Month: February 2020

As much as I love to play MMOs, most of them have really boring combat. Even the ones that market themselves as more “action-packed” usually just trade tab targeting for empty sizzle and often tedious repetition which doesn’t really solve the problem. But Phantasy Star Online 2 is different.

After spending a chunk with the PSO2 North American Closed Beta, I’d honestly put its combat system right up there with the likes of Monster Hunter, God Eater, and maybe even Devil May Cry. It’s just that intense and fun.

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Over the course of last weekend, I put over a dozen hours into PSO2, mostly as a Human Braver switching between using a katana and bullet bow. The versatility of a powerful melee weapon with massive combos and a long-range precision-based weapon meant I could be effective in any situation. Near the end of the beta, I eventually dabbled with a Newman Summoner as well but didn’t get to spend as much time with that one.

[poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=I%E2%80%99d%20put%20its%20combat%20up%20there%20with%20Monster%20Hunter%2C%20God%20Eater%2C%20and%20maybe%20even%20Devil%20May%20Cry.”]As far as Closed Beta tests go, Phantasy Star Online 2’s westward expansion went far better than most. The first seven or so hours I tried logging on were a complete non-starter as servers buckled under the pressure of huge swaths of players slamming the game within seconds. But after several hours of downtime, they were up and running well through the rest of the test, including an extra day of up-time. Honestly, it felt more like an Early Access headstart than a closed beta. Nothing was restricted in terms of content and no progress will be wiped before launch or Open Beta either, allowing us to just play through the first several hours of the actual game.

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If you’re unfamiliar with PSO as a franchise – you can get caught up by learning everything newcomers need to know about Phantasy Star Online 2 – but at a base level, it’s a lot like Monster Hunter. The big difference being that it’s less about targeted and specific hunts and more about completing quests and raid-style missions. If you could make Monster Hunter a more traditional MMO with a heavy dose of sci-fi, then you’d have something pretty close to PSO2. There’s a similarly-designed lobby area where you can run into all kinds of other players, as well as instanced missions, but – similar to Destiny’s Exploration mode – you can also come across other players out in the field even if they’re not in your party.

So it’s not really a big open, connected world to explore. Instead, you queue up quests from the central hub that then send you to a transport ship where you can tweak your loadout, recruit NPCs if you want, and get ready before going through a portal down to the planet. Like Monster Hunter, zones each have their own types of enemies, loot, and environmental designs to make them feel distinct.

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Combat in PSO2, meanwhile, is flashy and intense. As a Braver, I can dash in for a quick combo, counter enemy attacks to block and return damage, enter a hyper-powered state for increased speed and effectiveness, and even juggle enemies in the air with my katana. The bow is my ranged-option packed full of huge attacks that eviscerate single-targets alongside plenty of other options that hit a large area for massive AoE damage. And while special attacks and techniques use up your PP energy gauge, basic attacks rapidly refill it so you’re never going more than a few seconds without doing something cool.

[poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=The%20highlight%20of%20the%20Closed%20Beta%20was%20undoubtedly%20the%20Urgent%20Quests.”]Exploring zones and doing quests was fun enough, but the highlight of the Closed Beta was undoubtedly the Urgent Quests. At specific real-world times, everyone that’s online gets a server-wide alert message that there’s an emergency situation. You go up to the quest counter and queue up for the Urgent Quest, which takes place over the course of a half-hour interval. Once you’re sent to the mission you’ll join up with up to 11 other players for a big 12-player raid-style mission where boss fights are intense, albeit not very difficult. But from what Japan server veterans have told me that changes dramatically once you get deeper into the game – these Urgent events were very much designed as introductory experiences.

The overall format and structure of PSO2 isn’t groundbreaking, but the execution and polish in terms of gameplay is unrivaled. Sega has done a fantastic job of distilling and capturing the iconic flare that goes with anime-style games like this and managed to repackage it into a persistent online multiplayer RPG that defies expectations. After eight years I expected PSO2 to feel archaic by gaming standards, but other than some jagged edges on textures, some performance hiccups associated with the beta, and admittedly dated visuals, I’m hard-pressed to find issues worth complaining about.

