Month: June 2020

Dan McCulloch, a 15-year Microsoft veteran who most recently worked at Xbox as the leader of Xbox Live, has left the company. McCulloch announced the news on Twitter, saying he “truly had a blast” during his run at Xbox.

He didn’t reveal what’s next, but McCulloch said he’s “extremely excited” about the next chapter of career and he looks forward to sharing details “very soon.” He might be staying in gaming, as he told his followers, “You will all be pumped” about what he’s doing next.

According to his LinkedIn page, McCulloch started at Microsoft in 2005 as a program manager on non-gaming projects. He moved to the Xbox team in 2007 when he became lead producer on Forza Motorsport 3 and 4.

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Descenders joined Xbox Game Pass in May 2019, and since then, according to Mike Rose (head of publisher No More Robots), the indie cycling game has seen greatly increased sales on Xbox. Although conventional wisdom would suggest that a game that was available at no additional cost on a popular subscription service might see lower direct sales, Rose says that, in fact, the opposite has been true.

Rose took to Twitter to explain why Xbox Game Pass has been so good for the game, saying that it has “elevated the game to heights we couldn’t have imagined.” Descenders, which is available in both the Xbox and PC catalogs of the subscription service, is currently the eighth most popular game on the service.

Rose said that a new deal has recently been struck to keep the game on Game Pass for “a looong time to come,” as since joining the service it is selling “around five times as many units each week” as it did previously.

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The first-ever PGA Tour 2K game launches in August, and among its new features is a beefed up broadcast package that includes Luke Elvy and Rich Beem calling the action.

Elvy has the most experience in the broadcast booth, as he has been featured over the years on Fox Sports and GameSpot sister company CBS Sports. Beem is a former player who has won three times on the PGA Tour, including a Major championship at the 2002 PGA Championship. He is also a commentator for Sky Sports.

A new trailer for PGA Tour 2K21 featuring Elvy and Beem as been released. They speak about bringing their unique expert insights to the game, and it seems the commentary in PGA Tour 2K21 won’t be very traditional. Elvy and Beem say some of their outtakes and bloopers from recording sessions will actually make it into the game, and this includes Beem describing an eagle as a “Super Chicken.”

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Dreamcast classic Jet Set Radio and its Xbox sequel Jet Set Radio Future are beloved for their style and unique gameplay, but to this day there’s never been a third game in the series. The original game (initially called Jet Grind Radio in the US) released 20 years ago, and in a retrospective published by USGamer, the team behind the game has reflected on its legacy–and why there hasn’t been a follow-up.

Lead designer Kazuki Hosokawa, who still works at Sega, reflects on how the original Jet Set Radio was created by a young team, recalling how “non-photorealistic expressions began to garner more attention” at the time, which his team was able to leverage.

With this in mind, Hosokawa says that a new Jet Set Radio would need to come from a young, new team as well. He says that “more than 10 years ago,” the game’s producer told the team that they were “too old and experienced” to make a new game in the series, and he agrees. “I’ve gained enough experience that I can identify what works and how to present things… I can see the path to the end goal, whether I like it or not,” he says.

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Nintendo fans are always eagerly anticipating the next Nintendo Direct, but the YouTube account of the Japanese company delivered something offbeat today: a minute-long video challenging fans to “guess the game.” The games are introduced with blurry footage that slowly resolves to reveal a first-party Nintendo game.

Needless to say, some fans have expressed their confusion over this video, with many of the YouTube comments speculating that new content might be revealed soon for one or more of these games. The games listed were (spoiler warning) The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8, and Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

As most Nintendo fans know, a sequel to Breath of the Wild was first teased in June 2019 at that year’s E3. Since that reveal trailer, we haven’t heard anything about it, which would seem to suggest a 2021 release at the earliest. We also haven’t heard anything about a hypothetical Mario Kart 9 or a sequel to Three Houses, though the latter did get new DLC this February. The latest Nintendo Direct introduced the newest fighter for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the Arms character Min Min.

Crysis Remastered was officially revealed with a teaser a few weeks ago, but this week we’ll finally get to see exactly what the nearly 13-year-old game will look like with some improved graphical features.

The gameplay debut for Crysis Remastered is set for July 1 and will go live at 12 PM ET / 9 AM PT / 6 PM CEST. Although no details about what will be shown have been shared, Crytek did reveal in its initial announcement that the remaster will introduce a “hardware and API-agnostic ray tracing solution,” which will allow the graphical enhancement to run on current-generation consoles.

Crysis Remastered is expected to just include the first game, which was originally developed by Crytek in 2007. It was set on an island that featured wide combat areas, letting you experiment with how you used a variety of suit powers to dispatch enemies. Both Crysis 2 and Crysis 3 converted this formula into a more traditional linear shooter, while also streamlining some of your suit powers, making some fans yearn for the return of the original.

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Animal Crossing: New Horizons has taken the world by storm since its March release on the Nintendo Switch, with everyone from celebrities and NFL teams playing and interacting with fans through Nintendo’s latest game. New Horizons certainly is popular, and with its free summer update coming July 3, there’s no better time to jump in. Thankfully, Ebay has it for a great price; you can currently snag Animal Crossing: New Horizons for $51.49. It also comes with free shipping and can arrive as early as July 6 depending on your location.

GameSpot’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons review scored it a 9/10, praising the new Nook Miles system, character customization, and expressive villages. However, reviews editor Kallie Plagge was disappointed by the slow progression, which can be frustrating at times.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

$51.49 ($60)

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Twitch has suspended President Donald Trump’s official Twitch channel citing a violation of Twitch’s community guidelines against hateful conduct. A suspension is not the same as a ban, but it’s unclear when President Trump’s Twitch channel will be reinstated.

In a statement provided to IGN, a Twitch spokesperson said, “Hateful conduct is not allowed on Twitch. In line with our policies, President Trump’s channel has been issued a temporary suspension from Twitch for comments made on stream, and the offending content has been removed.”

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Twitch defines Hateful Conduct on its platform as any “content or activity that promotes, encourages, or facilitates discrimination, denigration, objectification, harassment, or violence based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability or serious medical condition or veteran status, and is prohibited. Any hateful conduct is considered a zero-tolerance violation.”

Trump’s Twitch channel rebroadcasted multiple rallies that Twitch cited as violations of this rule. One was a recent rebroadcast from his 2016 campaign rally where he said:

“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people. But I speak to border guards and they tell us what we’re getting. And it only makes common sense. It only makes common sense. They’re sending us not the right people.”

Twitch cited a second comment made during a Twitch stream from Trump’s Tulsa Rally:

“Hey, it’s 1:00 o’clock in the morning and a very tough, I’ve used the word on occasion, hombre, a very tough hombre is breaking into the window of a young woman whose husband is away as a traveling salesman or whatever he may do. And you call 911 and they say, “I’m sorry, this number’s no longer working.” By the way, you have many cases like that, many, many, many. Whether it’s a young woman, an old woman, a young man or an old man and you’re sleeping.”

Twitch told the President’s team when the channel was started last year that, “Like anyone else, politicians on Twitch must adhere to our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines. We do not make exceptions for political or newsworthy content, and will take action on content reported to us that violates our rules.”

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Several other politicians have Twitch channels, including Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Trump’s suspension from Twitch comes on the same day Reddit banned subreddits deemed as propagating hateful content, including the r/The_Donald subreddit which is not officially associated with the President.

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Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN.

Blogroll photo by Gage Skidmore via Flickr. Some rights reserved.