As part of a consultation on loot boxes, the UK government is looking to hear from "video games players and adults responsible for children and young people who play video games" to figure out if they "may encourage or lead to problem gambling." Surveys can be filled out here and will inform the government's review of the Gambling Act 2005, which could lead to new regulations on loot boxes. The call for evidence will run until the 22 November 2020, and is also seeking consultation from video game businesses, researchers and organizations. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/08/07/nintendo-sony-microsoft-working-on-loot-box-odds-policy"] Back in January 2020, England's top mental health nurse Claire Murdoch released a report calling for a review of microtransactions, noting that loot boxes were "setting kids up for addiction." The UK government then formally announced a call for evidence in June 2020, to "gather evidence and understand the impact of loot boxes." In August 2019 it was announced that Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo were working on new loot box policies that would disclose a range of odds for a player's purchase. The ESRB recently launched a new ratings label that will inform consumers about whether a game includes random items as part of its in-game purchasing system. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Netflix has released a nightmarish new trailer for The Haunting of Bly Manor - the second season of Mike Flanagan's horror anthology series which began with The Haunting of Hill House. The latest trailer plunges the Bly Manor residents into an abyss of sinister secrets and dark tragedies from the centuries of love and loss that possess the haunted building at the centre of the new season, which is scheduled to hit Netflix on October 9, with nine brand new episodes for audiences to unlock. Watch the new trailer for The Haunting of Bly Manor below: [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/09/23/the-haunting-of-bly-manor-official-trailer"] The Haunting of Bly Manor is a loose adaptation of Henry James' 1898 novel The Turn of the Screw, which is said to be "a jumping-off point" for Hill House Season 2's "much scarier" narrative. The new chapter will feature several actors from the first season of Netflix's The Haunting of... anthology series. The returning stars will portray new characters in the upcoming season, which is set in 1980s England. The story will follow the unexplainable events that occur after Henry Wingrave (Henry Thomas) hires a young American nanny (Victoria Pedretti) to care for his orphaned niece and nephew (Amelie Bea Smith, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) who reside at Bly Manor with the estate's chef Owen (Rahul Kohli), groundskeeper Jamie (Amelia Eve) and housekeeper, Mrs. Grose (T'Nia Miller). [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-haunting-of-hill-house-season-2-first-look-at-the-haunting-of-bly-manor&captions=true"] Want to know more about Bly Manor? Take a "look beneath the surface" of the show's chilling poster, make a phone call to apply for the "live-in nanny" role at the haunted residence or watch the show's first teaser trailer for some more frightening footage from the new series. Alternatively, if you need to attend to house duties and are short on time, check out our broader round-up of everything we know about Netflix's Hill House Season 2. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

Head of Xbox Phil Spencer has confirmed that Bethesda will continue to run semi-independently after the company's acquisition by Microsoft. Speaking to CNET, Spencer made clear that, while Bethesda games will adopt some of Xbox's new practices - including launching into Xbox Game Pass and becoming playable through game streaming - the company will retain some of the autonomy that resulted into some of the biggest games of all time: "It is about the culture of those teams," Spencer explained. "They're not about becoming us." The specifics here aren't clear, but it seems likely that that Microsoft will allow for Bethesda to retain the development culture at its studios, as well as the existing connections between individual studios and the wider Bethesda Softworks organisation. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/will-bethesda-games-be-xbox-exclusives-now"] This tallies with previous comments from Bethesda SVP of global marketing Pete Hines, who said, "We’re still working on the same games we were yesterday, made by the same studios we’ve worked with for years, and those games will be published by us." The implication here may be that, while Bethesda's 8 studios are now owned by Microsoft, they may not become a part of the formal Xbox Game Studios group (the listed publisher for Microsoft's other owned studios). Apart from a difference in development oversight, this could also have some effect on whether Bethesda games become Xbox exclusives - it may be that Bethesda is able to choose to continue releasing games across all platforms. There's much still to learn about Bethesda's status as a Microsoft company after the planned acquisition goes through in the second half of 2021, but here are the 5 biggest takeaways from the move. [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.

