Month: September 2020

Ikea and Republic of Gamers (ROG), Asus’ PC gaming hardware and accessories line, will be releasing a new affordable gaming furniture and accessories line. The two companies plan to deliver around 30 products, starting in China in February 2021. Other Ikea markets will receive the items after October 2021.

So far, no details on what type of furniture or accessories have been revealed. But considering that ROG mainly carries PC gaming attachments and other related hardware, it could be a good bet that Ikea and ROG’s collaborative gaming line skews more towards PC gaming items.

The new gaming line is being spearheaded by the Ikea Product Development Center in Shanghai. Ikea and ROG emphasize that as part of the design process, employees from both companies have held workshops together with professional gamers and other people who love games.

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Razer released its first lifestyle Bluetooth headphone option earlier this year, and if you’re interested in getting the premium pair of headphones at a discount, you can save $40 on a pair right now. With a regular price of $200, you can get the Razer Opus Bluetooth headphones for just $160 with promo code CNETNYOPUS10. All you have to do is add the headphones to your cart and input the promo code before checking out. This deal is valid until September 19.

The Razer Opus Bluetooth headphones are THX-certified, which means the Opus headphones will produce audio at the quality that it was originally mixed at. The Opus headphones also boast leather memory foam ear cushions and active noise-canceling, the latter of which utilizes the Opus’ microphone to detect and eliminate outside sounds. It features four microphones dedicated to ANC and two more for recording and transmitting your voice.

Razer Opus Bluetooth headphones

$160 (was $200) with promo code CNETNYOPUS10

The Razer Opus comes in Midnight Blue and Black variants, both of which are eligible for the special promo code discount. It also folds for easy storage in the included carrying case. If you’re using the Razer Opus with your mobile device, you can download the Razer Opus app and customize the equalizer and more.

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While there’s been a neverending stream of news about Sony’s various Spider-Man-adjacent projects, there’s still that little thing known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe that still has its entire Phase 4 to unleash. And after that will come even more superhero movies set in the MCU, like Ant-Man 3. While there’s still quite a bit of time before anyone will see that movie, some interesting news has arrived.

According to Deadline, Lovecraft Country star Jonathan Majors has been cast in the third Ant-Man movie in a major role. According to the report, Majors has been selected to portray the movie’s villain, Kang the Conqueror.

If that’s correct, this could be massive news for the MCU. For those that don’t know, Kang the Conqueror is a recurring Avengers super-villain who just doesn’t seem to go away. Since first being introduced in the early 1960s, the time-traveling villain has been a pretty regular foe throughout Marvel Comics. What’s more, Avengers Endgame has pretty perfectly set up his arrival.

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Despite still not having a price or concrete plans for pre-orders (outside of a Sony-run raffle), Sony is anticipating high demand for the PlayStation 5 this holiday season. So much so that it’s planning to speed up shipments to the US via air freights.

According to Daniel Ahmad, analyst at Niko Partners, Sony has already scheduled numerous flights with PS5 stock for the US in order to meet retail demand for the next-gen console over the holidays. Ahmad states that he isn’t sure whether it is 60 flights, or 60 planes worth of flights being readied, but that this method of shipping will incur a bigger cost to Sony over traditional shipping via the sea.

This is identical to what Nintendo did back in 2017 to meet the growing demand of the Nintendo Switch at the time. The company absorbed the additional cost in order to ensure 2 million Switch units were available to retail ahead of its launch in March of that year, which was only disclosed a few months later in an earnings report. Back then, it was estimated that the cost of this shipping was around $45 more per unit.

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Godfall, an upcoming action-RPG for PS5 and PC, has been flying a bit under the radar, but it could wind up being one of the more unique AAA games in 2020. Developed by Counterplay Games and published by Gearbox, Godfall will combine action-RPG gameplay with loot-focused systems to create what the developers call a “looter-slasher.” PC preorders for multiple editions are available now at the Epic Games Store ahead of its holiday release on PS5 and PC.

Godfall takes place in a high fantasy world dubbed Aperion and places you in the role of a Valorian Knight. In fact, you’re the last Valorian Knight, and you must make your way through the five realms (Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and Spirit) to save your crumbling, post-apocalyptic home. Your main foe is the mad god Macros, who you will square off against after you slash your way through droves of underlings and challenging boss fights.

