Month: May 2019

Weeelcoooome to Nintendo Voice Chat, IGN’s Nintendo podcast! This week, NVC talks about their favorite reveals and moments from the Pokemon press conference, including that surprise Godzilla movie plug, the Detective Pikachu sequel, Pokemon Home, Sleep, and more. We also break down why we shouldn’t have a knee-jerk negative reaction to the World Health Organization defining gaming disorder as a behavioral addiction, but lighten back up to discuss our most wanted game collections for the Nintendo Switch.

Here are some topic timecodes for your convenience:

• 00:00:01 – Welcome to NVC! Miranda is here!

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The first trailer for Pixar’s newest movie, Onward, has arrived. The film takes place in a fantasy world and stars two teenage brothers who are elves.

Together, they “embark on an extraordinary quest to discover if there is still a little magic left out there.” Here’s the magical first trailer:

The brothers, Ian and Barney, are voiced by Spider-Man actor Tom Holland and Star-Lord actor Chris Pratt, respectively. Octavia Spencer and Julia Louis-Dreyfus also voice characters.

The movie is directed by Dan Scanlon and produced by Kori Rae; they worked together on Monsters University. Onward releases in theatres in March 2020.

Pixar’s next movie is the much-anticipated Toy Story 4, which debuts in June.

Ahead of its E3 2019 showcase, additional details about Marvel’s Avengers have leaked via the E3 Coliseum website. Those details have since been removed from the site, but they revealed Square Enix’s upcoming Marvel superhero game will feature both solo and co-op play.

The description for the Marvel’s Avengers Showcase once read, according to PC Gamer, “Embrace your powers and join key members of the development team at Crystal Dynamics and the creative team at Marvel Games as they talk exclusively about the upcoming Marvel’s Avengers. This is the defining Avengers gaming experience: an epic action-adventure that combines cinematic storytelling with continuous single-player and co-operative gameplay. Moderated by Andrea Rene, assemble in teams up to four players, master extraordinary abilities, customize your heroes to fit your playstyle, and combine powers to defend an ever-expanding world under constant threat.”

Now, the showcase’s description has been trimmed down to read, “Join Crystal Dynamics and Marvel Games for a Panel about Marvel’s The Avengers.”

Announced via a January 2017 teaser trailer (seen above) as The Avengers Project, Marvel’s Avengers will finally have an official reveal during Square Enix’s E3 2019 press conference, scheduled for June 10 at 6 PM PT / 9 PM ET / 2 AM BST. There’s very little information about the game currently available, although we do know Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics and Deus Ex studio Eidos Montreal are behind it. The original teaser seemed to imply the game’s story would focus on the Avengers reassembling after the “time of heroes” has long since passed.

In the teaser trailer, we see Captain America’s vibranium shield, Iron Man’s repulsor gauntlet, Thor’s Mjolnir hammer, and Bruce Banner’s cracked glasses–suggesting the game could focus on the first team of Avengers (though nothing pointing to the other two original Avengers, Ant-Man/Giant-Man and Wasp is shown). Because of how damaged the shield, gauntlet, hammer, and glasses in the trailer are, the video could also be hinting that Marvel’s Avengers takes place in the aftermath of the original team’s defeat and see the rise of a new generation of heroes.

Arabia Nights-inspired dungeon crawler, City of Brass, had a fairly positive reception at launch, with our own reviewer scoring it a 7/10 almost two years ago. Free is an enticing proposition, though. As part of Epic Games’ free game promotion, the first-person dungeon crawler is now available on the Epic Games Store.

City of Brass is free to download right now and will remain so until Thursday, June 6. The game is currently available everywhere–Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox One–for $19.99 USD, but downloading the game through the Epic Games Store will add it to your library for that sweet free price.

