Month: September 2020

In October 2018 Mike Flanagan adapted Shirley Jackson’s novel The Haunting of Hill House, which has become one of Netflix’s most popular horror series to date. In fact, it was GameSpot’s #1 TV show of 2018. And there is more to come as Flanagan and Netflix are doing a follow-up series called The Haunting of Bly Manor.

The next installment of spooky tales is coming to Netflix on October 9, which was recently revealed by the streaming service’s official Twitter account. And this account as been tweeting out some pretty creepy imagery.

Like Hill House before it, The Haunting of Bly Manor very loosely adapts a novel–or in this case, several novels. This time around, it takes viewers into the world of Henry James. He’s famous for his gothic romance novellas like The Turn Of The Screw, which follows a young governess (live-in nanny) and two children who may or may not be experiencing a haunting, and Bly Manor’s source material comes primarily from there.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

With Spider-Man: Miles Morales coming to both PS5 and PS4 this year, we’re going to cover everything you need to know about the upcoming video game.

Whether it’s the story, villain, release date or how Miles Morales’ powers set him apart from Peter Parker, we’ve got you covered.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales Origin

Let’s start with a recap of how Miles Morales (voiced by Nadji Jeter) got his spider-powers in the 2018 game Marvel’s Spider-Man. It’s not unlike how he got his powers in the comics and the film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse but of course the game put a new spin on how it all went down.

We meet Miles as a 15 year-old living in New York City who idolizes Spider-Man and just happens to be friends with one Peter Parker. After the death of Miles’s father, police officer Jefferson Davis, at the hands of Mister Negative’s gang members known as the Inner Demons, Peter takes care of Miles by inviting him to volunteer at the F.E.A.S.T. shelter with Aunt May and checking in on him during his adventures as Spider-Man.

Despite struggling with the loss of his father, Miles is inspired to find ways to do good and ends up helping Spider-Man by evading a rampaging Rhino to deliver important information, tending to the sick infected with the Devil’s Breath, and even saving Spidey’s life alongside Mary Jane Watson.

All this proves he has the stuff of being a hero, and then the final ingredient arrives in the form of a genetically modified spider that escaped from Norman Osborn’s secret lab, which bites him and gives him a unique set of spider-powers. Miles chooses to reveal these powers to Peter, and Peter decides to trust Miles with his secret identity, thus paving the way for a new Spider-Man.

In the post-game DLC expansion adventure called The City That Never Sleeps, we get a few more snippets of Miles exploring his new powers. Even though Peter tries to teach Miles to be responsible and exercise caution, Miles “accidentally” uses his powers to show off in basketball and tests the limits of his abilities by jumping off a bridge, resulting in a broken toe. Peter eventually decides it’s time for some proper teaching and the story ends with Miles getting his first lesson in web-swinging.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales Story

The story of Spider-Man: Miles Morales takes place one year after the events of the original Spider-Man PS4 game. Miles has progressed quite a bit, outfitting himself with his own red-and-black version of the Spider-Man costume to patrol the streets of New York City.

Kicking off just before Christmas, the story starts in Miles’ home of Harlem and features the fledgling hero dealing with a street war between the Roxxon Energy Corporation and the high-tech criminal army known as the Underground, led by a villain known as the Tinkerer (more on her in a moment). As Miles’ mother Rio Morales holds an election rally for City Council, the Underground crashes the party, leading to the two gangs clashing on the Braithwaite Bridge and leaving it up to Miles to intervene and save those in danger.

The Underground attack a Roxxon armored van carrying a shipment of Newform, an experimental energy source created by Roxxon. Tinkerer manages to get away with one canister, but not before it gets infused with some of Miles’ bio-electricity. It wouldn’t surprise us if the combination of those two energies creates something extremely powerful and dangerous that the Tinkerer is able to use for nefarious purposes.

[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”albumSlug=spider-man-miles-morales-playstation-5-showcase-screenshots&captions=true”]

How Long Is Spider-Man: Miles Morales Going to Be?

