Month: August 2018

BioWare general manager Casey Hudson has teased secret projects that his company is working on. In a blog post, Hudson thanked the overwhelming support that fans have shown Anthem and shared that the team would be at PAX West to offer further details on the game. He also hinted that plans are in place for more Star Wars: The Old Republic content and that BioWare has teams in place working on surprises that fans of Dragon Age and Mass Effect would like.

“Our Star Wars: The Old Republic team is hard at work on some amazing plans for the coming year, with new features and surprises that I think makes it the game’s most exciting year yet,” wrote Hudson. “And yes–we hear loud and clear the interest in BioWare doing more Dragon Age and Mass Effect, so rest assured that we have some teams hidden away working on some secret stuff that I think you’ll really like–we’re just not ready to talk about any of it for a little while…”

It seems like BioWare is still focusing entirely on Anthem–which is scheduled to launch for Xbox One, PS4, and PC in February 2019–but it’s nice to know that the developer is still thinking about older franchises. The Old Republic’s last notable expansion–Knights of the Eternal Throne–released in December 2016, adding nine story missions and raising the level cap to 70. The expansion celebrated the game’s fifth anniversary, but Old Republic hasn’t seen anything more than a few quality-of-life patches since.

We haven’t had a new Dragon Age game since 2014’s Dragon Age: Inquisition, but it did have two decent follow-up DLCs in 2015: The Descent and Jaws of Hakkon. Still, fans are ready for a tease about what comes next in the franchise following previous mentions of what it might look like. In regards to Mass Effect, players did recently get a new entry, Mass Effect: Andromeda, but the 2017 action-RPG was not well received by critics–we gave it a 6/10 in our review–and fans were disappointed to hear BioWare was ending single-player support and leaving the lingering storylines and cliffhangers unresolved. At E3, BioWare said it would get back to the series eventually.

We’re probably still months–if not years–away from any sort of teaser trailer for whatever happens next for The Old Republic, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect, but at least fans of these franchises can rest easy knowing that BioWare has something cooking.

The ’80s sitcom Alf may be getting a revival. Warner Bros. is reportedly looking into a series reboot. The original series, which ran for four seasons, centered on a sarcastic alien puppet living in a quiet suburban town with a family that took him in. It was something of a phenomenon at the time, kicking off a wide array of merchandise, comic books, and an animated series.

TV Line reports that Warner Bros. is still in the early stages of planning the reboot and is currently searching for a writer to spearhead it. It’s unclear what involvement, if any, series co-creator and puppeteer Paul Fusco would have with the project.

While Alf became a nickname for the character, as an acronym it stands for “Alien Life Form.” The character’s full name was Gordon Shumway, and he took up with the Tanner family after his spacecraft crash-landed in their garage. He was sarcastic and slovenly, and constantly attempted to eat the Tanner family’s pet cat. It was a simpler time.

This comes as quite a few nostalgic properties are being brought back for modern audiences. In just the last few months we’ve heard of Child’s Play and Buffy reboots in the works. This Alf project is so early we may not see it for quite some time, if at all.

If you’re on the list, you may be able to help Sony test new PlayStation 4 firmware soon. Invites are going out for the beta of system software 6.00. If you signed up to be a tester, check your email to see if you’ve been selected for this beta round.

Those who are selected to participate will get a notification when the beta begins, and then need to visit the Settings menu to download it. Sony urges testers to play a wide variety of games to test the new software, and to provide feedback to the development team. Crashes and bugs can be flagged with their respective reports, and general feedback is invited on the beta forum.

Whatever new features may be coming in this update will remain a mystery until Sony is ready to roll it out to the public, as beta testers are sworn to secrecy. The whole numbered updates tend to add significant features, though. The 5.0 system update, for example, added new family settings and child safety features, friends list and follower tweaks, messages and setting customization, and other various quality-of-life improvements.

Meanwhile, PlayStation recently announced its PS Plus offerings for August. Those include Mafia III and Dead by Daylight on PS4, Bound by Flame and Serious Sam 3: BFE on PS4, and Draw Slasher and Space Hulk on Vita.