Blizzard co-founder and ex-CEO Mike Morhaime has announced Dreamhaven, a new games company with two internal development studios, each of which is working on a new game, and is headed by other Blizzard veterans. As reported by GamesBeat and The Washington Post, Dreamhaven is designed as an overarching company - offering guidance and funding - within which development studios can open. Its first two internal studios are Moonshot and Secret Door. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/30/blizzard-veterans-reflect-on-starcrafts-past-and-future"] Moonshot’s studio head is Jason Chayes (executive producer on Hearthstone and lead producer on StarCraft 2). He’s joined by Dustin Browder (game director on StarCraft 2, Heroes of the Storm, and Command and Conquer), and Ben Thompson (creative director on Hearthstone), as well as a group of other seasoned developers. Secret Door’s studio head is Chris Sigaty (executive producer on Hearthstone, StarCraft 2, and Heroes of the Storm, and lead producer on the original Warcraft 3). He’s joined by Eric Dodds (first game director on Hearthstone) and Alan Dabiri (game director on Heroes of the Storm) and a team of other veteran developers. Both team's games are currently unknown, and the entire company is in its early stages, meaning we shouldn't expect announcements anytime soon. Morhaime will act as CEO of Dreamhaven as a whole, which will be based in Irvine, California. It marks his first major move in the games industry since stepping down as Blizzard president in 2018 and leaving the company he helped create in 2019. Stay tuned to IGN for more – we have an interview with Morhaime, Chayes, and Sigaty coming later today. [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.

Metal Gear, Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance and Konami Collector's Series: Castlevania and Contra have been rated for PC in Taiwan. Gematsu spotted the ratings on the Taiwan Digital Game Rating Committee website, suggesting that PC ports for some of Konami's most famous titles may be on their way to PC. This would mark the first port of Metal Gear Solid to PC since its initial CD-ROM launch in the year 2000. The disc-based PC version of the critically acclaimed Kojima game is not playable on modern systems, so this port would help a new generation get their hands on it. The same can be said for Metal Gear Solid 2, which hit PC as part of the Substance release in March of 2003. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2002/12/16/metal-gear-solid-2-substance-commercials"] The 'Substance' version of Metal Gear Solid 2 includes a number of new features including extra VR missions and supplemental game modes, such as the 'Snake Tales' missions and the Casting Theater mode, which let players modify character models in cutscenes. It's not clear just what features will arrive in this updated PC port, but given that the rating is tagged with Substance, it's to be expected that it may resemble this edition of the game. This potential string of ports would also bring the original 2D Metal Gear to PC for the first time since its initial launch on the MSX 2 in 1987. In other Metal Gear Solid news, check out this interview with voice actor David Hayter as he reflects on the legacy of Solid Snake. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN hoping that Silent Hill is next. Follow him on Twitter.

Microsoft has revealed that more Xbox Series X and S units will be available when the console launches on November 10, following "record-breaking demand" for pre-orders. The official Xbox Twitter account thanked fans for the excitement on September 22 as pre-orders went live around the world. The tweet notes that those who didn't manage to secure a successful preorder should "sign up with retailers for updates" as more units will be made available upon launch day, November 10.

We are humbled by the record-breaking demand for Xbox Series X and S. Huge thanks to everyone for the excitement.

If you weren't successful today be sure to sign up with retailers for updates, and expect more consoles to be available on November 10. — Xbox (@Xbox) September 22, 2020

Demand was through the roof when preorders launched, causing havoc at a number of major online US retailers including Best Buy and Amazon, with most retailers now reporting the consoles as sold out. The sales ranking for the Xbox One X also suffered a significant spike on Amazon, suggesting that many users may have mistakenly purchased the current-gen console instead of the next-gen Xbox Series X. Xbox Series X retails at $499 USD / £449 / $749 AUD, while Xbox Series S comes in at $299 USD / £249.99 / $499 AUD. Both Xbox Series consoles will be released on November 10. In other Xbox news, Microsoft recently acquired Bethesda in a record-breaking $7.5 billion deal. Check out our video considering whether future Bethesda games like Starfield or The Elder Scrolls VI are going to be Xbox exclusives going forward. [poilib element="poll" parameters="id=bd4cd3f3-bf6d-439b-896d-7745108098b0"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

The Xbox Series X and Series S both went up for pre-order on Tuesday morning. And while Series X and S preorders went quickly, there was also a jump in Xbox One X sales, Microsoft’s soon-to-be last-gen console. According to Amazon’s sales rank and to our own IGN Deals data, there was a notable bump in Xbox One X purchases on the day Xbox Series X, and S, went up for preorder. Amazon says there was a 747% jump, while our data shows there were twice as many Xbox One sold on Tuesday than in the past 60 days.

