Month: May 2020

Back in March, John Krasinski (The Office, Jack Ryan, A Quiet Place) started a YouTube series called Some Good News, which sees the actor read news stories sent to him that would put a smile on your face. However, he ended up selling the show to GameSpot parent company ViacomCBS, and he will not be hosting it. But he has good reason.

Krasinski went on the Soulpancake show Hey There, Human to explain to the site’s co-founder Rainn Wilson–who also starred with Krasinski on The Office–as to why he made the decision to sell Some Good News. “It was one of those things where I was only planning on doing eight of them during quarantine because I have these other things that I’m going to be having to do very soon like Jack Ryan and all this other stuff,” Krasinski explained to Wilson in a video chat on Instagram. “But more than that, it was something that writing, directing, and producing and all those things with a couple of my friends was so much I knew it wouldn’t be sustainable with my prior commitments.”

Because Krasinski has plenty of prior engagements, like Jack Ryan, A Quiet Place Part II, and probably other things coming down the road, he had to make a tough decision. “I knew the two options were always gonna be that I leave it off with eight in my office, which I would love to keep doing this show from my office forever. It just wasn’t sustainable, so I’d need a partner coming on. In the first episode, I was thinking, ‘Why isn’t there a news show dedicated entirely to good news?’ and now we have one of the biggest news programs in America, CBS News, saying that they want to make it part of their permanent news cycle, which is insane.

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The question of when exactly PS5 and Xbox Series X will launch continues to persist, although both Sony and Microsoft have announced a target of late 2020. Sony has reiterated that PS5’s release date is set for Holiday 2020, noting that the coronavirus is not expected to impact the launch supply in any significant way.

Speaking with GameSpot sister site CNET, PlayStation boss Jim Ryan confirmed that there has been no interruption to Sony’s plan to launch PS5 worldwide later this year. “We remain absolutely on track,” he said. “We’re going to launch this holiday, we will have a global launch. And we’re greatly looking forward to it. And we very much want the gaming world to look forward to it, too.”

The launch of any major new game system is typically accompanied by sellouts, as demand often far outpaces the available supply. That’s certainly been the case with Sony’s past consoles, as anyone who attempted to get a PS4 on launch day can attest. And it’s expected to again occur whenever PS5 hits, but the console selling out won’t be due to any major impact of the coronavirus.

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Hideo Kojima and his studio, Kojima Productions, are currently in the early stages of planning their next big project after plans for a recent one got cancelled.

Kojima, who was interview by Japanese publication Livedoor (translated by Video Games Chronicle), expressed his frustration at having a major project cancelled. He also explained that the studio’s next game is in its planning stages, and as such he can’t reveal any details about it just yet.

“It’s still in the early planning stages so I can’t say much, but on the down-low I’m actively working on it,” Kojima said. “Recently a major project of mine got cancelled so I’m pretty pissed, but that’s the games industry for you.”

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June is nearly here, and it’s another exciting month for games. Despite the cancellation of E3 2020, the month is sure to be packed with big news and game reveals from various channels within the industry–GameSpot even has its own special festivities booked for the occasion called Play For All. But alongside the numerous announcements that are bound to start coming this month, including a confirmed PS5 reveal event, is a slate of new releases, which includes a handful of engrossing experiences, some revisits to the past, and one of the year’s most hotly anticipated PS4 games.

To give you a look at what’s ahead for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Switch, we’ve rounded up all the biggest games of June 2020 below. For a wider look at the titles still to come this year, be sure to check out our list of game release dates in 2020. Otherwise, be sure to check this article often for the latest during this month, as we’ll be sure to update it with more new release dates that get announced.

Disintegration (PS4, Xbox One, PC) — June 16

Disintegration is an upcoming first-person shooter that incorporates elements of real-time strategy games. directed by the co-creator of Halo, Marcus Lehto, the game is shaping up to have similarly intriguing sci-fi elements, where you play as a group of humans-turned-robotic outlaws striving to reclaim control over society from a militant superpower bent on converting humanity into robots.

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Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition is finally out on Nintendo Switch. The remastered Wii RPG arrives almost three years after the series’ most recent installment, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and if you’ve played that game, you’ll find a nice free gift waiting for you.

If you have save data for Xenoblade Chronicles 2 on your Switch, you’ll receive a special one-time bonus upon booting up Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition–100,000 gold. Note that you’ll only have one chance to claim this bonus, so make sure to select Collect before setting off on your adventure, as you won’t be able to receive the gold after you’ve started the game.

Xenoblade Chronicles has received a number of tweaks and touchups in its move to Switch. Not only have the character models been significantly updated (you can get a better look at the improved models in these screenshots), the game also features an entirely new epilogue story called Future Connected, which follows Shulk and Melia one year after the events of the main game. Xenoblade director Tetsuya Takahashi estimates that Future Connected takes about 10-12 hours to complete if you focus on the story and about 20 hours if you include all of the side content.

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Sony has announced that a PS5 conference will be broadcast on Thursday, June 4 at 1pm Pacific / 4pm Eastern / 9pm UK.