Whereas Marvel’s Spider-Man on PS4 was a full-length game, Spider-Man: Miles Morales will be a shorter adventure. Developer Insomniac said it will be similar to other “expandalones” like Uncharted: The Lost Legacy; that game offered roughly seven to 10 hours of gameplay, so expect something similar for Spider-Man: Miles Morales.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales Trailers and Gameplay

So far there have been two trailers showing off Spider-Man: Miles Morales.

There’s the initial launch trailer:

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/spider-man-miles-morales-announcement-trailer-ps5-event”]

And the second trailer features a look at Miles’ life as a civilian before launching into a combat gameplay demonstration.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/09/16/spider-man-miles-morales-gameplay-trailer”]

Spider-Man: Miles Morales Villains

Spider-Man: Miles Morales features two villainous factions, Roxxon Corporation and the Underground, the latter of which is led by the Marvel villain known as the Tinkerer.

Roxxon Energy Corporation

Roxxon Energy Corporation is a massive, evil corporation in the Marvel Universe, although they mask it by operating as a lucrative, public-facing company. They embody corporate greed, environmental pollution, and every other bad thing corporations are known to do, all upped to the worst degree. Often run by a vicious executive, they only care about increasing profits and pleasing their shareholders, and they’re willing to engage in all sorts of illegal activity to do it.

The Roxxon enforcers in Spider-Man: Miles Morales appear as armored, heavily-armed guards in red and dark gray colors.

There’s no word yet on who leads Roxxon in the game. It could be any number of the various suits who have taken on the role over the years in the comics. Although, it would certainly be interesting if it were a known supervillain, like Dario Agger, the current head of Roxxon in the comics who just happens to be a bloodthirsty Minotaur. Roxxon has used everyone from the Serpent Squad, the Squadron Supreme and the Dogs of War as hired guns over the years, so the possibilities are numerous.

The Underground and the Tinkerer

While the Underground is a new criminal organization with a cyberpunk aesthetic that leaves us without much to go on, the Tinkerer has a long history in the Marvel Universe (follow that link for an in-depth history of the character). That said, this is obviously a new version of the Tinkerer that’s far from what we’re used to seeing.

In the comics, the Tinkerer is an old man named Phineas Mason who makes a living using his skills as an inventor to create all sorts of weaponized tech for supervillains. He has invented various weapons for Mysterio, Kingpin, and Vulture, just to name a few. He’s normally depicted as a frail, elderly man who prefers to work in the shadows of his lab rather than face Spider-Man head-on.

[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”albumSlug=the-tinkerers-long-history-as-a-spider-man-villain&captions=true”]

That’s quite different from the new Tinkerer, who doesn’t have any problem suiting up in her high-tech battle suit with glowing purple accents to pull off heist jobs with her goons (who appear to be outfitted with mechanical gauntlets that pack an energized punch). She seems to know a thing or two about hand-to-hand combat, as she has no problem landing an energized kick right in Miles’ face. We also see a few of her gizmos at work, as she lifts her arm to form a mechanized shield and extends her robotic hands to yank off the door of an armored vehicle with enhanced strength.

Is it just us or do those robo-tentacle arms have a certain Doc Ock quality to them? Perhaps a connection between the two will be unveiled, which would call for a reason to bring Peter into the story for a cameo.

We do have one theory about the Tinkerer’s identity. Perhaps the Tinkerer is indeed old man Phineas Mason, but he’s operating a robotic avatar from the safety of his secret lair in order to obscure his true identity.

[poilib element=”poll” parameters=”id=af7ec7d6-3cfd-4e17-8ddf-fcacdaecb54f”]

Spider-Man: Miles Morales Powers and Abilities

Miles Morales has the same powers as Peter Parker — super strength, agility, stamina, endurance and reflexes along with the ability to stick to and climb surfaces, web-swing with the aide of web-shooters, and pre-cognitively perceive danger with his Spider-sense — as well as some new tricks.

Miles can channel his bio-electricity into a powerful Venom Blast that shocks enemies. We see him making use of this ability to astonishing effect in the gameplay footage as he uses it to stun, zap and blast opponents in a dizzying display of electrifying combat.