Xbox One X sales rank is up 747% on Amazon lol...

Wonder how many people bought an Xbox One X instead of an Xbox Series X https://t.co/atj4thPwqD pic.twitter.com/CUzRkib3Sr — Andrew Alerts (@AndrewAlerts) September 22, 2020

For additional IGN Deals data, it should be noted that there were zero PS4 sales on the days the PS5 preorders went live. There are plenty of reasons why the Xbox One X saw a spike in sales beyond just human error — though there was plenty of that to go around also. One Twitter user announced they ordered an Xbox One X by mistake, while another social media user shared how they had to check multiple times to make sure they were ordering the correct Xbox “X” system. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=confirmed-xbox-series-x-games&captions=true"] Others theorized that some auto-purchasing bots were poorly optimized and ended up purchasing Xbox One X systems instead of the Xbox Series X. Either way, any of you who successfully pre-ordered an Xbox Series X should double-check that order, just in case. And for anyone else still looking to preorder the Xbox Series X or S, check out IGN’s Xbox Series X preorder guide for all the latest updates and retail links as they go live. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt T.M. Kim is a reporter for IGN.

Naughty Dog has celebrated its Last of Us fan community via Outbreak Day in the real world, tying it to a major event in The Last of Us' lore. But given the COVID-19 pandemic this year, the Uncharted developer has decided to change the name for 2020 and beyond. Announced via Twitter, Naughty Dog confirmed that its usual September 26 celebration of The Last of Us and its fandom will now be known as The Last of Us Day. The studio does have plans for this first rebranded celebration of the series, so stay tuned this weekend for more. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/12/the-last-of-us-part-2-review"] Previously, the developers used the term "Outbreak Day" as a reference to the in-fiction day when the Cordyceps virus reached mass infection. Naughty Dog explained that, in thinking about "the events of the last year and the challenges we all continue to face with COVID-19," it didn't make sense to keep using the same naming convention, especially for a day meant to show "our appreciation for our fans." Naughty Dog's full statement reads:

"For the last 7 years, September 26 has been our opportunity to recognize and celebrate the increasing passion of The Last of Us community. However, as we thought about the events of the last year and the challenges we all continue to face with COVID-19, we didn't feel right continuing on under the 'Outbreak Day' banner. While the name and date are rotted in the fiction of the game, September 26 means so much more than lore. It's about showing our appreciation for our fans. "That's why, this Saturday and moving forward, September 26 will be known as The Last of Us Day - a name that not only acknowledges the world around us, but also reflects the growth of the community as we welcome millions of new players with the release of The last of Us Part II. We have a lot of exciting things planned and we can't wait to share them with you in just a few days!"

[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-best-ps4-games-summer-2020-update&captions=true"] Past celebrations have included last year's The Last of Us Part 2 line of merch and early The Last of Us Part 2 posters and t-shirts in 2017 following its 2016 reveal. This will be the first celebration since The Last of Us Part 2 was released on PS4 earlier this year, debuting to huge sales success in its launch month. For more on the sequel, be sure to check out our The Last of Us Part 2 review, and our interview with Neil Druckmann and Halley Gross of Naughty Dog about the making of the sequel. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/the-last-of-us-part-2-neil-druckmann-halley-gross-interview-a-podcast-beyond-special-episode"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jonathon Dornbush is IGN's Senior News Editor, host of Podcast Beyond!, and PlayStation lead. Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush.

