Month: June 2020

Long-criticized Disney park log ride Splash Mountain is finally due for a makeover. The company announced today that the park’s Imagineers–which is Disneyland for “engineers”–are redesigning the ride at both Disneyland and Disney World with a new theme inspired by Disney’s only Black princess, Tiana from their 2009 animated musical The Princess and the Frog.

Over the years, Splash Mountain repeatedly drew side-eye for being built around and incorporating cartoon characters from Disney’s 1946 live-action animated musical Song of the South, which portrays the happy and fanciful lives of people on a Southern plantation. Song of the South is so reviled that it’s never actually seen a home release in the US, and was intentionally left out of the Disney+ streaming catalog.

In early June, a Change.org petition went up, requesting that the ride be reframed. “It could be easily changed to tell the story of Tiana while not compromising too much of the ride/costing a fortune in remodeling for Disney,” the petition argued. But Bob Weis, president of Walt Disney Imagineering, said in an interview with D23, the official Disney fan club, that the Imagineers have been working on a Splash Mountain redesign for a year or more. “While we’ve explored many new themes in the past, […] we really began to hone in on Princess Tiana’s story,” he said.

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Alas, poor Charles Entertainment Cheese. Better known to his friends (as well as beleaguered parents and disaffected teens who have to go somewhere to play House of the Dead and Dance Dance Revolution now that regular arcades are so hard to come by) as Chuck E. Cheese, the animatronic, pizza-slinging rat and his crew of similarly horrifying buddies have found themselves in a bit of financial hot water thanks to the COVID-19 quarantine. After 43 years of business, the arcade-restaurant where “kids can be kids” has filed for bankruptcy according to The Boston Globe.

This doesn’t necessarily mean every one of Charles’s 734 restaurants around the globe will be shutting down for good. CEO David McKillips has stated that “The Chapter 11 process will allow us to strengthen our financial structure as we recover from what has undoubtedly been the most challenging event in our company’s history.”

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It’s that time once again: the Steam Summer Sale 2020 is now live. PC gamers can save heaps of cash on a vast swath of games from pretty much every genre under the sun. You’ll find discounts on major franchises like Final Fantasy and Resident Evil, as well as on indie gems like Disco Elysium and Hollow Knight. And on top of the sale prices, when you spend $30 or more, you’ll save $5 at checkout.

If you’re looking to catch a deal on a PC game, you’ll want to see what’s gotten the discount treatment this year. You can check out the full sale here, or read on for a selection the highlights. Let’s dig in.

Steam Summer Sale Highlights

App users: Don’t see the deals below? Click here.

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You’ll find all of these, plus a bunch more discounts at the full sale page. Happy deal hunting.

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Chris Reed is IGN’s shopping and commerce editor. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.

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Microsoft has announced the Xbox Games with Gold lineup for July, featuring the latest WRC racing sim, Saints Row 2, and more.

As always, next month’s lineup includes four games, all of which are free to Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers. Check out the full lineup below:

• WRC 8 (July 1–31 on Xbox One)
• Dunk Lords (July 16–August 15 on Xbox One)
• Saints Row 2 (July 1–15 on Xbox One and Xbox 360)
• Juju (July 16–31 on Xbox One and Xbox 360)

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Released last September, WRC 8 is the latest World Rally Championship racing sim. IGN’s WRC 8 review awarded the racer an 8.4 and called it the series’ “biggest leap in quality to date.”

July’s lineup of free games also features the 2008 Saints Row sequel. In our Saints Row 2 review, we called the beloved sandbox game “big dumb fun.”

Rounding out the month are Dunk Lords, a two-on-two basketball beat ’em up, and Juju, a family friendly platformer.

Three of June’s Games with Gold — Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse, Coffee Talk, and Sine Mora — are still available for free.

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Jordan is a freelance writer for IGN.

Amid growing concerns of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and a recent surge in cases in Texas, entertainment conglomerate Rooster Teeth has canceled the in-person RTX Austin 2020 event that was scheduled to take place in September.

“Despite all our wishes and best efforts to bring us together in person this year, due to citywide restrictions on large scale events, RTX Austin 2020 has officially been canceled,” Rooster Teeth said. “We wish nothing more than to be able to see all of you in person as soon as it’s safe to do so.”

Though RTX Austin 2020 has been canceled, Rooster said it will host a virtual event instead. Details about this RTX replacement have yet to be revealed, but it’s planned to take place later this year.