Miles also has the ability to turn invisible. This allows him to move about in stealth to sneak around and take enemies unaware.

And while not a “super power” like his other abilities, Miles has a gifted mind and a knack for science, as proven when he adjusted Peter’s web-shooter to account for the difference in their weight like it was nothing.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales Skins

Miles starts in his signature red-and-black Spider-Man costume but we can of course expect for him to have multiple skins, just like Peter had in Marvel’s Spider-Man. Currently, only one alternate skin has been revealed called the T.R.A.C.K. Suit. It’s an original design created for the game and features a sleek white costume, which certainly brings to mind Peter’s Advanced Suit. This costume comes as part of a pre-order bonus when purchasing the Launch Edition or the Ultimate Launch Edition of the game. Another mystery costume, along with three extra skill points and a Gravity Well Gadget, will be included with a pre-order.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales Release Date

Spider-Man: Miles Morales releases on November 12, 2020.

The game is a PlayStation exclusive. It will be a PS5 launch title and will also be available to play on PS4.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales Pre-Order

Spider-Man: Miles Morales is now available for pre-order from various outlets.

[poilib element=”accentDivider”]

Joshua is a Senior and Producer of Features at IGN. If Pokemon, Green Lantern, or Star Wars are frequently used words in your vocabulary, you’ll want to follow him on Twitter @JoshuaYehl and IGN.

CD Projekt Red has said that Cyberpunk 2077’s campaign will be shorter than The Witcher 3’s because a lot of people didn’t end up finishing the whole story.

As spotted by ResetEra user Saucycarpdog on CohhCarnage’s Twitch stream, senior quest designer Patrick K. Mills on the post-show of the third Cyberpunk 2077 Night City Wire said that the campaign for Cyberpunk 2077 will be slightly shorter than The Witcher 3 because, even though a lot of people got very far in the game, not as many made it all the way to the end.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/09/18/cyberpunk-2077-night-city-wire-episode-3″]

“The difference between a completionist run and a main story run… we do know that the main story run in Cyberpunk 2077 is slightly shorter than The Witcher 3 because we got a lot of complaints about Witcher 3’s main story just being too long,” Mills said. “Looking at the metrics, you see tremendous numbers of people played through that game really far, but never made it to the end. We want you to see the full story, so we did shorten the main story, but we have lots to do, and in terms of a completionist campaign, I just don’t have that number.”

According to How Long To Beat, The Witcher 3’s main story takes an average of 51.5 hours to complete, while a completionist run can take around 172 hours.

While the main campaign may be slightly shorter than The Witcher 3’s, Cyberpunk 2077 will be receiving free DLC alongside paid expansions just like the third Witcher game.

[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”albumSlug=cyberpunk-2077-25-new-night-city-images&captions=true”]

Cyberpunk 2077 will be released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Google Stadia on November 19, 2020. It will also be arriving on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X with a free ‘more robust’ upgrade in 2021. Until then, it will be playable via backward compatibility.

For more on Cyberpunk 2077, check out the recently revealed PC specs, new location screenshots and gang images, and read our hands-on preview after playing the game for 4 hours.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/25/cyberpunk-2077-hands-on-what-we-think-after-4-hours-in-night-city”]

[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.

Welcome back to Game Scoop!, IGN’s weekly video game podcast. This week the Omega Cops — Daemon Hatfield, Tina Amini, Sam Claiborn, and Justin Davis — discuss the PlayStation 5 price and release date, Demon’s Souls, Spider-Man Miles Morales, Final Fantasy 16, Deathloop, Monster Hunter, Disgaea 6, Spelunky 2, and so much more. The music in this episode is from Spelunky. Watch the video above or hit the link below to your favorite podcast service.

Listen on:

Apple Podcasts

YouTube

Spotify

Stitcher

 

Find previous episodes here!

Sony finally — finally — announced the PlayStation 5 price and release date during its latest PS5 event, and sure, the pre-order situation is a little muddy, but in terms of cost it’s just about the best-case scenario interested buyers could have reasonably hoped for.

