While E3 2020 did not happen this year, there has been plenty of video game news this summer. The news train chugged along this week with Ubisoft Forward, and next up is the next part of Geoff Keighley’s Summer Games Fest with an announcement about Death Stranding.
Hideo Kojima and artist Yoji Shinkawa from Kojima Productions will speak to Keighley on July 13 for a chat about the PC edition, which releases on July 14. Kojima and Shinkawa will have a “special conversation” with Kojima about the game, according to a promo, but no further details were divulged.
Death Stranding was originally due to launch on June 2 on Steam, the Epic Game Store, and retail, but the release was delayed due to the shift to a work-from-home setup because of COVID-19.
Death Stranding was one of our favorite games of 2019. In our 9/10 Death Stranding review, critic Kallie Plagge praised the game’s themes and its relevance, saying, “It’s positive without ignoring pain; in fact, it argues in both its story and its gameplay that adversity itself is what makes things worth doing and life worth living. It’s a game that requires patience, compassion, and love, and it’s also one we really need right now.”
With the launch of next-generation consoles coming up later this year, Microsoft and Sony are ushering in the next era of gaming. The companies are taking slightly different approaches. Sony has said it plans to release PS5-exclusive titles right out of the gate, while Microsoft has spoken time and again about not doing this with the Xbox Series X, and instead launching titles across its family of devices.
Xbox boss Phil Spencer told GI.biz that he’s so passionate about this because he wants to make Microsoft’s games available to people no matter what device they have. Forcing people to buy new hardware is against what the spirit of gaming is all about, Spencer said.
“As a player you are the centre of our strategy,” Spencer said. “Our device is not the centre of our strategy, our game is not the centre of the strategy. We want to enable you to play the games you want to play, with the friends you want to play with, on any device. On TV, the Xbox console is going to be the best way to play console games.”
The Series X is the most powerful console Microsoft has ever made, and people who play games on that system will get to experience the “best version” of Microsoft’s games when it comes to fidelity and performance, Spencer said. That being said, Spencer said he doesn’t want to exclusive anyone from Microsoft’s games, so the company will continue to release new games on the regular Xbox One, as well as PC.
“Gaming is about entertainment and community and diversion and learning new stories and new perspectives, and I find it completely counter to what gaming is about to say that part of that is to lock people away from being able to experience those games,” Spencer said. “Or to force someone to buy my specific device on the day that I want them to go buy it, in order to partake in what gaming is about.”
“Gaming is bigger than any one device, and that is something as an industry that we’ve embraced all up as we bring more and more players in. I think it’s vital to the role that gaming can play on the planet.”
The difference in policies between Sony and Microsoft in this regard has led to some portion of the audience criticizing Microsoft for “holding back” the power of new games to accomodate older hardware. Spencer thinks this is a bunch of baloney–just look at the PC market, he said.
“Frankly, held back is a meme that gets created by people who are too caught up in device competition,” Spencer said. “I just look at Windows. It’s almost certain if the developer is building a Windows version of their game, then the most powerful and highest fidelity version is the PC version. You can even see that with some of our first-party console games going to PC, even from our competitors, that the richest version is the PC version. Yet the PC ecosystem is the most diverse when it comes to hardware, when you think about the CPUs and GPUs from years ago that are there.”
Leyou, the parent company that owns a majority stake in Warframe developer Digital Extremes and Gears Tactics developer Splash Damage, is looking increasingly likely to be bought out by Tencent. On July 10, Leyou announced a trading halt, “pending the release of an announcement pursuant to the Hong Kong Code on Takeovers and Mergers which constitutes inside information of the Company.”
Initially, rumors persisted that Sony was the likely buyer, but the Leyou board released another statement indicating that they were entering into an agreement with Tencent. “The Board announces that on 10 July 2020 (before trading hours), Mr. Yuk and the Company entered into an exclusivity agreement (the ‘Privatization Exclusivity Agreement’) with Tencent Mobility Limited (the ‘Potential Acquiror’), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tencent Holdings Limited,” the announcement reads.
This does not make the deal a definite thing, but it means that if Leyou sells within the next three months, it will be to Tencent. “There is no assurance that any negotiations mentioned in this announcement will either materialize or eventually be consummated and the negotiations may or may not lead to a possible acquisition and privatization of the Company,” the statement clarifies.
Leyou also owns their own publishing label, Athlon Games, which publishes Samurai Shodown and is a publishing partner of LCG Entertainment, which has revived several Telltale Games properties following the company’s collapse. Athlon is also currently working on the Lord of the Rings MMO with Amazon. All of this would likely make the company attractive to Tencent.