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Obviously I only played the first dozen or so hours, the key moments of any game that constantly throw new mechanics at you to keep things fresh, so I have no idea if it will start to get tedious soon or not. But my gut tells me that between the nine different classes and fighting styles there is plenty of variety to warrant playing for a long time to come – especially considering it’s a free-to-play MMO. Finally, There’s no indication of what the cash shop will be like in the North American version, but hopefully it will lean toward convenience items and cosmetics rather than pay-to-win elements.

What I played was still a Closed Beta, is unfinished, and had its share of translation errors, but I’ve been assured the team is aware of all that and is actively working on getting it in top-shape for release this Spring on Xbox One and eventually on PC after that – including cross-play – though there’s no official word on other platforms for the North American version yet.

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David Jagneaux is a freelance writer for IGN. Talk RPGs with him on Twitter at @David_Jagneaux.

Disney is moving forward with a sequel to Aladdin, the reboot that made more than $1 billion at the box office in 2019. According to Variety, the producers spent six months try to find a direction of the sequel, and now the movie is in the early stages of development.

Disney is reportedly replacing the 2019 movie’s writers, John August and Guy Ritchie, and bringing in new writers John Gatins (Flight) and Andrea Berloff (Straight Outta Compton) for the sequel, according to the report. The original movie’s producers, Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich, are reportedly set to return.

The report goes on to say that it’s unclear if director Guy Ritchie will return as well. The film studio also hopes to bring back Will Smith, Mena Massoud, and Naomi Scott, but the report says they won’t receive official offers until the script is finished.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

On last week’s call with investors, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon re-emphasized his commitment to maintaining WWE’s PG rating. When asked if AEW would encourage WWE’s creative team to create edgier, more explicit content, McMahon said the following:

“AEW has not changed [WWE’s] content at all because it’s all about our characters, the storylines, and resolutions. We don’t need more edgy content, as you call it. We’re one of the few programs out there that really is PG.”

Shayna Baszler bit Becky Lynch on the neck and then posed with blood dripping out of her mouth on the February 10 episode of Raw. WWE is in the business of working a paying audience; it takes nerve and gall to work the stockholders.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

The so-called “Nintendo Play Station” console, which was a fable system and the subject of video game lore, is now available to buy on an auction site. The website Heritage Auctions has listed the Nintendo PlayStation console, and this is said to be the first time one of the units has been available at a public auction. Only 200 of these were ever made, and some or all of the other units were reportedly destroyed, but not this one.

The folks at Heritage Auctions say the console operates normally, and they played a few rounds of Mortal Kombat on it as a test. It’s now up for auction, and the current highest bid is 13,000. You can bid in increments of $500, and also bear in mind there is a 20 percent “buyer’s premium” attached, so $13,500 becomes $15,600, and so on.

“By far, this is arguably one of the most notorious, mysterious, and controversial artifacts of the video game industry,” reads the auction description. “This prototype has been around the world and back again, admired and appreciated by video game enthusiasts from all over. Even though this is the closing of this portion of its narrative, it will continue to remain a pivotal piece of video game history no matter where it ends up.”

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Infinity Ward packed a lot into the new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Season 2 update, and this includes a new dismemberment animation that is incredibly brutal and disgusting.

You can see in the video below that players killed by killstreaks can now have their heads blown clear off. Have a look at the video below to see this in action, but fair warning: it’s gross.

If you don’t want to see this new animation, or the game’s other gory ones, you can toggle off dismemberment and gore effects from the Options menu. Bear in mind, however, that dismemberment only happens in the campaign mode, but gore effects are in all modes.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

A Mighty Ducks TV series is reportedly coming to Disney+ and it sounds like the Ducks will be portrayed as the antagonists of the show.

The Hollywood Reporter says the show will consist of 10 half-hour episodes and will be set in present day Minnesota. It’s not clear if this will be a miniseries or if it will potentially go on for future seasons. The story follows 12-year-old Evan (Brady Noon), who was recently cut from the now highly competitive Ducks. Evan and his mom (Lauren Graham) decide to start their own team of underdogs to take them on.