Join us Thursday, June 4 at 1:00pm Pacific time for a look at the future of gaming on PlayStation 5: https://t.co/Yr8fafcOVd #PS5 pic.twitter.com/F0yBbDmOtC

— PlayStation (@PlayStation) May 29, 2020

 Developing…

R.L. Stine’s popular children’s horror book series Goosebumps is coming to consoles in video game form. Cosmic Forces is partnering with Sony Pictures and Scholastic to create Goosebumps: Dead of Night, which will be released this Summer for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

As you can see in the official announcement trailer above, Goosebumps: Dead of Night is a first-person survival horror game, and its premise involves known Goosebumps villain Slappy the Dummy stealing classic pages from the book series, resulting in a horde of monsters setting out to look for you. Expect puzzle solving and the occasional jump-scare, and actor Jack Black, who is no stranger to video games (Brutal Legend), voices RL Stine.

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Cosmic Forces calls Dead of Night a “reimagining” of their mobile VR game, Goosebumps: Night of Scares. This console version adds improved graphics, additional gameplay chapters, new monsters, and expanded Stine House, improved AI, and more. Check out IGN’s reviews of Goosebumps’ “scary-good” 2015 film adaptation, along with the “slapdash” 2018 sequel, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween.

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Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s Executive Editor of Previews. Follow him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan, catch him on Unlocked, and drop-ship him Taylor Ham sandwiches from New Jersey whenever possible.

Sony has announced plans to host an event focused on PlayStation 5 on June 4 at 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET. The PlayStation 5 presentation will run for just over an hour and will showcase new PS5 games for the system and the first real gameplay from Sony’s next-generation console.

Specific details beyond that have not yet been shared, but in speaking with GameSpot sister site CNET, PlayStation boss Jim Ryan reiterated once again that PS5 is still set for a release in 2020.

In a post on the PlayStation Blog, Ryan teased, “The games coming to PS5 represent the best in the industry from innovative studios that span the globe. Studios, both larger and smaller, those newer and those more established, all have been hard at work developing games that will showcase the potential of the hardware.” He also suggested that the June 4 event is only part of a “series of PS5 updates,” although it’s unclear if future updates will also come in the form of streams such as this. “[R]est assured, after next week’s showcase, we will still have much to share with you,” he said.

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Turns out a lot of you are VERY passionate about The Snyder Cut. Joe, Dale and Matt read out a bunch of your feedback and carry on the debate. Normal service then resumes with Matt sharing his thoughts on the new People Can Fly game, Outriders, and Joe and Dale explain their disappointment with Maneater.

We’re also back with the Endless Search, MORE of your near death stories and mad food combos.

Remember, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, please do: ign_ukfeedback@ign.com

IGN UK Podcast #541: Your Snyder Cut Feedback

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• IGN UK Podcast #538: Donkey Kong Schlong
• IGN UK Podcast #537: Swimming With Dennis Rodman
• IGN UK Podcast #536: Slamming Dunks and Singing Songs

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Arkane has revealed that the original story of the Dishonored series is “complete”, but the franchise has not been put on hold, as per previous reports.

In an interview with IGN Middle East, Arkane Studio’s Co-Creative Director Dinga Bakaba set the record straight about a previous quote from Arkane’s Ricardo Bare, who said in 2018 that Dishonored was “resting for now.” This led fans to believe that the future of the series was uncertain, with outlets reporting that the series had been put on hold.

”It’s weird because for us as a studio, we never did a sequel to a game we made before,” Bakaba told IGN Middle East. “It was interesting to make and everything, but the rumors of putting the IP on hold was highly exaggerated and was misquoted”

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Bakaba believes that Bare’s quote was ”over-interpreted.” “I don’t think there was a decision to put [the] Dishonored series on hold,“ he explained. While Arkane has wrapped up the storyline concerning Emily Kaldwin and Corvo Attano and believes the narrative to be complete, this doesn’t mean that there can’t be any more games in the Dishonored universe in the future. “It’s something where we had a story to tell about the Kaldwins and the Outsider, and that story is over,” he said

“So, whatever happens, that Dishonored is complete. This is the best, and most honest answer we can give but, in any case, I don’t think we will be revisiting that [the Kaldwin storyline]. Bakaba goes on to explain that the decision not to revisit “that part” of the Dishonored world was a creative choice and speaks to Arkane’s intentions as a studio.

Bakaba goes on to explain that Arkane is “not a studio of one game, and I don’t think we ever will be.” In the years since Dishonored, we’ve seen Arkane turn to new projects like Prey, and supporting Machinegames in making Wolfenstein: Youngblood.

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It’s unclear what’s next for Arkane as far as Dishonored is concerned, but this leaves the door open should they wish to return to the game’s atmospheric world in some respect. We also have Deathloop to look forward to, an action-adventure game directed by Bakaba himself. The game is yet to receive a release date, but we’ll be sure to update you if we hear anything more about it.

In other Arkane news, footage of their cancelled Half-Life project ‘Ravenholm’ was recently revealed thanks to a Noclip documentary. 

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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN absolutely desperate for another immersive sim from the masters at Arkane. Follow him on Twitter.