VentureBeat posits that Tencent, which has a huge presence on mobile devices, is likely looking to replicate its successes on the PC market. In a statement provided to the site, Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad says that because Leyou “owns a number of studios that have expertise in global online free-to-play game development for console and PC,” they would likely be useful to Tencent’s efforts to expand overseas.
Tencent recently announced that it was opening a new studio, led by a former Rockstar dev. It is also working on Pokemon Unite, a new Switch/mobile Pokemon MOBA. The company also has investments in Epic, Riot, Ubisoft, Activision, Grinding Gear, Supercell, Platinum, Yager, Frontier, and Funcom, among others.
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In order to morph into the vagabond monster-slaying Geralt of Rivia for Netflix’s The Witcher, star Henry Cavill occasionally had to take the character’s dirtiness into his own hands.
While talking to Vanity Fair about all the in and outs of his Geralt transformation, including multiple wigs and contacts that would eventually irritate his eyes, Cavill mentioned how much he became invested in Geralt’s overall unkempt look.
“The costumers were, towards the end, quite horrified with me,” he said. “Before takes I would look at myself and say, ‘We need more dirt on me.’ They’d come up to me with this tiny little — it’s like a pair of tights rolled up into a ball, with some dust in, and they’d sort of pat it on me. And I’d say, ‘Yeah, guys, that’s not enough.'”
“So I’d go stand out in the rain. Sometimes I’d roll around in puddles. I would just try and get as much of the world on me, so this character looked like he had lived within it.”
Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.
Fans have been itching for a revenge-soaked follow up to Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill two-parter for years, really ever since the opening scene of Vol. 1 where Uma Thurman’s Bride character talks to the young daughter of the freshly-murdered Vivica A. Fox’s Vernita Green and tells her “When you grow up, if you still feel raw about it, I’ll be waiting.”
Even back in 2004, Tarantino was raring to go for the sequel, saying “The star will be Vernita Green’s daughter, Nikki. I’ve already got the whole mythology: Sofie Fatale [Julie Dreyfus] will get all of Bill’s money. She’ll raise Nikki, who’ll take on the Bride. Nikki deserves her revenge every bit as much as the Bride deserved hers.”
Recently though, while talking about Kill Bill sequels and/or reboot possibilities with NME, Vivica A. Fox mentioned how’d she’d love to see Zendaya play Nikki. “Zendaya! How hot would that be?” she said. “And that would probably green light this project. Because her and Uma are both very tall, and it would just be kick-butt, and I love her.”
“Hopefully now we can put that out, like ‘Tarantino, cast Zendaya!’ And spark his interest to put it on the fast track.”
So what do you think about this casting? Would you like to watch Zendaya v. Uma Thurman? In a bloody, stabby battle for Kill Bill supremacy? Also, would you like this to be Tarantino’s tenth and final film as the director has said many times that he plans on only making ten movies and then retiring. Let us know below.
Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.
Ubisoft has stated that the recent sexual abuse and misconduct allegations against some of its employees will not “be addressed directly” during its upcoming Ubisoft Forward presentation.
Ubisoft made the statement on Twitter, saying “Ubisoft Forward comes during a time of big internal change. Because all the content has been pre-recorded, we wanted to recognize that the issues we’re currently dealing with won’t be addressed directly in the show. We still have significant work to do and are committed to this process. We will provided more updates soon.”
This statement arrives just a few hours before Ubisoft hosts its Ubisoft Forward E3 replacement showcase where it will discuss Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Watch Dogs Legion, Far Cry 6, and much more. You can watch Ubisoft Forward on Sunday, July 12 at 12pm PT/3pm ET/8pm BST.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
The game will release on mobile devices on August 6. Those who pre-register for iOS or Android can get a free skin for when the game is released.
Brawlhalla has been a huge success on console and PC, where it has “more than 40 million players” across Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and PC. The game supports cross-play on those platforms, and cross-play will also be available on mobile at release.
Brawlhalla has more than 50 characters, including fighters from non-Ubisoft games, including Finn and Jake from Adventure Time and Heatblast from Ben 10.
While we won’t get a new Far Cry game this year, we won’t have to wait too long into next year to get our hands on Far Cry 6. Ubisoft has announced that Far Cry 6 will release on February 18, 2021 on PS5, Xbox Series X, PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Google Stadia (that’s a lot of platforms, we know). In typical Ubisoft fashion, numerous editions will be available to purchase, and pre-order listings are already starting to pop up. If you already know you’re down to jump into another zany open-world first-person shooter, you can snag some cool bonuses with your pre-order, too.