The Mighty Ducks series was first rumored in January 2018. The show will reportedly begin production in Canada this month for a release on Disney+ later this year. The writer of the three Ducks films, Steve Brill, co-created and will executive produce the series. Cathy Yuspa and Josh Goldsmith, who both served as showrunners for The King of Queens, co-created the Mighty Ducks series and will serve as showrunners. Black-ish director James Griffiths will direct for the series.

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Noon is best known as one of the leads of Good Boys while Graham was a star on Gilmore Girls and Parenthood. Graham will also be credited as an executive producer on the Mighty Ducks series.

The three Mighty Ducks films were never blockbusters at the box office, but they’ve certainly had a lasting appeal. The first Mighty Ducks movie was more popular in video rentals in 1993 than it was at the box office in 1992, according to Esquire. Popularity grew when Disney founded the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim NHL team shortly after the film’s release, which Esquire reports had the most first-year wins for any NHL team in history and was responsible for 80% of all NHL merchandise that season.

A Mighty Ducks animated series aired around the time of the third film’s release, featuring anthropomorphic ducks playing hockey. The show only lasted from September 1996 to January 1997, and the third film made less than half of the first movie at the box office.

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This is far from the only old property that Disney is rehashing for its streaming service. A Turner & Hooch series was announced for Disney+ along with new shows starring Lizzie McGuire and numerous Marvel and Star Wars characters. Disney will also bring out shows based on Night at the Museum, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Cheaper by the Dozen and Home Alone. It was announced today that Rick Moranis is even coming back for a Honey, I Shrunk the Kids movie that may or may not air on Disney+.

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Petey Oneto is a freelance writer for IGN who could really go for a NEW idea coming to Disney+.

No, Sanic isn’t one of them.

There’s nothing quite like Sonic the Hedgehog. Not only is he a beloved pop culture icon and the star of some of the most popular video games of all time, he’s also the central character of a vast, rich mythology populated by all kinds of supporting characters. Some of Sonic’s pals are just as well known as he is: Miles “Tails” Prower, the friendly flying fox; Dr. Robotnik, with his huge mustache and dastardly schemes; Knuckles the Echidna, who was basically a universal cheat code for every Sega Genesis Sonic game with his super-cool flip-top game cartridge.

Chances are those names are pretty familiar to you–and, sure, Knuckles may have already pinged your radar as being a little weird, given the way he could inexplicably glide and scale walls for no discernible reason. But when looking at the larger picture of the Sonic Universe, it wasn’t that strange, right? After all, Tails could fly, Sonic could rev up. Video game characters sometimes just have weird, specific abilities, right? But it turns out flying foxes and gliding echidnas were just the tip of the strange Sonic character iceberg–and boy howdy, what an iceberg it is.

We sent ourselves on a surrealistic spiral through the far reaches of Sonic’s sprawling, mega-dense lore to find some of the weirdest characters the various branches of the franchise have to offer, from ninja-detective chameleons to regular, normal humans Sonic somehow just gets to pal around with between the various TV shows, games, and comics. Who could have guessed that the fight between a super-fast blue hedgehog and an evil robotics-obsessed scientist could be so complicated?

With any luck, we’ll see at least some of this craziness unleashed upon the big screen as the live-action Sonic The Hedgehog movie speeds towards theaters. Though right now, the only confirmed character (that isn’t just a regular human) is Sonic himself, there’s always the chance for some surprises, right? And, who knows, maybe the live-action Sonic universe will spin-off into its own mega-involved lore sometime down the line? We certainly hope it will.

1. Sonic the Werehog

Okay, this one is kind of a cheat since Sonic isn’t technically a weird Sonic character in and of himself–but still. We can’t make this list without reminding you that there is actually shockingly dense lore about Sonic as a, uh, “werehog.” It should be noted that Sonic is already a hedgehog, so this technically would be like an actual wolf becoming a werewolf–it’s a lot more like the Hulk than, say, Remus Lupin. He just gets burlier and slightly more feral. Why? We’re not really sure, but we love it.

