Pokemon Go Will Let You Do Raids From Home Soon
With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic forcing many parts of the country into lockdown, Pokemon Go developer Niantic has been tweaking the hit AR mobile game to make it easier to play while social distancing. As part of the changes, the studio has recently begun offering 1 PokeCoin bundles in the in-game store and removed the walking requirement to take part in the Go Battle League, and it will soon let players participate in Raids from afar as well.
In a new blog post, Niantic outlined some further changes it will make to Pokemon Go. One of the most notable is that you won’t need to leave your home in order to join Raids. “You’ll soon be able to team up with friends and take on Raid Battles together in Pokemon Go from the comfort of home,” the developer wrote.
This is certainly a welcome change, as players previously needed to physically travel to a Gym where a Raid was taking place in order to join the battle. Raids are one of the few ways you can catch rare Legendary Pokemon, which are typically only available for a limited time, and this adjustment will ensure that everyone will have a chance to capture these monsters while they’re in the game.
That’s not the only change Niantic is making. The developer says it is also “working on an entirely new way to enjoy Pokemon Go Fest” this year, and it will also adjust the Adventure Sync feature so that it tracks your steps while performing indoor tasks “like cleaning your house and running on a treadmill.”
Beyond that, Niantic is also working on a handy new feature for Pokemon Go called Today View. This tab will display ongoing and upcoming in-game events, as well as personal stats, such as your daily streaks and what Pokemon you currently have defending Gyms, making it easier to keep track of what’s currently happening in the game.
A new Legendary Pokemon is also set to debut very soon. Landorus, the final member of the Forces of Nature trio, will be appearing in Raids from March 31 to April 21. The Mythical Pokemon Genesect is also set to debut in EX Raids in April, following its appearance as part of the recent Drive to Investigate Special Research story event.
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Power Rangers Movie: Unofficial Concept Art Reveals Green Ranger Design
When a fan messaged Klamchanuan pointing out that it was the three-year anniversary of the movie and fans never got to see the Tommy as the Green Ranger, it inspired him to whip up a design for the fan-favorite character, which he posted on Instagram.
Take a look at Klamchanuan’s work-in-progress drawings and the final design below:
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While this design is purely a fun exercise for Klamchanuan and is not official, he is the one who designed the organic, glowing Power Ranger armor seen in the 2017 film, so this is as close as we’re going to get to seeing what the Green Ranger would look like in that style. Rita Repulsa was depicted as a fallen Green Ranger in the film, so we were given an idea of what the Green Ranger would look like, but Klamchanuan’s design depicts Tommy in the armor and is a bit more in line with what fans know from the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series.
Klamchanuan explained to IGN that he made sure the Green Ranger design looked similar to the other rangers while incorporating the signature dragon elements.
“I took the elements of the Red Ranger as a base to build on, changing the shape of the helmet to add extra horns to give it a dragon look,” Klamchanuan said.
The Green Ranger is of course known for his signature gold chest shield, which Klamchanuan included in a more subtle way.
“With the gold chest shield, it was important to me not to go too over the top,” he said. “I wanted to have it there but make sure it didn’t overpower the green, so I used it more as a highlight.”
As for the Dragon Dagger, Klamchanuan had a bit of fun by giving it the ability to transform from a dagger into a full-sized sword, perfect for going blade-to-blade with the Red Ranger’s power sword. “And it would look badass!” he added.
What do you think of Klamchanuan’s design for the Green Ranger? What were your hopes for a sequel to the 2017 Power Rangers movie? Let us know in the comments.
If you’re hankering for some Green Ranger-related material, you can always check out Jason David Frank reprising his iconic role as the evil, alternate reality version of Tommy Oliver in the trailer below:
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Joshua is Senior Features Editor at IGN. If Pokemon, Green Lantern, or Game of Thrones are frequently used words in your vocabulary, you’ll want to follow him on Twitter @JoshuaYehl and IGN.