And the price points are not only largely fair compared to the competition, they’re also smartly competitive, and a clear indicator that even as Microsoft’s console philosophy has shifted, Sony is still in it to dominate the sales charts.

[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”albumSlug=every-game-and-announcement-featured-in-the-playstation-5-showcase-event&captions=true”]

PS5’s standard edition costs $499, and the PS5 digital edition is $399. Other than the absence of a disc drive (and thus the console’s reduced weight and size), both systems have functionally the same specs — same SSD, same storage space, and all the same 3D audio and ray tracing bells and whistles Sony has been promising.

That not only puts the PS5’s more expensive option and Xbox Series X at the same price point, but means you can buy the PS5 Digital Edition for $100 cheaper than the competition. Yes, the Series X is more powerful, and there are still plenty of incentives to buy an Xbox – Game Pass, more robust backward compatibility, and Xbox’s Play Anywhere initiative all make the Xbox Series X a great platform. But as an argument to buy a next-gen system to play next-gen games, Sony has made the PS5 pretty hard to pass up, so long as you don’t mind giving up discs.

The Digital Edition Undercut

Sony’s big play is the PS5 Digital Edition, which essentially offers Sony’s topline hardware for $100 less than Xbox’s top-of-the-line Series X. Discussions of raw horsepower aside, Sony is making the argument that you can get a comparable experience for less than the competition with the PS5.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/ps5-price-release-date-launch-games-and-more-beyond-episode-666″]

And it really benefits Sony for you to want to pick up the Digital Edition. Sure, even if Sony loses any money on the cost of the box itself, the Digital Edition locks you into Sony’s purchasing ecosystem. Outside of the occasional digital code you may get on Amazon, Digital players will be buying all their PS5 games from Sony directly, and can never trade in those games to a third-party retailer. The PlayStation Network Store is effectively the only shopping option, and that means Sony gets a much larger, more consistent cut of every game you buy. Even if Sony makes less money from you on day one, they’ll get a more consistent share of every game you buy from them, rather than having to share the profits with retailers and shipping.

A Stronger Launch Lineup

The latest PS5 showcase gave us a better understanding of what PS5 owners will be able to play on day one, and…it’s looking a lot stronger than Xbox Series X and S this holiday.

First of all, yes, it’s undeniable to say that Sony announcing Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is also coming to PS4 offers one less huge incentive to buy a PS5 on day one, alongside other upcoming games like Horizon Forbidden West. For Sony to spend most of 2020 saying it “believes in generations” rather than Microsoft’s more blurred line and then make these announcements, it knocks a bit of the wind out of the sales of why you should buy a PS5 this fall.

[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”albumSlug=confirmed-playstation-5-games&captions=true”]

That said, the console will have a decent amount of console and console-family exclusives, including Demon’s Souls, Destruction Allstars, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, and Astro’s Playground on the first-party front, plus third-party console exclusives like Godfall and a host of PS4/PS5 console exclusives from the indie realm like Bugsnax and The Pathless in the nebulous “Holiday 2020” window. And that’s not counting Sony’s biggest play — between the two PS5 showcases, Sony gave players the hard sell on long-term ownership. With exclusives like God of War, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, Final Fantasy XVI, and more, Sony clearly made a case for why the next couple of years are a going to be great time to own a PS5.

Of course, there is the big question of power — the Series X is the more powerful console, and theoretically games will run and look better on it. Players looking to buy the beefiest console (until the inevitable PS5 Pro and Xbox Series X-2?), Xbox is currently the way to go. But we’ve yet to see any direct performance comparisons and so, at least for launch when so many third-party games are also having to consider current-gen versions too, it’s a safe bet to assume that the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions of cross-platform games will be comparable enough that PS5 players likely won’t miss out on much. That said, if raw power is your primary concern, it may be best to wait until we have some concrete examples and comparisons of how the two consoles stack up.