2. Vanilla the Rabbit

For a while, the Sonic franchise got really into food-themed animals, and Vanilla the Rabbit was one of them. She’s not particularly weird on her own–she’s a rabbit wearing a dress, which is pretty typical for the Sonic world (though it does strangely emphasize the fact that a lot of other Sonic characters are actually totally nude). What’s weird about her is the fact that she has a daughter (who is the father and where did he go?) and eventually winds up living with a reprogrammed killer robot which gives us some serious Ash’s Mom and Mr. Mime vibes.

3. Cream the Rabbit

As previously mentioned, Vanilla has a daughter named Cream who comes as an almost package deal with her best friend, a Chao named–you guessed it–Cheese. You know, in case you didn’t pick up on the food-themed name thing yet. Cream is able to fly with her giant rabbit ears, sort of like how Tails can fly with his tails. Cream is definitely not that weird of a character, but we really just can’t get past the mystery of her father. What is the truth, Sonic mythos? Why the food theme? Where did any of this come from?

4. Justin Beaver

We promise we’re not making this one up. In the Sonic Boom TV show, there really was a blue beaver named Justin Beaver who was–no joke–a pop star. Somehow that cleared however many licensing and copyright lawyers and made it to air.

5. Amy Rose

Like Cream, Amy herself isn’t actually that weird–it’s her real-life origin story that really throws us for a loop. Amy was created to be the “Minnie” to Sonic’s “Mickey,” but at the last minute, according to an interview with designers Takashi Iizuka and Kazuyuki Hoshino, it was decided that Sonic must remain a confirmed bachelor–no blissful marriage, or whatever it is that Minnie and Mickey actually have–so instead of becoming Sonic’s girl, Amy became a person with a slightly obsessive but totally unrequited crush. What a soap opera.

6. Manic the Hedgehog

You know how Venom is like the most ’90s extreme version of Spider-Man? That same sort of thing happened for Sonic too with a character named Manic. He’s bright green, his hair/quills stick up almost like a mohawk, he’s the drummer in a punk band–you name it. This guy is the sort of person you’d expect to see slamming some Monster energy drink and talking really enthusiastically about the X Games. He’s also a computer hacker because why not, right?

7. Maria Robotnik

Did you know Dr. Robotnik has a cousin? A very normal, totally human-looking cousin who was–and no, we’re not making this up–killed off to provide the icing on the tragic backstory for Shadow the Hedgehog. Because we didn’t know that until very recently and now we’re never going to be able to forget it.

8. Shadow the Hedgehog

Speaking of Shadow, we can’t make this list without him. Designed–and we quote–with direct influence from movies like “Constantine, Terminator, and Underworld,” Shadow was a genetic experiment gone awry. He’s also immortal, so there’s that.

9. Antoine D’Coolette

Not to be confused with the other weirdly French-influenced character on this list (we’ll get to him in a second), Antoine D’Coolette was a sword-toting fox who was married to a cyborg rabbit. He married young too–he’s, according to the wiki, only 19, and his wife is 18. And what’s even weirder, his wife was actually canonically his second choice. He first proposed to a princess who rejected him. Ouch.

10. Sir Charles the Hedgehog

What if Sonic was an old man (er, sorry, the wiki stipulates he is “middle-aged”) and also a professor? Sir Charles the Hedgehog works closely with a human named Professor Dillon Pickle and really, how are these names even real? One thing is certain: Sir Charles has a totally rad mustache.

11. Tikal the Echidna

Tikal doesn’t seem all that strange until you learn that she’s not just a female echidna the same way that Amy Rose is a female hedgehog–she’s actually a 4,000-year-old ghost.

12. Sam Speed

Sometimes Sonic just likes to hang out with totally normal-looking, fully-formed humans like Sam Speed, a race car driver who looks like he walked out of a completely different show. Weirder still, he’s a member of the “Speed Team,” a special police division that uses high-speed race cars instead of police cruisers. Gotta protect the city fast.