All Marvel Designs at the IGN Store are Marked Down an Additional 20% This Week
Save 20% on Marvel Shirts
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If you want Nintendo designs, we’ve got officially licensed Metroid, Mario Kart, Splatoon, and even newcomers like Luigi’s Mansion 3 designs, too. Maybe you’ve heard of a little game called Animal Crossing? We’ve got those, too.
The Marvel sale runs through Saturday at midnight, and we’ll have new designs in the store later this week. Last week we added a ton of Stranger Things designs, so get spooky.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons Guide
Beginner’s Guide
Here’s how to start your ACNH adventure off right including a walkthrough for your first few days.
- How to Restart or Reroll Your Island
- All Potential Starting Villagers
- Beginner’s Guide and Tips
- What to Do on Your First Days (Walkthrough)
- Difference Between Miles and Bells
How to Play Multiplayer
It takes a village to turn an island into a community! Here’s how to play 2-4 player local couch co-op (aka Party Play), how to play local wireless and online, how to play with friends, how to add people to your best-friends list, and how to message and talk to friends. Plus a detailed break down on how the Call Islander and Best-Friends List NookPhone apps work alongside the real-life Nintendo Switch Online App (aka NookLink).
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Tips and Tricks
Ultimate Unlocks and Upgrades Guide
Here’s how to make progress in ACNH by unlocking more tools, buildings, and facilities and upgrading what you already have.
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- How to Unlock Every Tool, Ladder, and Vaulting Pole
- How to Unlock Nook’s Cranny
- How to Upgrade Resident Services
- How to Get More Villagers
- How to Unlock K.K. Slider
- How to Unlock Terraforming (Permits for Cliffs and Water)
Money Making Guide (Get Bells Fast)
Bells rule everything around you in ACNH. Here’s how make a lot of them quickly.
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- Money Guide
- How to Plant a Money Tree
- How to Create Spider Island (Tarantual Farming)
- Daisy Mae – Turnip Guide
Cheats and Secrets
Free Elder Scrolls Online Prologue Chapter Out This Week–Begins Greymoor Story
Elder Scrolls Online is preparing for a trip to Greymoor, and you can start to get a taste for the new content with a special prologue quest. The prologue is free to all players and available starting today.
The free chapter will take you into Blackreach to face the Icereach Coven, helping to wrap up the Dark Heart of Skyrim storyline as it segues into the new Greymoor story. You can find it by selecting “Prologue Quest: The Coven Conspiracy” from the Crown Store, and then finding Lyris Titanborn in your alliance’s Fighter’s Guild. A new story trailer helps set the spooky stage for things to come as well.
If you haven’t played ESO but want to try out the prologue chapter, you can take part in a free play event from April 1-13. On PC, PS4, and Xbox One, you can download the base game and play through a selection of content. (The Steam free play period will be April 1-6). Visit the ESO Free Play page to select your version. The free content will include the Greymoore prologue quest.
This follows a rather large mid-March update, which required players to fully re-download the game. That reinstall came with some benefits, though, like significantly reduced load times and a smaller footprint on your hard drive.
GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.
The Uphill Battle to Fix An Obscure Bug in Control
This is a guest column from Juha Vainio, an Executive Producer at Remedy Entertainment, the development team behind our 2019 Game of the Year, Control. [poilib element=”accentDivider”]
I’ve never been one to chase achievements or trophies in games. I usually play the main storyline, some side quests, and that’s it. Prior to launching Control, I had zero Platinum trophies on PS4. But, Control being my game, I decided well in advance that Control will be the first game I platinum – to collect all the trophies.
So I got to it and played the game diligently, finished the main storyline, all the side quests and started hunting all the trophies. Control is not the hardest game to platinum so the progress was decent. I believe it was October 2019 when I got all the trophies but one, the “Master Parautilitarian”, awarded for unlocking all of Jesse’s abilities.
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I had still a few powers missing, so I went on getting them and was pretty excited when I was enabling my final ability, supposedly triggering the trophy. But… the trophy didn’t trigger – meaning neither did the Platinum.