The Girl of Steel is taking her final flight - Supergirl will end after Season 6, The CW has announced. The upcoming sixth and final season will begin production later this month in Vancouver, and is set to premiere in 2021. The final season will consist of 20 episodes. Filming on Season 5 was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic after 19 episodes had been produced, making it the shortest season of the superhero franchise to date. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/08/22/the-flash-season-7-official-trailer-dc-fandome"] Like the majority of the Arrowverse, Season 5 ended on a narrative cliffhanger thanks to the pandemic, with Lex Luthor defeating Leviathan and the Luthor family set to pose an even greater threat to the world in Season 6. We'll likely see more of Jon Cryer's Lex and the rest of the Luthor clan in 2021, possibly paving the way for some of these characters to transition over to The CW's upcoming Superman & Lois spinoff. The new series will star Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch as the titular couple, who were both introduced on Supergirl. Supergirl has had a hero's journey worthy of any good comic run - it initially premiered on The CW's corporate sibling, CBS, in October 2015, before shifting over to The CW for Season 2. During its time on CBS, the show hosted a groundbreaking inter-network crossover between Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) and The CW's The Flash (Grant Gustin) - marking the first time a character from The CW had appeared on CBS. Supergirl has played a role in every Arrowverse crossover since the show moved over to The CW, but even before the show's ending was announced, CW boss Mark Pedowitz implied that next year's Arrowverse superhero crossover will be much smaller scale than the likes of Crisis on Infinite Earths, and will likely focus on a crossover between Superman and Batwoman. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=crisis-on-infinite-earths-aftermath-all-the-ways-the-arrowverse-has-changed&captions=true"] The Arrowverse has been a lucrative and long-running franchise for The CW since it kicked off in 2012 with Arrow. That flagship series ended earlier this year, making Supergirl only the second Arrowverse series to call it quits so far; The Flash, DC's Legends of Tomorrow, Batwoman, and Black Lightning are still ongoing, with Superman and Lois set to join the roster next year. Season 5 of Supergirl starred Melissa Benoist, Chyler Leigh, Katie McGrath, Jesse Rath, Nicole Maines, Azie Tesfai, Andrea Brooks, Julie Gonzalo, Staz Nair, and David Harewood, with special guest star Jon Cryer. The show is executive produced by Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, Robert Rovner, Jessica Queller, and Rob Wright. What do you think of Supergirl's impending ending? Share your reactions in the comments. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/08/22/justice-league-the-snyder-cut-trailer"]

Elsa Charretier is easily one of the most versatile artists working in the comic book industry today, with her work gracing everything from Star Wars Adventures to The Unstoppable Wasp to November, her creator-owned graphic novel series with Sex Criminals writer Matt Fraction. That versatility is on display in a brand new artbook, and you can only find that book on Kickstarter. The Kickstarter page for Elsa Charretier Artbook 2020 is live now. The book itself is a 120-page hardcover filled with new sketches, essays and an entire chapter devoted to Charretier's story contributions to the upcoming Image Comics series Department of Truth. Charretier and Fraction also both provide creator commentary for their collaboration on November. Check out the slideshow gallery below for an exclusive look inside this stunning artbook: [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=star-wars-adventures-and-november-artist-elsa-charretier-previews-stunning-artbook&captions=true"] As you can see, Charretier is tackling a wide range of subjects with this new round of sketches. The book features everything from Star Wars icons Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia to Death from The Sandman to Hollywood icons like Lauren Bacall. "As a kid, you’d have to tie me to a chair so I’d stay still," Charretier told IGN. "My parents encouraged my high-energy and independent personality, but I think it’s fair to say they were secretly worried: 'how in the hell is this kid going to find a job?!' Maybe I've been trying to make up for lost time (I, in fact, could not get a job for a very long time), but since I found comics 8 years ago, I've been creating like a mad person. Compulsively. I drew many books for DC Comics, Marvel, Star Wars, and craving for more independence, I launched my first-ever artbook last year." Charretier continued, "Our wildly successful Kickstarter campaign confirmed that fans crave a closer relationship to artists they love, and long to get a peek behind the scenes. This year's artbook is just that: an even more throughout insight into my artistic process, many high-quality renditions of pieces never seen before, and new chapters." The current Kickstarter has already surpassed its initial funding goal. Various tiers are available, with Charretier offering everything from art prints to exclusive sketches to original published art from previous projects. The Kickstarter will run until October 22, and the artbook is expected to ship in February 2021. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/09/15/the-mandalorian-season-2-trailer"] In other recent comic book news, DC Universe will be relaunches as the comic book-focused DC Universe Infinite in 2021, and Dark Horse Comics just announced a new comic book spinoff of the popular Critical Role web series. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.