13. Espio the Chameleon

Not only is Espio a totally rad-looking neon pink chameleon, he’s also a top-tier ninja and a hardboiled detective–which, if we’re being honest, kind of feels like a bunch of character traits that were pulled out of a hat at complete random. His wiki article lists his interests and likes as “speed, danger, freedom, independence, and justice.”

14. Princess Sally

Amy Rose isn’t the only female character created to be a sort-of-kind-of love interest for Sonic–there’s also Sally, who was originally designed as a human before her creators realized just how awkward that would be and made her a chipmunk. Notably, she carries around a super-intelligent AI (in the form of a very ’80s-flavored handheld device) named, uh, Nicole. No acronym or anything, just Nicole.

15. Antoine Depardieu

The other French-flavored Antoine on our list is Antoine Depardieu. He doesn’t have any relation to Antoine D’Coolette, as far as we can tell–in fact, it’s not even clear what kind of animal he’s based on. A fox, maybe? Or a rat? Both? He also briefly became lord of a gang called the Nasty Hyenas who turned out to be cannibals trying to eat him. You know, like you do.

16. Princess Elise

We saved the weirdest for last. Princess Elise the Third is a human princess who holds the dubious honor of being the first (and so far, only) human being to actually kiss Sonic’s anthropomorphic lips. It was an interspecies smooch so powerful it actually brought Sonic back from the dead, which we assume is supposed to be very romantic and sweet but instead just feels extremely creepy and weird.

Fortnite is one of the biggest games on the planet, and as a free-to-play game, it makes money from the sale of microtransactions. Unlike other popular free-to-play titles, however, the game does not have loot boxes.

Developer Epic Games stands against loot boxes as a monetization practice. CEO Tim Sweeney said during the D.I.C.E. 2020 Summit in Las Vegas that loot boxes share the same characteristics as gambling, and they have no place in games.

“We have to ask ourselves, as an industry, what we want to be when we grow up?” he said to an audience of some of the biggest names in gaming, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “Do we want to be like Las Vegas, with slot machines … or do we want to be widely respected as creators of products that customers can trust? I think we will see more and more publishers move away from loot boxes.”

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Geoff Keighley has spoken to IGN about his decision to skip E3 2020 and part ways with the E3 Coliseum show he’s produced and hosted in recent years. He points to that show not being able to “deliver to fans” this year, but makes clear he could return in future.

Keighley explained that he made the decision to step away from producing the show following The Game Awards in December. That decision seems to primarily have been made due to what E3 Coliseum could (and couldn’t) deliver this year:

“I’ve been to all 25 E3s so I know the show pretty well”, Keighley wrote. “As I looked at the information that was available to me about this year’s show, and based on my conversations with The ESA, I just didn’t feel like we could do a Coliseum that would really deliver to the fans.”

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Keighley didn’t specify exactly what the show couldn’t deliver, but it’s likely that Sony’s lack of involvement in E3 this year, as well as other developers’ competing events would form a major part of that difficulty.

When asked if companies not taking part in the show were a primary motivation for stepping away, Keighley explained: “The lack of unity was a contributing factor, but there were a lot of things that played into my decision.”

This isn’t necessarily Keighley’s final E3, however. While it’s clear that this year’s show doesn’t work for what he wants, he would consider a return in future: “I’m open to it, sure. This is just a decision related to E3 2020.”

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Keighley spoke on Twitter earlier today about how E3 should become a more digital and globally focused event, moving away from the traditional showfloor experience, which raises questions about his other main conference show, Opening Night Live at Gamescom. However, it seems that show will continue as expected:

“Every show is different. We had a ton of fun producing Opening Night Live at gamescom and have a multi-year deal with them to continue that franchise”, he explained. “That show works really well at gamescom because three aren’t a ton of competing press conferences. I’m not sure the same model would work at E3. You have to find the right programming for each event and audience.”

As for who actually will be at E3 this year, the ESA has released an initial list of attendees today, including Xbox, Nintendo and more.

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Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News, and he is also publicly announcing that he won’t be hosting E3 Coliseum this year, in case you were wondering. Follow him on Twitter.