Month: July 2020

Publisher Sega has officially announced that the online action-RPG Phantasy Star Online 2 will make its way to Steam on August 5. You can download the game for free from the digital distributor.

Alongside launching on Steam, Sega confirmed that the first big content update for Phantasy Star Online 2 will arrive on the same day. The free update, titled Episode 4, will roll out on August 5 for Windows 10 PC and Xbox One. It brings with it a host of additional content, including a new planet, more enemies, an increased level cap, and more. In the meantime, you can check out PSO2’s Steam system requirements below:

Phantasy Star Online 2 Steam System Requirements

• Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
• OS: Windows 10 64bit
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 and above
• Memory: 2 GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 7800GT AMD Radeon HD2900XT (or a Graphics Card of the same caliber and above)
• DirectX: Version 9.0
• Network: Broadband Internet connection
• Storage: 80 GB available space
• Additional Notes – Monitor Resolution: 1280 × 720 and above, Disk Drive 80GB and above (NTFS Format)

“It is our goal to bring Phantasy Star Online 2 to as many players as we can,” PSO2 Team North America’s head of marketing, Fred White, said in a press release. “We have heard the requests for a Steam launch, and we are excited to announce that soon Steam users in 36 countries on six continents will be able to experience PSO2 on their platform of choice, including popular features like Steam Achievements and Remote Play. The Steam Store page for PSO2 opens today.”

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Want to know everything about Halo Infinite? Here’s our comprehensive look at the details in Master Chief’s next adventure based on the new gameplay demo and from interviews with 343 Industries.

Universal Pictures and AMC Theaters have reached a deal that shortens the time between when a movie premieres in theaters to when it’s able to move to other platforms like digital VOD. The new deal makes it so that Universal can move its films after just three weeks in theaters.

Traditionally, movie distributors and cinemas agreed to let a movie run in theaters for 90 days before getting the option to make films available in homes. As reported by The New York Times, the new deal shortens this time considerably to just 17 days. After which films have the option to be distributed via premium video-on-demand services.

Universal will also be able to control whether a film plays in theaters longer than 17 days, meaning it can choose to keep movies like Fast and Furious and Jurassic World in theaters for longer if need be.

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“The partnership we’ve forged with AMC is driven by our collective desire to ensure a thriving future for the film distribution ecosystem and to meet consumer demand with flexibility and optionality,” says Universal Filmed Entertainment Group chairman Donna Langley in a statement.

AMC and Universal previously were in a dispute just a few months ago. The theater chain announced it would no longer show Universal Pictures releases in cinemas after Universal released the animated film Trolls World Tour on VOD while theaters were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This new agreement overturns AMC’s decision.

Theaters have been left particularly vulnerable to the pandemic as social distancing rules become the norm. Highly anticipated films like Tenet have been delayed repeatedly, and will now premiere first in international theaters where Covid curves have been flattened, before premiering in the U.S. This deal has potentially seismic implications for other movie distributors as the film industry continues to find a way forward during the pandemic.

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Matt T.M. Kim is a reporter for IGN.

While movie theater chains continue to push back re-opening dates because of the COVID-19 pandemic, AMC Theatres and Universal Pictures–who had a spat back in April after Universal released Trolls: World Tour on-demand–are coming to an agreement on the future of movie releases. The plan involves a compromise between theatrical and home digital releases of new movies.

With AMC now looking to reopen its movie theaters in mid-August, the chain has come to an agreement with Universal on the distribution of profits for digital rentals, according to Variety. Now, Universal will have the ability to release on-demand for a roughly $20 rental fee–much like Invisible Man and The Hunt did earlier this year. The studio cannot sell or rent the movies for lower fees until three months after the films release in theaters. And AMC will get a cut of the money made this way. However, the specifics of the terms were not disclosed.

Variety notes that while movies from major franchises like Jurassic World and Fast & Furious could appear on-demand for a premium price, these blockbusters are more likely to have long runs in theaters, so it would be a much longer wait until the three-month rental period could begin. Smaller and mid-level films that normally wouldn’t have a long theater run could be rented at a cheaper price much sooner.

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The second War Table livestream for Marvel’s Avengers is scheduled to go live on July 29 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET, publisher Square Enix announced. During the broadcast, the team will discuss the content featured in the upcoming beta.

There’s no word on how long the livestream will last. However, the game’s official Twitter account confirmed that alongside discussions about Marvel’s Avengers’ imminent beta, the War Table presentation may include some surprises. There’s no clarification on what these surprises might entail, though.

Additionally, the livestream is said to feature discussions about post-launch plans for Marvel’s Avengers, but neither Crystal Dynamics, co-developer Eidos-Montreal, nor Square Enix have clarified this statement.

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