Clearly a bug, I asked our QA if they had bumped into anything similar. They hadn’t. I then went to our community management and asked if they had noticed anyone complaining about something similar – they hadn’t, either. So it must have been quite a rare bug.
Finally, I approached our programmers and asked how this could happen. At first, they denied it could even happen at all. Then, with minor pushing, they checked the code and confirmed there’s no chance that could happen. When I presented them with visual evidence, they said, in that voice that only programmers can do, “Interesting”.
After a few days, the programmers came up with a possible cause: they had made some fundamental changes to how abilities were counted just before launch. Apparently, I had played the pre-release build and some of my abilities were counted using the old system, the rest with the new. So the system thought I didn’t have enough abilities for the trophy, even though I did. I asked the team how long would it take to fix this so that I could get my trophy but without anybody else getting screwed. “Too long,” they said.
Of course, as the Executive Producer of Control, I’m responsible for the bug priorities, so this naturally went straight to the top of the to-do pile! That is, until the team asked, “do you want us fixing this, or do you want us working on The Foundation expansion?”. As much as it pained me, The Foundation was more important, so the bug was left unfixed.
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That didn’t mean I gave up, though. As a trusted Sony developer, I had access to the developer support portal. I went and explained the situation to Sony’s support team and subtly asked if they could just flip the switch on the back-end and unlock the trophy for me. “No”, they said. “All the trophies need to be unlocked from within gameplay”. Which makes lots of sense, but didn’t make me any happier.
I continued harassing our programmers every once in a while, but they didn’t budge. But suddenly, as an inadvertent answer to my prayers, one of our designers came up with the idea of being able to reset all the ability points. Unaware of my particular predicament – he was trying to solve another issue with it – the idea got my full support. The programmers and I weren’t actually sure if that would fix my problem or not, but it was our best shot, so I took it.
For weeks and weeks, I held my breath and waited, in pain, to see if it would work or not. The feature was part of the March 25 Control Update, and on that day I anxiously sat beside my PS4 while the update loaded. I launched the game. I went to a Control Point to access my ability tree. … and noticed I needed to farm 30.000 Source to be able to reset the Ability Tree!
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After about 30 minutes I had collected enough Source to be able to reset the tree. So, once again, I again located a Control Point, accessed the ability tree, and reset everything. Then I proceeded, with shaky hands, to enable the abilities one by one. I almost couldn’t finish, I was so afraid that it wouldn’t work. I was almost sure it wouldn’t.
But it did! I got my “Master Parautilitarian”, followed closely by my First Platinum Trophy ever!
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Steam Announces Changes to Game Update Downloads to Manage Bandwidth
With a lot of COVID-19 policies encouraging people to stay home and self-distance, platforms like Steam are breaching record numbers surpassing 20 million people. Valve is trying to balance that load by encouraging self-throttling and a tweak to auto-updating, as more people are home downloading games.
“We know a lot of you (like us here at Valve) are stuck at home right now trying to work or attend school remotely,” Valve said in a blog post. “Or maybe you’re just playing a bunch of great games on Steam. Whatever the case may be, we know that with so many people at home trying to get things done at the same time, it can put a stress on your home’s internet bandwidth.”
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People familiar with Steam know that games automatically download updates when they become available. However, a new change makes it so games that haven’t been played within the last three days don’t update immediately. Instead, Steam will schedule these updates for off-peak times during your local time.
This change doesn’t prevent people from manually updating their games using Steam’s download manager and/or launching a game to force an immediate update.
Valve is also suggesting other options to lessen the recent bandwidth strain such as self-throttling, scheduling updates, disabling auto-updates, and more. Further information on how to take advantage of these features is available here.
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A number of companies such as YouTube, Amazon, and Netflix have also made changes due to bandwidth stress brought on by COVID-19. Disney has stated they will follow similar policies in streaming lower quality options by default for Disney+ in Europe.
