Scream 5 Adds Another Original Cast Member

Slowly but surely, the gang is getting back together. A fifth Scream movie is in the works and already we know David Arquette has signed on to return, while Neve Campbel previously admitted she was in negotiations to return as Sidney Prescott. Now another piece of the puzzle is in place.

Courteney Cox, who played news reporter and author Gale Weathers in the previous four films, confirmed she’s coming back for Scream 5. In a post on Instagram, she revealed an image of the movie’s Ghostface mask, writing, “I can’t wait to see this face again.” The Hollywood Reporter confirmed the news.

View this post on Instagram

@screammovies @spyglassmediagr @paramountpics

A post shared by Courteney Cox (@courteneycoxofficial) on

The next Scream movie will be the first not directed by horror icon Wes Craven, who died in 2015. Instead, it will be helmed by Matthew Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, the duo behind 2019’s Ready or Not. A screenplay is being written by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick, who are taking over duties from Kevin Williamson (Scream, Scream 2, and Scream 4), who will serve as an executive producer on the project.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Animal Crossing: How To Back Up Your Save Data

Animal Crossing: New Horizonssecond summer update has arrived, and it adds a handful of new features to the game, including a weekly summer fireworks festival, the ability to fall on your face, and save backups. You’ll need to have a paid Nintendo Switch Online subscription to take advantage of the latter, and it works a little bit differently than the typical cloud saves offered through the service. If you’re unsure how the process works, here’s how to back up your Animal Crossing save data.

How To Back Up Your Save Data

After installing New Horizons’ 1.4.0 update, you’ll see Backups – Not Set beneath the Settings option in the lower lefthand corner of the title screen. Press the Minus button to access the Settings menu, then select Island Backup from the list of options that Tom Nook presents you to begin the backup process.

No Caption Provided

Once Island Backup has been selected, Nook will emphasize that this backup function is only intended to be used if your Nintendo Switch is lost or has been damaged. He’ll then present you with options to Enable island backup or Listen to explanation. Select the former to enable save backups; select the latter to learn more about the process and its requirements.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Grounded Beginner’s Guide: 10 Tips For Staying Alive

Obsidian Entertainment’s new title, Grounded, will seem a lot like other survival games at first blush–even though it’s Honey, I Shrunk The Kids-like setting puts it at a super-small scale compared to titles like Minecraft or The Forest. Like those games, you still need to drink water and eat food to stay alive, construct shelters to keep from getting overwhelmed by indigenous life, and craft equipment to help you keep alive and thrive in your new surroundings.

Though Grounded has a lot in common with other games in the genre, its shrunken approach to the survival genre means it has quite a few of its own quirks. From how you’ll uncover crafting recipes, to the creatures keen on eating you that live in the backyard, there are plenty of nuances to understand. Here’s a quick rundown of 10 key tips that’ll help you adjust to life in the lawn.

1. Pick Up Everything And Analyze It

No Caption Provided

One of the first things you’ll come across when you start a game of Grounded is a strange little science facility called a Field Station. This is your first inkling that there’s something bigger going on here than a weird dream. Inside every Field Station is an item called an Analyzer–something that’s extremely useful.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Pokemon Masters Latest Event, Summer Superstars, Is Live

The latest Pokemon Masters event, Summer Superstars, is underway. The mobile title’s event is live now through August 16, giving players a chance to earn items through event battles and daily log-ins.

Pokemon Masters players can earn travel tokens by beating event battles. These in turn can be used to move around an event map, which has different rewards in each map location. After completing a map you advance to a checkpoint, which gives more event story and advances you to another event map. During the event, the maps are unlimited so players can stockpile as many items as they want.

Players can also earn 100 Gems each day for logging in, for up to a total of 1400 Gems. Additional travel tokens can be earned for using specific sync pairs during combat, including fan favorite Steven.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Trump Says He Will Ban TikTok From the USA as Early as Saturday, August 1

Update (7/31/20) – As reported by CNBC, President Trump told reporters that he will ban TikTok from the United States as early as Saturday, August 1.

“As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States,” Trump said.

This move will come through an executive order of another method, although Trump did not specify what course of action he would take.

As far as the reports stating the Microsoft is interested in purchasing TikTok from parent company ByteDance, Trump said “he didn’t support the reported spinoff deal.”

Original story follows.

[poilib element=”accentDivider”]

TikTok, the Chinese-owned social media video app that is under scrutiny from the Trump administration, is reportedly in talks with Microsoft and other companies to sell itself and part from its parent company ByteDance.

As reported by The New York Times, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or Cfius, has been looking into ByteDance’s 2017 purchase of Musical.ly, which would become TikTok. It has decided to “order ByteDance to divest TikTok, and the government is currently discussing the terms of its separation. White House officials have further said that “TikTok may post a national security threat because of its Chinese ownership.”

It is unclear if President Trump, who has been informed of the investigation, will focus the divestment order on TikTok’s American operations or if it would include its more global business as well.

Another option Trump could exercise would be using “the vast powers of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to bar certain foreign apps from American app stores.” Furthermore, the Trump Administration is also considering if it should add ByteDance to the “entity list,” which would bar it from purchasing American products and services without a special license.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/04/07/microsoft-conferences-to-go-digital-only-possibly-until-july-2021″]

TikTok has explores other options to avoid a sell, including having a non-Chinese investor, like Sequoia Capital, SoftBank, and General Atlantic, purchase a majority stake from ByteDance.

ByteDance’s current valuation is around “$100 billion,” according to research firm PitchBook, so any deal would indeed be a big one.

TikTok’s issues have been going on for months at this point, as lawmakers and the Trump administration have “questioned whether the app is susceptible to influence from the Chinese government, including potential requests to censor material shared on the platform or to share American user data with Chinese officials.”

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/30/microsoft-flight-simulator-final-preview”]

“It is well established at this point that apps that have granular access to user data and location and other sensitive personal data are very much on the radar of Cfius and can cause significant national security concerns,” said John P. Kabaelo, a lawyer who represents companies in Cfius reviews.

TikTok is currently used by more than 800 million people worldwide, and TikTok’s Chinese offices have “swollen to thousands of employees.” TikTok also has offices in New York and Los Angeles.

TikTok has tried to fight these accusations and change its course, and has taken such action as hiring a top Disney executive, Kevin Mayer, to be its chief executive and pledging to publicly reveal the “algorithm that powers its app.”

[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”albumSlug=halo-infinite-xbox-games-showcase-gameplay-reveal-screenshots&captions=true”]

[poilib element=”accentDivider”]

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Grounded Early Access Review – Little Acorns

Editor’s note: This review evaluates Grounded based on its early access state. We plan on reviewing Grounded again once it gets a full release.

Think about your favourite survival games. Think back to how they launched. Think of their initial public showing. If your favourites are like mine, you’ll notice a trend: None of them were very good when they first launched to the general public.

Subnautica had me on the edge of my seat at launch, but it ran terribly. Four years later and its 1.0 build was one of my favourite games in a year that included God of War and Red Dead Redemption 2. The Forest, similarly, launched a mere shadow of the terrifying adventure it would eventually become. No Man’s Sky was near-universally criticised at launch, but it eventually reached its potential and went beyond. Grounded, from Obsidian Entertainment, is currently in the early part of the aforementioned Early Access phase, and is lacking in many respects. But, like the games mentioned above, it has what feels like the potential to grow into something much, much greater.

Continue Reading at GameSpot