City of Brass comes from Uppercut Games, a studio composed of artists, designers, and programmers who had a hand in BioShock and BioShock 2. In the rogue-lite adventure game, you fight your way through Arabia Nights-inspired city streets, uncovering hidden treasures and sacred weapons, battling whatever ghosts and ghouls you may encounter in a bid to survive a little longer. With a scimitar in one hand and a whip in another, it’s effectively Bioshock but in a different setting. “We are drawing inspiration from BioShock in terms of the mechanics,” Uppercut founder Ed Orman told GameSpot. “We’re developing a combinative approach to the game systems, encouraging players to see how the systems interact with each other. In particular, the combo of whip and swordplay into this, allowing the player to manipulate and then hurt enemies.”

In our City of Brass review, we said, “While its repetitive scenery and uneven presentation are noticeable tarnishes on its sheen, the satisfying combat and well-balanced difficulty curve will keep you going back for more.”

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is making a bunch of changes to the Call of Duty formula with its reimagining of Infinity Ward’s 2007 classic. The studio is going for “continuity and consistency” across all Modern Warfare’s game modes, meaning guns will feel the same in multiplayer as in single-player, and character progression will carry over between those modes. Beyond that, there are some exciting changes coming that should be good news for all fans who pick up the game when it releases on October 25–specifically, those who don’t want to pay for new maps but do want to play with those on different platforms.

Infinity Ward shared the welcome news in a press release that dropped alongside its first Modern Warfare trailer, which you can see below. Cross-play will be available across PC, PS4, and Xbox One, letting players on any platform jump into a match with those on another system.

It also noted that Modern Warfare will not have the traditional “season pass,” which in the past players were required to buy in order to receive new maps over the course of the year after a Call of Duty game’s release. Instead, all post-release maps for Modern Warfare will be free to all players, mimicking a shift we’ve seen many competing games make.

Both features should go a long way to helping keep the Call of Duty player base together, without limiting them to only playing with people on the same platform and who own the same maps that they do. In general, there should be a whole lot more people to play against. It may also make the Call of Duty esports scene a little more welcoming, as players will be able to compete on their preferred platforms.

The studio showed off Modern Warfare to journalists in the week before announcing the game, giving a sense of the single-player campaign and the technology that’s going into the game. Along with reimagining the story, Infinity Ward said it’s working to make Modern Warfare “more relevant” to the current world, and drew inspiration for the game’s story from real-world conflicts and documentaries about them, as well as recent Hollywood movies.

The next Call of Duty game has been revealed. As you may have guessed from the numerous leaks and rumors, it’s titled Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Additionally, publisher Activision has revealed the game’s release date of October 25 (for PS4, Xbox One, and PC) and some exciting details regarding both cross-play and the typical season pass offered with CoD games.

Modern Warfare is a reboot of the 2007 game–not a remake, but a reimagining, developer Infinity Ward says. The new game is not set in the same universe as the existing trilogy–Infinity Ward says that world had left little room to raise the stakes further–but it does feature some familiar faces. Captain Price is back, for example, but with what appears to be a new voice actor.

As was previously confirmed, this year’s Call of Duty will include a single-player campaign. It seems as though the story will concern Russian interactions with the Middle East, while enemies will include an ultranationalist group helping to execute terrorist attacks in major cities such as London.

Modern Warfare will of course include a multiplayer mode, but Infinity Ward hasn’t yet revealed much more detail on that portion of the game. It did say, however, that your progression in the campaign will carry over to multiplayer, meaning you’ll always be working towards unlocking new killstreaks, perks, and weapons. And as noted above, the game will feature cross-play across all platforms. Additionally, Activision will not be selling the standard season pass that locks off new, post-launch multiplayer maps.

The original game launched for PS3, Xbox 360, and PC back in 2007, and went on to be one of the most influential games of the 21st century. It was later remastered in 2016, though that is entirely separate to this upcoming reboot.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare launches for PS4, Xbox One, and PC on October 25. For much more on the game, check out our extensive interview with Infinity Ward or our rundown of everything we know about the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare reboot.