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Jeffrey Lerman is a Freelance News Writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @Snakester95.
Netflix’s The Tiger King: What Happened to Joe Exotic After the Show?
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Netflix’s latest docuseries is truly stranger than fiction, as it recounts the wild life of one Joseph Maldonado-Passage (aka the Tiger King, aka Joe Exotic), a mullet-sporting, trash-talking big cat owner from Oklahoma, and former owner of the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park. By the time the credits roll on the final episode, Maldonado-Passage finds himself behind bars after being sentenced to 22 years in prison, while the audience is left with plenty of questions about the other colorful characters in the documentary, like Doc Antle, Carole Baskin, and Jeff Lowe. But where are they now, and do the filmmakers have plans for a Season 2 of Tiger King? Read on to find out.
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What Happened to Joe Exotic?
Joe Exotic has filed a lawsuit for $78 million against the U.S. Department of Interior and the U.S. Federal Wildlife Service “for placing the ‘generic tiger’ on the endangered species list,’ according to a report from TMZ. Exotic claims that the government did this in order to hurt big cat owners financially. He’s also suing for an additional $15 million regarding various criminal charges against him, including a former (unnamed) colleague “for allegedly lying to the feds and planting evidence against him.”
The former G.W. Zoo owner is currently serving 22-years in federal prison for two counts of murder-for-hire in an attempt to kill animal rights activist Carole Baskin, and over twelve wildlife violations, including the killing of five tigers, according to a report from The Washington Post. Maldonado-Passage’s prison sentence has not silenced the eccentric big cat owner, who recently took to Facebook to share his thoughts on the Netflix series:
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“At 12:01 am Friday Morning 132 countries that get Netflix most will be trapped in their own homes with nothing to do but watch the TV series ‘Tiger King’ and the entire world will know what these people did to put me here,” Maldonado-Passage said. In a more recent post on the same Facebook page, he goes on to profess his innocence, claiming that “U.S. Attorney’s office and Agents involved will have to answer to the fact that they participated in Perjury to obtain this conviction.”
IGN spoke to Goode and Chaiklin to find out what makes big cat owners like Joe Exotic so charismatic. “All of these characters check out of mainstream life,” Goode said. “They have created their own individual universes – little ‘utopias’ – along with their own set of rules, which ultimately was Joe’s greatest downfall…. much like David Koresh, Charlie Manson, Jim Jones…they all drank the Kool-Aid.”
What Happened to Doc Antle After the Raid?
As noted in the intertitle card at the end of the finale, Bhagavan “Doc” Antle’s Myrtle Beach Safari was indeed raided back in December 2019, but to this day, Antle has not been brought up on criminal charges, and his park remains open. According to a report from ABC15 News out of Myrtle Beach, Antle claims that the authorities were there due to a multi-state investigation involving three of his tigers.
“We have the three lions, they’re fabulous little babies that are here with us,” Antle told ABC15 News. “Many of our guests this summer all hugged them and met them and those lions are permanent residents here at the preserve. The lions are part of an ongoing investigation the state is working on and they wanted us to try and help them look at the trail of where the lions had come from and any ideas or evidence we had about what the lion’s lives had been before they moved here to Myrtle Beach Safari.”
Iconic wrestling star The Undertaker (aka Mark William Calaway) and his wife (Michelle McCool) posted a photo on March 14, 2020, at Antle’s facility via McCool’s Instagram account.
Jeff Lowe and the G.W. Zoo
Jeff Lowe is still running the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park, which has been rebranded as The Oklahoma Zoo. According to their website, Lowe hopes to have the new facility in Thackerville, Oklahoma up and running sometime in summer 2020. Lowe’s company Facebook page has some harsh words for Maldonado-Passage, referring to him in one post as a “horrible abuser who rots in Federal prison.” The park promises that its animal care standards have been raised since Lowe took over from Maldonado-Passage.