In case you might have missed it, The Witcher is getting it’s very own tabletop role-playing game. Developed by R. Talsorian Games, creators of Cyberpunk 2020 (on which Cyberpunk 2077 is based), The Witcher Role-Playing Game is set during the years between The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. To get a taste for what The Witcher feels like in tabletop form, we invited Talsorian’s Witcher Line Manager Cody Pondsmith to lead a session of the game for IGN’s resident tabletop geeks Jon Ryan, Casey DeFreitas and Brandon Tyrrel.

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A new month is upon us, which means another pair of free Legendary Pokemon will soon be available for Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. This time, The Pokemon Company is giving away the Ruby and Sapphire cover monsters Groudon and Kyogre as part of its ongoing Year of Legendary Pokemon promotion, but they’ll only be available for a limited time.

As with previous distributions, the way to receive the Legendaries depends on which region you live in. Once again, US residents will need to travel to a specific retailer to pick up a free download code for the Pokemon. This time, the code will be available at participating GameStop stores from August 3-26. UK and Canada distribution details have yet to be announced.

The Legendaries can be redeemed in any seventh-generation Pokemon game, but the one you receive will depend on which version you’re playing. Those with a copy of Sun or Ultra Sun will get Kyogre, while Moon and Ultra Moon players will get Groudon. Additionally, the Pokemon will come at different levels and know different attacks based on the game you own; in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, each Legendary will be level 100 and come equipped with a Gold Bottle Cap, while they’ll be level 60 in the original Sun and Moon versions.

To claim your Legendary, you’ll need to redeem the download code using the Mystery Gift feature from the games’ main menu. After selecting Mystery Gift, choose the option to receive your gift with a code/password, and input the code you picked up from GameSpot. The Pokemon will then be downloaded into your game. Once those steps have been completed, you’ll be able to pick your Pokemon up from the deliveryman waiting inside any Pokemon Center.

As part of the Year of Legendary Pokemon, The Pokemon Company is giving away a different Legendary for free each month in 2018. This marks the seventh giveaway held thus far, following on the heels of July’s free Legendaries, Tornadus and Thundurus. You can see all of the free Pokemon available for Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon right now in our roundup.

Disney’s decision to fire James Gunn from the Marvel sequel Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 led to a joint-statement from the cast, in which they offered the writer/director their support. There had been some subsequent speculation that Disney might rehire Gunn, but a new report states that he is very unlikely to return to the movie.

According to Variety, the studio is “currently not planning” to rehire Gunn. The site spoke to “multiple people familiar with the studio’s current thinking,” and says that, despite the support from the cast of Guardians movies, the tweets that ultimately led to his dismissal remain totally at odds with Disney’s family-friendly image.

Despite the strongly worded statement, there is no suggestion that any of the cast, which includes Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, and Vin Diesel, will quit the series as a result. They are all under multi-film contracts, and while the movie was expected to start production in February 2019 ahead of a 2020 release, it had not officially been given a release date as yet.

The tweets that led to Gunn’s dismissal date back almost a decade, and saw the director joking about topics like pedophilia and rape. They resurfaced online via conservative website The Daily Caller, and Disney was quick to sever ties with him. In a statement, Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn said, “The offensive attitudes and statements discovered on James’ Twitter feed are indefensible and inconsistent with our studio’s values, and we have severed our business relationship with him.”

Gunn offered a subsequent statement in which he took responsibility for the tweets and accepted Disney’s decision. “My words of nearly a decade ago were, at the time, totally failed and unfortunate efforts to be provocative,” his statement read. “I have regretted them for many years since–not just because they were stupid, not at all funny, wildly insensitive, and certainly not provocative like I had hoped, but also because they don’t reflect the person I am today or have been for some time.

“Regardless of how much time has passed, I understand and accept the business decisions taken today. Even these many years later, I take full responsibility for the way I conducted myself then. All I can do now, beyond offering my sincere and heartfelt regret, is to be the best human being I can be: accepting, understanding, committed to equality, and far more thoughtful about my public statements and my obligations to our public discourse.”