On the whole, Sony wisely let Microsoft show its whole hand first before laying out what it had to offer. It may feel like conspiracy theory-level thinking to Sony made major changes to its pricing plans because of where Microsoft landed with the Xbox series but by being the last ones to go, Sony could shore up a competitive pricing plan, and pivot its messaging to double down on what it offers that Microsoft doesn’t — two console options, one cheaper by a not insignificant margin, that offer the same on-screen experience. Whichever price point you might choose, Sony’s launch window and current year-one lineups do a great job of telling you what your initial investment will get you, and why they think it’s worth your money now and throughout 2021 – even if preordering is a pain in the ass.

[poilib element=”accentDivider”]

Jonathon Dornbush is IGN’s Senior Editor, host of Podcast Beyond!, and PlayStation lead. Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush.

The change from summer to fall is a big deal in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. It means new weather, new fish and bugs, and one of the best holidays of the year: Halloween. Some players have gotten a jump start in decorating their islands for the jack-o’-lantern-filled holiday.

They’ve created custom clothing designs, candy bowl hats for trick-or-treaters, and custom lanterns with spooky outlines to spread around their towns. Several players have been gung-ho about revamping their entire islands into cutesy haunted houses and pirate ships (while others are just excited to go back to the Spirit Halloween store).

New Horizons doesn’t have as many Halloween-themed decorations compared to Animal Crossing: New Leaf, according to players. They’ve had to get creative by using custom hat designs to fill out pumpkin patches and let weeds spread to create abandoned cemeteries. Others have made use of the haunted art that Redd sometimes sells.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Developer InnerSloth has explained why its popular online multiplayer game Among Us isn’t on PlayStation 4 or Xbox One yet. The biggest hurdle in the studio’s way is player communication.

According to studio programmer Forest Willard–who played Among us with a bunch of Twitch streamers earlier this week, including 5uppp–figuring out how to implement player communication in a game that’s largely text-based chat might prove difficult when porting Among Us to consoles.

“[A console port] is something we’re starting to talk about,” Willard said. “But we’d have to write a system for quick comms. It’d basically be for randoms, like Rocket League. I don’t know if we’d be able to implement console voice chat or not. I know one of the first things we want to add is a friend’s list-type account system because it’s real hard to do anything without that s***.”

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Gears Tactics launched earlier this year on PC, and it’s finally heading to Xbox Series X and Series S when the two consoles launch later this year, along with a host of gameplay and content additions.

The new content will introduce Jack to the squad, who you will likely recognize as the cloaking robot companion to Marcus Fenix and co. in the original trilogy of games. Jack won’t be around to rip open doors this time, giving you numerous new commands to use in combat, including area of effect skills and the ability to control enemy units.

The Coalition is also adding new Deviant enemies to the game, which should help its longevity by providing additional challenges to players seeking them. These enemies will be more cunning and quick to react to your strategies, but also reward players with new high-level gear to make the demanding combat worthwhile. These content updates will be available to all console players at launch while PC players will be able to download it for free shortly after.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Amazon is warning customers who pre-ordered the PlayStation 5 that it may not be able to deliver PS5 systems in time for its November 12 launch.

Customers who pre-ordered PlayStation 5 systems from Amazon have received emails warning them that Amazon may not be able to fulfill orders in time for launch. Multiple IGN staffers received the same email from Amazon regarding their PS5 pre-orders.

Amazon has sent an email saying PS5 orders may not arrive on launch date due to high demand pic.twitter.com/xip55XEwYD

— Wario64 (@Wario64) September 18, 2020

“We’re contacting you about your order of PlayStation 5 Console to let you know in advance that you may not receive this item on the day it is released due to high demand. We’ll make every effort to get the item to you as soon as possible once released.”

When PS5 pre-orders went live, Walmart customers found some of their orders were canceled, but in Amazon’s case, these PS5 pre-orders are still valid. The only issue is that those who ordered from Amazon may not receive a system on launch day.

A similar situation with Amazon happened when the Nintendo Switch was released and Amazon couldn’t fulfill orders in time for launch.

[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”albumSlug=confirmed-playstation-5-games&captions=true”]

IGN will continue to monitor the PS5 pre-order situation. Check out our PS5 pre-order page for regular updates on console drops. Xbox Series X systems will be available for pre-order next week.

[poilib element=”accentDivider”]

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