“Since we took over, the zoo has spent thousands upon thousands getting every animal the medical treatment and proper diets that greed robbed them of. We defy anyone to find a mistreated or neglected animal here. We are one of the few zoo owners in America with a spotless USDA history.” Below is a photo of Jeff Lowe and his wife, Lauren Lowe from the zoo’s Instagram page.
Carole Baskin and The Big Cat Safety Act
Carole Baskin still operates her Big Cat Rescue out of Tampa, Florida and continues to post personal videos about her past on YouTube. In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Baskin said that Joe Exotic was “just one of about a dozen of these bad guys” she was attempting to expose.
As of the time of writing, the Big Cat Public Safety Act has not passed. Per congress.gov, the proposed “bill revises requirements governing the trade of big cats (i.e., species of lion, tiger, leopard, cheetah, jaguar, or cougar or any hybrid of such species). Specifically, it revises restrictions on the possession and exhibition of big cats, including to restrict direct contact between the public and big cats.”
Baskin went on to tell Vanity Fair that at the end of each tour, she encourages her guests to call their respective members of Congress and cosponsor the bill. The bill currently has 227 cosponsors.
Did Joe Exotic Actually Sing Those Country Songs?
Throughout the docuseries, we’re shown some of Joe Exotic’s interesting music videos for songs he’s performed about his love for tigers. One of the more controversial tracks, titled “Here Kitty Kitty,” insinuates that rival Carole Baskin killed and fed her late husband, Don Lewis, to her tigers. To this day, Carole refutes that claim and no charges have ever been brought against her regarding those allegations. In a fascinating twist, Baskin alleges that Exotic’s songs are not sung by him, and according to a report from Metro, he didn’t even write the lyrics.
“The documentary never does reveal that Joe Exotic only lip-synced to songs written and recorded by Vince Johnson and Danny Clinton,” Baskin reportedly said, going on to allege that Exotic paid Johnson to write and record these songs for $7000, and that she has the emails to prove it.
Will There Be a Tiger King Season 2?
With 5,000 to 10,000 captive tigers currently in the United States, the story about big cat owners is far from over, but do the creators of Tiger King have anything left to say? Co-directors Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin were still filming as late as January 2020, so they do have a “surplus of footage,” per a recent interview with Vanity Fair. Goode and Chaiklin told the outlet that there’s probably room for one final episode, however, they aren’t confident that the documentary’s participants will want to be interviewed after watching the series. While there are times when the series looks like it’s poking fun at the industry, Chaiklin admits that the story isn’t black and white.
“These are people who work incredibly hard,” Chaiklin told Vanity Fair. “They’re up at the crack of dawn. They’re working all day to care for these animals even if the animals are suffering. Nothing is black and white in life. You spend time with people, and you see the good side and the bad side, so it’s complicated.”
What do you think? Would you like to see more Tiger King on Netflix? Let us know in the comments.
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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.
Fast and Furious: LEGO Releasing Kit for Dom’s Dodge Charger
The completed kit will measure 15″ long, 6″ wide, and 4″ high. Additionally, the set includes multiple interactive elements, such as real moving pistons and suspension, a steering system, and an air blower. You can also display the car mid-wheelie thanks to a built-in stand.
The set mostly uses smooth, black LEGO pieces to recreate Dom’s iconic ride. Check out some pictures of the set below:
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Fast and Furious fans will have to wait a bit longer for the next entry in the franchise. Originally supposed to release this May, Fast 9 will now open in theaters in April 2021 due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Until then, you can watch the reveal of a major character’s return in Fast 9’s debut trailer. Also, the franchise is already looking past Fast 9, and you can read if Fast 10 could be split into two separate movies.
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For more on LEGO, check out the recently-revealed LEGO Super Mario collaboration, which is showcasing a new type of LEGO play style.
Story originally reported by The Verge.
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Logan Plant is a news writer for IGN, and the Production Assistant for Nintendo Voice Chat, IGN’s weekly Nintendo show. You can find him on Twitter at @LoganJPlant.