A new month is just around the corner, which means a new batch of Field Research quests will soon be available in Pokemon Go. Developer Niantic has shared the first details about the upcoming set of challenges on Twitter, including which Pokemon awaits those who manage to complete enough of them. [Update: The new Field Research tasks are now live in Pokemon Go.]

According to Niantic, August’s batch of Field Research tasks will revolve primarily around Electric-type Pokemon. As usual, the first task you complete each day will reward you with a stamp; if you collect seven of them, you’ll achieve a Research Breakthrough and unlock additional rewards, including an encounter with a rare Pokemon.

The reward for achieving a Research Breakthrough this time will be another encounter with Raikou, one of the three Legendary dogs originally from Pokemon Gold and Silver. Raikou was previously available in Pokemon Go last fall as a Raid Battle, but this gives players another opportunity to capture one without having to team up with other Trainers and travel to a Gym.

Field Research tasks are distributed at PokeStops. They’re one of two types of quests introduced to the game earlier this year, along with Special Research. The latter are more story-driven challenges assigned by Professor Willow, with the reward being an encounter with a Mythical Pokemon. The first set of Special Research led to Mew, while an upcoming questline will give players the chance to find Celebi.

In addition to Raikou, Pokemon Go players can encounter another Legendary in the game right now. The powerful Steel-type Registeel is appearing in Raid Battles from now until August 21, when it will be replaced by Regirock. Before then, Niantic will host the next Pokemon Go Community Day on August 11 and 12, with Eevee starring as the next featured Pokemon.

August is here, which means Amazon/Twitch Prime members can now grab the latest batch of free games from Twitch. Between August 1-31, Prime members can download seven games: Antihero, Death Squared, Jotun: Valhalla Edition, SteamWorld Dig, and a bundle that contains Wizardry 6, 7, and 8. That’s a generous lineup, particularly after we got 21 games in July.

To get the games, you first have to link your Amazon Prime and Twitch accounts. Once you do, head to Twitch.tv on a desktop computer and click the crown icon near the search bar. There you’ll find a dropdown menu with buttons to claim the games for free. They’re yours to keep forever, even if you cancel Amazon Prime down the line. All you need is the Twitch desktop app to install them.

The games themselves were mostly well-received when they came out. Much like the recent God of War, Jotun: Valhalla Edition takes place in the realm of Norse mythology. You play as Thora, a warrior who must explore the frigid world and solve puzzles to prove her worth to the gods. In SteamWorld Dig, you explore a massive underground world, fighting enemies and collecting valuable treasure to help you upgrade your abilities. Finally, the Wizardry Bundle contains the “Dark Savant” trilogy of first-person RPGs.

Antihero is set in in the Victorian underworld, where you’re tasked with assembling a thief’s guild. It’s a turn-based strategy game in which you convince criminals and street urchins straight out of Dickens to join your criminal empire. Puzzle fans may enjoy Death Squared, a co-op game that has you moving colorful cubes around a dense map.

In addition to games, Twitch Prime members also get ad-free viewing on Twitch, a free channel subscription every 30 days, and free in-game loot for titles like Fortnite and Call of Duty: WWII.

Games for Twitch Prime members in August 2018

• Antihero
• Death Squared
• Jotun
• SteamWorld Dig
• Wizardry Bundle (includes Wizardry 6, 7, and 8)

If you show a picture of Marvel’s Spider-Man to someone for the first time, they’re likely to notice one thing: the suit. Insomniac has created a brand-new look for Spider-Man that’s entirely unique but immediately recognizable, its own spin on a hero we’ve been following for decades.

But while it’s true that the suit may catch your eye first, spending real time with the game reveals what’s underneath is just as important. For all the work that’s gone into making a new look for Spider-Man, Insomniac has put equal work into Peter Parker, giving the man behind the mask new depth and instant relatability that defines the character.

A More Mature Hero

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