Bugs and glitches and crashes, oh my! In lieu of Cyberpunk 2077 releasing in a messy state, we look back, and round up other notoriously rough video game launches.Actor Viggo Mortensen is stepping behind the camera for the first time with his directorial debut, the family drama Falling, and a new full-length trailer is now online. Mortensen, the Oscar-nominated actor who starred as Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings series, not only directed Falling, but he also stars in the movie, wrote the script, and composed the music.
Falling tells the story of the drama between a father (Lance Henriksen) and son (Mortensen). Henriksen’s character, Willis, is in the early stages of dementia, so Mortensen’s John comes to stay at the family farm in California to help out. Things don’t go to plan, and plenty of drama ensues. The movie also stars Laura Linney, Terry Chen, Hannah Gross, Bracken Burns, and Gabby Velis.
Falling premieres in US select theatres and on-demand on February 5, following its debut in the UK back in December.
If you’re looking for something to play this weekend, the Epic Games Store’s latest free PC game is a good one. From now until January 21 at 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET, you can claim Star Wars Battlefront II: Celebration edition free of charge. For those who haven’t claimed a free game at Epic before, all you need to do is create a free account to add Battlefront II into your library forever.
Star Wars Battlefront II originally released in 2017 as a sequel to the 2015 reboot of the third-person shooter series. While the shooter got off to a rocky start due to a confusing and unfriendly progression system as well as much-maligned microtransactions, it received consistent updates from EA over the next two years. Though it no longer receives major updates, the game has come a long way since we awarded it a 6/10 in our Star Wars Battlefront II review.
The Celebration edition comes with all of the customization content released post-launch. Battlefront II’s story mode is a mixed bag, though it’s still worth a playthrough. The online multiplayer is where Battlefront II gets its legs thanks to a wide variety of game modes, including large-scale objective-based variants and fast-paced skirmishes on small maps. Battlefront II also features PvE co-op for up to four players and a single-player Arcade mode that helps you prepare for multiplayer combat.
505 Games has announced the acquisition of Infinity Plus Two, the studio that created the Puzzle Quest series as well as the free-to-play Gems of War. 505 touted this as a strategic move to strengthen its position in the F2P market.
Infinity Plus Two is based in Melbourne, Australia, and has created more than 30 games, though it’s most known for Puzzle Quest. Founder Steve Fawkner will remain in a leadership role at the studio as part of 505 Games management. The studio had previously collaborated with 505 on Gems of War, a strategy-RPG with match-3 mechanics.
“IP2 is a proven studio with phenomenal success over the years. Their creative vision and extensive experience will be a great addition to 505 Games,” said 505 Games free-to-play head Clive Robert, in the announcement. “The F2P market has seen a tremendous amount of growth and rise in popularity over the years and has always been a key facet of the company’s growth strategy. As one of the leading third-party publishers of F2P games across multiple platforms, this latest acquisition solidifies our investment in internal development and builds on our library of owned IP.”
Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin has joined the campaign of people who support the idea of having Donald Trump digitally removed from Home Alone 2.
Savvy users on social media have created mockups of what Home Alone 2 might look like with Trump removed from his scene. Culkin spotted one of these videos, the one below, and responded on Twitter with “Bravo.”
due to popular request I have removed trump from home alone pic.twitter.com/HoTA2csMl4
— ᅟᅟᅟᅟᅟᅟᅟᅟ (@maxschramp) January 9, 2021
In another tweet, Culkin said he was “sold” on the idea of having Trump removed from the 1992 holiday movie and replaced with a 40-year-old Culkin.
Assassin’s Creed fan community Access The Animus released a video on January 13 (as reported by Eurogamer) detailing the fascinating process behind translating the secret texts, which has led them to decipher symbols found in the collector’s edition of the game.
There are a number of tablets you can find while playing as Eivor that display this language, and they can be cross-referenced with partially translated files found on Layla’s computer in the modern portion of the game to be decrypted in full. Access the Animus used corresponding words, in-game translations and a complex understanding of grammar and historical language construction to figure out what had been written.
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Using the in-game translations from Antony Henry, Access the Animus was able to apply what they had learned to the collector’s edition of the game, which features Isu text on the packaging. So far they’ve found the words “Hidden Inside” on the Soundtrack CD, and “This Lake” in the CD bed of the game’s case. They also arranged the collector’s edition art prints which revealed another Isu word, “Now”.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s Narrative Director Darby McDevitt praised the community on Twitter shortly after the release of the video. “Access the Animus, I never doubted you. The Isu language has been cracked,” his tweet reads. The Access the Animus team mention at the end of the video that there are still many more tablets and texts to decipher, with more secrets to uncover beyond the progress they have made so far.
Access the Animus, I never doubted you.
The Isu language has been cracked!https://t.co/PiHj3FBA40
— Darby McDevitt (@DarbyMcDevitt) January 13, 2021
If you’re unfamiliar with Assassin’s Creed lore, the Isu, or “Those Who Came Before” are a species of precursor beings responsible for creating humans and the powerful Pieces of Eden that appear throughout the franchise.
Here’s our review of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, which we scored an 8, noting its “massive, beautiful open-world”.
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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.
While the release date was only just announced, it’s been available to preorder for months. Read on for the details.
Those are all the retailers that have New Pokemon Snap available for preorder so far, but I’m sure it’ll make its way to the rest of the usual suspects in due time. When it does, we’ll update this article with the freshest of links.
Since there are no special editions or preorder bonuses for New Pokemon Snap (at least that they’ve announced so far) these links are all you need to secure a copy of the game.
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Chris Reed is IGN’s shopping and commerce editor. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.
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