studio alongside other industry veterans. Called Yellow Brick Games, the independent studio is located in Quebec City and aims to create "original, new games of high quality". [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2014/03/06/dragon-age-inquisition-discover-the-dragon-age"] Laidlaw is joined by Thomas Giroux, Jeff Skalski, and Frédéric St-Laurent B., meaning the studio is comprised of EA, BioWare, and Ubisoft veterans, with a body of work covering Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Watch Dogs, and Assassin's Creed. Laidlaw takes on the role of Chief Creative Officer, while Skalski acts as Chief Operating Officer, and Giroux as Chief Executive Officer. Frédéric St-Laurent B., meanwhile, will take on the position of Game Director for the studio's first project. St-Laurent B. was previously Lead Game Designer for Assassin's Creed: Syndicate at Ubisoft Quebec. The studio currently numbers 15 staff, but is expected to grow in the coming months and years. The goal is to create an original game that will "leverage the capabilities of the next generation gaming platforms", done so with a "craftsmanship approach". [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/04/09/the-top-10-modern-rpgs-of-all-time"] “The market for independently produced games is growing rapidly and the technology is keeping pace,” said Laidlaw in a press release announcing the studio. “Small, diverse teams can now create high-quality experiences. For veterans of big-studio productions like myself and much of our team, this is the perfect time to get back to a small, agile, and highly motivated group. We want our games here at Yellow Brick to take potentially millions of players on wonderous journeys, and we want every member of our team to have a direct impact on the new worlds we’re creating.” To look back at Laidlaw's credentials, he was Lead Designer on Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2, and Creative Director of Dragon Age: Inquisition. He was at BioWare for 14 years, where he also worked on Jade Empire and Mass Effect. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. 

Watch Dogs: Legion Xbox Series X Autosave Bug to Be Fixed in Early December

Watch Dogs: Legion has a widespread issue in which autosaving simply stops working on Xbox Series X and S – an issue Ubisoft is now aware of, and will release a fix for in early December. It's not clear what causes the bug to kick in, but players report that hours of progress can be lost after autosave seemingly either stops working, or ignores recent checkpoints. It's a particualrly serious issue given that Legion doesn't allow manual saving, and console versions only have a single autosave slot. The problem seems only to affect the Series X and S versions of the game, with multiple players reporting the issue on the Ubisoft forums, Twitter, and in emails to IGN. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/10/28/watch-dogs-legion-review"] I myself have experienced the issue – after playing the entirety of Legion on Xbox One without a saving issue, I switched to Series X towards its final stages. Autosave stopped working from the beginning of the final campaign mission and around an hour into the post-game. When I reloaded, my character was about to begin the final mission again, meaning about an hour and half's progress was lost. Without a clear cause for the issue, there's no notable workaround, meaning playing the game on Series X or S currently comes with an inherent risk of losing progress. Ubisoft has now begun informing players that it's aware of the issue, and that a fix will arrive in "early December" It seems the best course of action, for now, is to play the game on another format if possible – which is at least made a little easier by Ubisoft Connect's cross-platform progression. We awarded Watch Dogs: Legion an 8/10 review, saying its "bold use of roguelike mechanics in an open-world action game pays off in interesting ways, making this visit to near-future London feel more varied than the previous two games". [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.

Watch Dogs: Legion Xbox Series X Autosave Bug to Be Fixed in Early December

Watch Dogs: Legion has a widespread issue in which autosaving simply stops working on Xbox Series X – an issue Ubisoft is now aware of, and will release a fix for in early December. It's not clear what causes the bug to kick in, but players report that hours of progress can be lost after autosave seemingly either stops working, or ignores recent checkpoints. It's a particualrly serious issue given that Legion doesn't allow manual saving, and console versions only have a single autosave slot. The problem seems to only affect the Series X version of the game, with multiple players reporting the issue on the Ubisoft forums, Twitter, and in emails to IGN. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/10/28/watch-dogs-legion-review"] I myself have experienced the issue – after playing the entirety of Legion on Xbox One without a saving issue, I switched to Series X towards its final stages. Autosave stopped working from the beginning of the final campaign mission and around an hour into the post-game. When I reloaded, my character was about to begin the final mission again, meaning about an hour and half's progress was lost. Without a clear cause for the issue, there's no notable workaround, meaning playing the game on Series X currently comes with an inherent risk of losing progress. Ubisoft has now begun informing players that it's aware of the issue, and that a fix will arrive in "early December" It seems the best course of action, for now, is to play the game on another format if possible – which is at least made a little easier by Ubisoft Connect's cross-platform progression. We awarded Watch Dogs: Legion an 8/10 review, saying its "bold use of roguelike mechanics in an open-world action game pays off in interesting ways, making this visit to near-future London feel more varied than the previous two games". [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.