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This week on Wrestle Buddies, GameSpot’s professional wrestling podcast, Chris E. Hayner and Mat Elfring have a very serious discussion. Of course, when it comes to this show, very serious discussions are usually pretty silly. We also cover a few different topics, and check in on our favorite Attitude Era WWE superstar.

First up, a very serious debate erupts between Mat and Chris as they decide who the real GOAT–greatest of all time–is in professional wrestling. Neither of them have actually prepared their arguments or even chosen who they will champion, but surely this should be taken as the final word in the matter.

Next, it’s nostalgia machine time as we head back to the latter days of WCW and its attempt to cash in on pop culture. Did you know Chucky, the murdering doll from the Child’s Play movies, once appeared on WCW programming? He did, and it was truly awful. You’ll learn all about it in this episode, including how he promised Scott Steiner a leading role in a movie and never followed through.

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This July, NBC Universal’s streaming service Peacock will have a nationwide launch–as the service has already been available to some for over a month. Now, Peacock has released trailers for all its Day One original content to check out.

There is a wide-variety of original programming, from movies to series to reality all ranging from comedy to drama to kids and more. The most high-profile of the originals is none other than Brave New World, based on the Aldous Huxley novel of the same name, which follows characters in a utopian society who find a rebellion brewing outside of the city of New London. The new series is executive produced by David Wiener (Homecoming) and Grant Morrison (DC Comics legendary writer). Director Owen Harris, who has worked on Netflix’s Black Mirror, will direct the first two episodes.

The USA show Psych is getting a second feature film on opening day for Peacock. The original series followed two friends who work for the police, solving crimes, because one of them claims to be a psychic–he isn’t. Now, the buds are back and trying to help their friend Lassie–no, not the dog–who is seeing ghosts.

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Parent company WarnerMedia Entertainment has announced an extension to some of HBO Max‘s popular DC films, which will now stay on the streaming platform until December 2020.

The list includes recent films such as Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League, Suicide Squad, and Wonder Woman. It also features classics like the 1980’s Superman franchise, consisting of Superman: The Movie, Superman 2, 3, and 4: The Quest for Peace. Two other films–Superman: Unbound and Watchmen–are being added to HBO Max on July 1 and will remain on the platform until December.

Full List of DC Films Staying On HBO Max

• Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, 2016
• Justice League, 2017
• Suicide Squad, 2016
• Superman: The Movie, 1978
• Superman II, 1980
• Superman III, 1983
• Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, 1987
• Superman: Unbound, 2013
• Watchmen (Movie), 2009
• Wonder Woman, 2017

Many of these films–particularly Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League, and others–were scheduled to leave HBO Max in July, not long after the streaming service launched. They will now sit alongside other DC films like Green Lantern, Joker, and Shazam for at least a little while longer.

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Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 is bringing back all the skaters you know and love from the original two games alongside the games’ 19 courses, but it’s more than a simple remaster. Several additional skaters are coming, including younger talent like Australian street skater Shane O’Neill. Speaking to GameSpot for Play For All, O’Neill shared the impact the early games had on his career.

When the original Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater launched for the PlayStation, Shane O’Neill was only nine years old. That’s very early to start shredding a bowl, but it’s perfect for playing a game and grasping the basics of skating.

He used the early games to learn about tricks, and despite the series also going for a “skateboarding superhero” style over a more grounded experience, he said most of the tricks are more common now than in 1999. Tony Hawk’s famous 900 has been replicated by numerous skaters since he first landed it in 1999. In fact, just last month the 11-year-old skater Gui Khury landed a 1080 on a vert ramp.

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With July right around the corner, we’ll be hearing about the new lineups of free games for PlayStation Plus and Games with Gold subscribers any day now. In the meantime, Twitch Prime has revealed its next batch of freebies that will be available to claim in July. Twitch Prime comes with any Amazon Prime subscription, so if you’re paying for fast and free shipping from Amazon, you should also be snagging free PC games every month.

Five games will be free to claim starting July 1: Turok 2: Seeds of Evil, Dear Esther, Grip: Combat Racing, Kunai, and Dark Devotion. To claim them, you simply need to link your Twitch account to your Amazon Prime account.

Turok 2: Seeds of Evil is a classic first-person shooter that originally released on Nintendo 64 in 1998. While it’s certainly dated now, Turok 2 was a beloved FPS of the era, so you may be interested in checking out a relic from the past.

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