Far Cry 6 is set in the present day in the fictional country of Yara, a tropical paradise that has been “frozen in time,” largely due to the country’s tyrannical leader Anton Castillo (played by Breaking Bad actor Giancarlo Esposito). As the hero of the story, you’ll step into the shoes of Dani Rojas, who helps form a guerilla faction to oust Castillo from power.
While next-gen consoles will already be out by the time Far Cry 6 releases, it’s worth noting that you’ll be able to buy one copy of Far Cry 6 to play on PS4/PS5 and Xbox One/Series X. So if you aren’t planning on upgrading to a next-gen console right away, you’ll still be able to enjoy Far Cry 6 on PS5 and Xbox Series X whenever you do decide to upgrade.
Pre-orders have just started to go live on all platforms, but we’ll continue to update as more retailers make Far Cry 6 available to order.
If you pre-order any edition of Far Cry 6, you’ll get The Libertad Pack, which includes two in-game bonuses:
Discos Locos: a deadly disc launcher, of course
Libertad Chorizo skin: an angry-looking dog on wheels (with spikes!) that we absolutely must learn more about
Far Cry 6 releases February 18, 2021
The standard edition of Far Cry 6 comes with the bonuses listed above and is available to pre-order now at multiple retailers.
Far Cry 6 Gold edition
Far Cry 6’s Gold edition comes with the pre-order bonuses and the season pass containing three DLCs: Beware the Dictator, The Jewel of the Carribean, and A Nation Stranded in the Past. The digital Gold edition costs $100, while the physical steelbook edition costs $110.
Far Cry 6 Ultimate edition
Far Cry 6’s $120 Ultimate edition comes with the pre-order bonuses, season pass, and the Ultimate Pack containing three skin packs: Croc Hunter, Vice, and Jungle Expedition.
Far Cry 6 Collector’s edition
Far Cry 6 has a massive Collector’s edition that’s exclusive to the Ubisoft Store. Coming in at $200, the Collector’s edition includes everything in the Ultimate edition, the pre-order bonus, and a bunch of other goodies:
Tostador 72cm Replica flamethrower (non-operable, of course)
Far Cry 6 64-page art book
10 stickers
Exclusive steelbook case
“How to assemble” print detailing the flamethrower
CD soundtrack
Chroizo (dog on wheels) keychain
World map
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Far Cry 6’s reveal brought with it the confirmation of who would be joining the ranks of the series’ iconic villains — Breaking Bad and The Mandalorian actor Giancarlo Esposito. Esposito plays Anton Castillo, a dictator in the island nation of Yara and its capital city, Esperanza.
IGN spoke with Esposito ahead of the announcement to discuss Anton’s motives, his layered characterization, and a bit more about the fictional island nation at the heart of Far Cry 6.
“His father was a dictator before him and he wants to empower the people to take their country back. His goal is to use the resources that they have within the country to survive without allowing outsiders to come in and co-opt their scientists, their intellectual property, all of these things,” Esposito said, noting that Anton was “born with a silver spoon in his mouth.”
And Anton is, well, grappling with quite a bit as Esposito explained:
“He really means good, but he’s in a world that’s moving progressively forward faster than he is. And he has to find the assets that his people have to be able to exploit those assets and allow his people to believe in him, all this in the midst of a civil revolution that’s happening in his country by several different factions that he’s got to put down…and he’s trying to raise a son.”
That relationship with his son, who we also see in the Far Cry 6 reveal trailer, is key to the humanity Esposito sees in Anton. His son is played by Anthony Gonzalez, who starred as Miguel in Pixar’s Coco.
“His relationship [with his son] is he’s impatient. His son isn’t as grown as he wants him to be,” he said. “He wants him to grow up faster, he wants to give him the skills and empower him to know that he has the power over life and death. Very difficult thing for a young man, just going through puberty to get wrapped around. How do you turn your back on being youthful and grow up quickly to be groomed, to take over a small island nation?”
Esposito, who said he believed the game was set in present day, explained how Winston Churchill actually inspired the way he portrayed Anton, as a dictator ruling over a paradise that doesn’t really know how to make full use of what it offers.
“It makes me think of Winston Churchill when he went to Uganda years ago, he said that was the jewel of Africa. It had everything. And that was my vision,” he said. “It was feeling as if I’m in this lush place that had no means to get out the cucumbers and the potatoes. It had no means to really market the beautiful flowers to the world, that had no leadership, hadn’t followed through to be able to take advantage of their assets and yet keep them still at home. Anton is really complicated, yet he knows he has to rule with an iron fist and put down the revolutionaries to be able to start the process of healing to begin with.”