The Undertaker Retires From WWE: The Rock, John Cena, and More React

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, John Cena, and many others have saluted The Undertaker after the wrestler bid a "final farewell" to his 30-year career in the ring. The Undertaker, whose real is Mark William Calaway, officially announced his retirement from WWE in a heartfelt statement that he delivered at the WWE Survivor Series on Sunday night. "For 30 long years, I've made that slow walk to this ring and have laid people to rest time and time again. And now my time has come. My time has come to let The Undertaker rest in peace," he said. In response to the announcement, a whole host of former and current wrestlers celebrated the WWE superstar and his illustrious career in sports-entertainment. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was one of the first to enter the social media ring of tributes, as he recounted one of his earliest memories of The Deadman, exactly 30 years on from his on-screen debut. WWE CEO Vince McMahon, John Cena, Triple H, Ric Flair, Kurt Angle, Shawn Michaels, and several others joined Johnson on social media in paying tribute to The Undertaker, who previously acknowledged how his Boneyard match against AJ Styles at WrestleMania could serve as the "perfect ending" to his legendary 30-year plus career. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/09/26/the-undertaker-responds-to-ign-comments"] Soon after the announcement, #ThankYouTaker started trending on Twitter, as many people shared tweets of gratitude towards the wrestler for being a great entertainer in the WWE circuit while others highlighted specific memories and matches in recognition of all of the souls that The Undertaker has laid to rest in the ring over the past three decades. For 30 years, The Undertaker has thrilled audiences around the globe with his macabre theatrics and his unparalleled athletic ability. If you want to look back on some of his greatest moments, check out our previous ranking of The Phenom at WrestleMania, from worst to best or read all about his dreaded Tombstone piledriver move in our slideshow below. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=most-devastating-finishing-moves-in-wwe-history&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

The Undertaker Retires From WWE: The Rock, John Cena, and More React

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, John Cena, and many others have saluted The Undertaker after the wrestler bid a "final farewell" to his 30-year career in the ring. The Undertaker, whose real is Mark William Calaway, officially announced his retirement from WWE in a heartfelt statement that he delivered at the WWE Survivor Series on Sunday night. "For 30 long years, I've made that slow walk to this ring and have laid people to rest time and time again. And now my time has come. My time has come to let The Undertaker rest in peace," he said. In response to the announcement, a whole host of former and current wrestlers celebrated the WWE superstar and his illustrious career in sports-entertainment. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was one of the first to enter the social media ring of tributes, as he recounted one of his earliest memories of The Deadman, exactly 30 years on from his on-screen debut. WWE CEO Vince McMahon, John Cena, Triple H, Ric Flair, Kurt Angle, Shawn Michaels, and several others joined Johnson on social media in paying tribute to The Undertaker, who previously acknowledged how his Boneyard match against AJ Styles at WrestleMania could serve as the "perfect ending" to his legendary 30-year plus career. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/09/26/the-undertaker-responds-to-ign-comments"] Soon after the announcement, #ThankYouTaker started trending on Twitter, as many people shared tweets of gratitude towards the wrestler for being a great entertainer in the WWE circuit while others highlighted specific memories and matches in recognition of all of the souls that The Undertaker has laid to rest in the ring over the past three decades. For 30 years, The Undertaker has thrilled audiences around the globe with his macabre theatrics and his unparalleled athletic ability. If you want to look back on some of his greatest moments, check out our previous ranking of The Phenom at WrestleMania, from worst to best or read all about his dreaded Tombstone piledriver move in our slideshow below. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=most-devastating-finishing-moves-in-wwe-history&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

The World Ends With You Anime Adaptation Gets April Release Window

Square Enix has revealed that the anime adaptation of The World Ends With You is coming in April 2021. You can watch a new trailer for the anticipated adaptation below, in which protagonist Neku Sakuraba saunters around Shibuya and sets a frog on fire, among other things. The final screen for The World Ends With You: The Animation's latest trailer notes a release window of April 2021, so fans won't have to wait too long for it either. It looks as if it's keeping to the thick-outlined style of the cult classic 2007 Nintendo DS title, and the tale of the anime will be based on the game's narrative, where the gang must survive the Reapers' twisted trials. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/11/23/the-world-ends-with-you-the-animation-official-trailer-2-2021"] The anime adaptation was revealed back in June of 2020, during this year's Anime Expo Lite. Funimation then dropped the first teaser trailer for the project in July, which gave us a better look at the world in motion. TWEWY and Final Fantasy character designer Tetsuya Nomura has been brought on board to work on the project as a creative producer. The World Ends With You: Final Remix landed on Nintendo Switch back in October of 2018. We reviewed the port of the game at the time, scoring it a 7.8 and noting it is "as good as ever in handheld mode." [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

The World Ends With You Anime Adaptation Gets April Release Window

Square Enix has revealed that the anime adaptation of The World Ends With You is coming in April 2021. You can watch a new trailer for the anticipated adaptation below, in which protagonist Neku Sakuraba saunters around Shibuya and sets a frog on fire, among other things. The final screen for The World Ends With You: The Animation's latest trailer notes a release window of April 2021, so fans won't have to wait too long for it either. It looks as if it's keeping to the thick-outlined style of the cult classic 2007 Nintendo DS title, and the tale of the anime will be based on the game's narrative, where the gang must survive the Reapers' twisted trials. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/11/23/the-world-ends-with-you-the-animation-official-trailer-2-2021"] The anime adaptation was revealed back in June of 2020, during this year's Anime Expo Lite. Funimation then dropped the first teaser trailer for the project in July, which gave us a better look at the world in motion. TWEWY and Final Fantasy character designer Tetsuya Nomura has been brought on board to work on the project as a creative producer. The World Ends With You: Final Remix landed on Nintendo Switch back in October of 2018. We reviewed the port of the game at the time, scoring it a 7.8 and noting it is "as good as ever in handheld mode." [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.