A third-person action-RPG, Godfall has skill-based melee combat. There are five classes of weapons, each with their own playstyles and customizations as well as 12 unique Valorplates, armor sets that have different buffs and abilities. Valorplates essentially act as classes as some fare better depending on the mission. With a heavy emphasis on both leveling and loot, Godfall will join the growing number of AAA games that focus on tinkering with your build as you find new gear. Each of Godfall’s story missions will have mid- and end-bosses, and there will also be various side missions to complete throughout. Godfall can be played solo or with up two friends in online co-op.

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Fall Guys studio Mediatonic has revealed an unusual way of dealing with cheaters that it has since abandoned: It sent them to “Cheater Island,” where they were forced to play with other cheaters.

“At launch, we had some of our own cheat detection built into the game. We weren’t banning anyone at this point, just gathering data carefully. We wanted to be 100% sure that our cheat detection would only catch people who were legitimately cheating,” read a tweet by the official Fall Guys account. “After we confirmed that it was working–We secretly launched Fall Guys Cheater Island.”

The Fall Guys Twitter account tweeted a long thread about cheater island, how the studio was overwhelmed by the amount of cheaters trying to play Fall Guys, and its upcoming plans to combat dishonest players. The UK-based studio reemphasized that it’s adding Fortnite’s anti-cheat system in the coming weeks.

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Talks of Microsoft potentially acquiring Bungie, Destiny and former Halo developer, are circulating–but they aren’t true, according to Bungie. Initially, VentureBeat’s Jeff Grubb spoke on the GamesBeat podcast about hearing that Microsoft and Bungie were in discussions, but that the two companies could not agree on a sale price. Eurogamer then corroborated this, saying it too had heard of such discussions taking place.

However, the CEO of Bungie, Pete Parsons, took to Twitter to succinctly declare the news false. A member of Bungie’s community team also requested that people use Bungie’s new logo when “circulating gossip” about the company.

Bungie recently left a publishing deal with Activision, ending a 10-year partnership earlier than expected, and is currently independent. In an Activision earnings report, the company explained why it broke off from Bungie. While describing the split as a “mutual amicable agreement,” chief operating officer Coddy Johnson stated, “Destiny is highly critically acclaimed, high quality content, but it was not meeting our financial expectations.”

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Fortnite servers have gone down temporarily to deal with a series of login issues that are kicking or barring players from entering the game. Error messages like “You do not have permission to play Fortnite” or “Your account no longer has play access to Fortnite” are probably concerning to see, but according to the official Fortnite Status account on Twitter, there’s no need to worry–you are probably not actually banned from Fortnite.

According to the Fortnite Status account, Epic Games is currently looking into the issue. The game has now entered server downtime as part of the investigation. We’ll update you when it’s back up.

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Microsoft has updated the landing pages for the Xbox Series S and Series X with more details about the systems and their specifications. Alongside what comes in the box, the key takeaway is how much these systems weigh, and the Series X is particularly heavy.

The Series X is a chunky system, resembling a PC tower more than a traditional console. Despite its tall, blocky stature, editor Michael Higham said the Series X wasn’t as bulky as he thought it would be when checking out mock-ups Microsoft sent over. One thing that was missing was the actual weight of the consoles. And according to the updated Series X site, the upcoming console weighs 9.8 pounds. This puts the Series X just a bit lighter than the original PS3, which weighs 11.02 pounds. Conversely, the Series S is significantly lighter, weighing only 4.25 pounds.

Current- And Next-Gen Weight Comparison

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2K Games latest WWE venture isn’t the simulation-style romp fans have come to expect. WWE 2K Battlegrounds is an arcade-style fighter, and aside from gameplay, 2K is also doing things a bit differently when it comes to post-launch content.

With WWE wrestling games, fans have come to expect massive rosters, and Battlegrounds comes with over 70 at launch. And with post-launch, players will be getting more than 60 more wrestlers to bring to the ring.

However, in order to get these new wrestlers, you won’t have to pay an additional fee. “All of it is free updates,” Sean O’Connor executive producer, publishing at 2K Games told GameSpot. “You don’t even have to go download DLC. The game will just update, and there’ll be new stuff to unlock and explore and play with.”

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