Month: April 2020

Xbox boss Phil Spencer has commented extensively for the first time on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the planned launch of Xbox Series X later this year and more. Speaking to IGN, Spencer said he wants people to know that first and foremost, the safety and security of its teams is what is most important to him during this time of crisis.

“The thing I’m going to put front and center is the safety and security of the team,” Spencer said. “There is no decision that I will make, or frankly anybody at Microsoft would even ask me to make, that would compromise the safety and security of the teams for a near-term financial or product gain. The teams are the most important thing.”

Pragmatically, Spencer said he has observed that the supply chains in China have “started to come back,” which would enable the parts to be assembled for Xbox Series X for launch this holiday.

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Final Fantasy VII Remake is nearly upon us, and the latest installment of the Inside Final Fantasy VII Remake video series is here to prime us for the game’s battles. While episode 1 was a general introduction and episode 2 focused on story, the third episode of this documentary series, embedded below, dives deep into the new combat system for the remake.

The reworked combat system came about because action is “the mainstream style right now,” according to director and concept designer Tetsuya Nomura. However, the numbers and stats that fly off enemies during combat were maintained because “they make Final Fantasy what it is.”

The battle system has been designed with the thought that this is how it would work if it was designed for the first time today, but the developers report that it was difficult to decide just how action-focused it would be, and whether things like reflexes would be important. Classic Mode, which automates a lot of the fighting and lets players focus on making choices through menus, was included because a lot of fans online were worried about not being able to play because they are not good at more action-heavy games.

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The plastic water bottle strikes again. After a water bottle (and a coffee cup) snuck into episodes of Game of Thrones in 2019, a plastic water bottle has now been discovered in the background of a scene from Greta Gerwig’s Oscar-winning drama Little Women.

Little Women super-fan Madelyn Rancourt posted a video on TikTok where she reveals that one scene in the movie clearly shows a hydroflask and a plastic water bottle in the background where it does not belong. You can very clearly see the items behind Timothee Chalamet.

Variety points out that some people have theorized that Gerwig kept the bottles in the movie as a callback to director Sofia Coppola, who famously and intentionally included a pair of Converse shoes in her period movie, Marie Antoinette. Gerwig has yet to comment.

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In a recent interview with video game magazine Game Informer, Apex Legends general manager Dusty Welch and game director Chad Grenier touched on which Legends are played the most and how characters evolve over time.

Like most games with a hero or character pool, players drifted towards different Legends more in each season, but Wraith and Pathfinder were consistently high picks across the board. In the interview, Welch and Grenier spoke about which Legends were the most popular.

“Caustic has been from a pro player or tournament standpoint. He’s been an interesting player favorite, especially when they get into the final areas,” said Welch.

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UPDATE 4/1/20 7:55pm PT – George Takei announced on Twitter that his announcement was actually an “April Fools prank, a bit of levity in an otherwise dark time.”

Original story follows.

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George Takei, best known for playing Hikaru Sulu in the original series of Star Trek, will be the final torchbearer for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

Takei revealed the news on a Facebook post, explaining due to the current global situation he’s had to keep it under wraps until now.

“I am honored beyond belief to have been selected to be the final torchbearer who will light the Olympic Flame in Tokyo in 2021!” the post reads.

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“This will be such a unique moment, before the eyes of a billion people, lighting the torch as a symbol of hope for the future in 2021 in Tokyo. As a life-long runner, I’m especially grateful to have been chosen, and hope to do everyone in the US of A proud!”

He included a picture with his post which featured him holding the Olympic torch amongst various memorabilia from his career, which included his Starfleet uniform from the show.

Takei’s not just a Star Trek superstar and avid runner: recently we awarded his graphic novel They Called Us Enemy the best original graphic novel of 2019. He’s also working on the AMC horror show The Terror, which made it into our best 20 horror shows of the last 10 years.

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Last month the 2021 Tokyo Olympics made history by being the first Olympic Games to be officially postponed. They’re now set to be held during 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

[poilib element=”accentDivider”]Hope Corrigan is an Australian freelance writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

Scalebound, which was poised to be a major Xbox console exclusive from Platinum Games, was sadly cancelled back in 2017. Rumors persist to this day that the game will eventually be re-revealed, but Xbox boss Phil Spencer has said that it is not happening, and that he regrets how things played out with the title.

In an interview for IGN’s Unlocked podcast, when asked about the huge passion fans still have for Scalebound, Spencer clarifies that the game is not coming, and seems sad about the situation around its announcement and cancellation. “Yeah, it’s a tough one,” he says. “Because I have a ton of respect for Platnium, (director Hideki Kamiya), the team…and I have feel no ill-will. And we talk to those guys, there’s no animosity between the teams.”

Spencer says that he wishes he had held back on the game’s reveal. “We tried to go do something, and it didn’t work,” he says. “And I regret that we were as public about what we tried to go do.” He cites the also-cancelled Fable Legends as another example of a time when a game was shown off too early, and says that he learned a lot from both projects. “I did some learning around Fable Legends, I did some learning around Scalebound, about being public about things before I kind of know that we’ve got a real believable plan in something I’ve felt in my hands.,” he says.

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Jake walks us through three methods to make your millions in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Gaming giant Activision has emerged victorious in a lawsuit brought against it by the makers of Humvee vehicles who claimed the publisher was infringing on their trademark.

A New York judge has dismissed the lawsuit from General Motors, bringing an end to this case. The lawsuit dates back to 2017 when GM sued Activision for trademark infringement, unfair competition, and false advertising, among other things. Activision responded (via The Verge) by saying it had the protection of the First Amendment to use the image of real-world military equipment in its franchise.

Activision’s lawyers said GM was acting in bad faith by trying to use a trademark to control the creative use of a US military vehicle paid for by American taxpayers and used in every war and conflict for decades.

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