Month: March 2021

One of the biggest surprises in the Disney+ Marvel show WandaVision was the appearance of Evan Peters as Wanda’s brother Pietro. Showrunner Jac Schaeffer has spoken more about this, and revealed there was no back-up plan if Peters couldn’t do it.

Peters played Pietro–aka Quicksilver–in the X-Men films, with Aaron Taylor-Johnson appearing as Pietro in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While the movie rights to the X-Men are now owned by Disney, the two superhero universes are yet to cross. The final episode of WandaVision reveals that it’s not Pietro at all, but an ordinary man named Ralph Bohner that Wanda has “recast” as her dead brother, making Peters’ appearance little more than an in-joke. Nevertheless, Schaeffer states that she was only given permission to use Peters at the last minute.

“[Using Peters] was an enormous question mark for a very long time,” she told the New York Times. “And it took a while to figure out if it would be possible. It was late that it was finally confirmed that we could do it. But we were writing for it. Evan is such a chameleon in that way, that could play an amalgamation of [Full House’]s Uncle Jesse, [Family Ties’] Nick, and Joey from Friends. He could play those layers.”

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Crystal Dynamics has responded to the feedback surrounding the changes coming to Marvel’s Avengers involving the XP grind. The March 18 next-gen update for the game makes a big change that means after level 25, the amount of XP needed to level up will increase the closer you get to level 50. Many players responded negatively to the news, prompting a further explanation for the change.

Posting on Reddit, Crystal Dynamics said its initial announcement “was not comprehensive enough,” and this prompted confusion among fans.

To explain what’s changing and why, Crystal Dynamics said the XP required between levels “didn’t scale well.” The studio said it’s not uncommon for players to “ding” two or three times in a single mission, which might seem good, but according to the developer, it’s not.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Monster Hunter Rise launches on Switch on March 26, but players will have another chance to sample the game ahead of then. During its Monster Hunter Digital Event, Capcom announced it is releasing a second free Monster Hunter Rise demo on March 11. On top of that, the publisher gave viewers a brief glimpse at the title’s first free post-launch update.

The second demo will feature the two training missions and two hunts from the previous demo, as well as a new “advanced” quest to hunt the game’s flagship monster, the Magnamalo. As before, the demo will have a play-count limit; you’ll only be able to collectively play the three hunts 30 times. The demo will also once again support online play, giving you the option to group up with other players online and try the hunts cooperatively. However, you’ll need to have a Nintendo Switch Online subscription to take advantage of online play.

Capcom also released a new trailer for Monster Hunter Rise during the Digital Event. The video recapped the game’s story and many of the monsters you’ll encounter as you work to uncover the mystery behind the Rampage and save Kamura Village from destruction. It also confirmed two more returning monsters you’ll face in Rise: the Nargacuga and the Zinogre.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

AMD could be following in Nvidia’s footsteps with the launch of its own cryptocurrency mining GPUs, according to patch notes for a Linux kernel drive.

The patch notes (via PCGamesN) mention a new GPU without any video outputs, a telling sign of hardware that is designed for large crypto mining farms. Curiously, the notes point towards an older RDNA 1, Navi 12 GPU, which indicates that AMD might be repurposing old hardware instead of using existing RDNA 2 resources for the new product line.

This would be different to Nvidia’s approach, with the company recently revealing its CMP GPU range. These cards are purpose-built for mining, with no video outputs and more efficient power delivery and cooling without all the gaming bits that go to waste with a GeForce card. Of course, this means that Nvidia is stretching the already thin supply of silicon it has for three new products, meaning new gaming GPU releases will likely still be big targets for miners.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

In a recent video shared on TikTok, actor Kelli Amirah describes her experiences of allegedly having her skin unexpectedly darkened as an extra for Lovecraft Country. HBO has, in a release (via The Hollywood Reporter), said it was “very disappointed” to learn of Amirah’s experience and is also “taking steps to ensure this doesn’t occur again in the future.”

Amirah says she was hired, paid $100, and cast to play a younger version of a recurring character for a photograph that would briefly appear in an episode, and “had no idea they were going to do this to me beforehand.” Adds Amirah in the video, “If I knew beforehand, I would not have accepted this job. Who thought this was a good idea?”

As Amirah explains, she was sitting in a trailer between two of Lovecraft Country’s stars, mainly paying attention to her phone while she heard makeup artists observe that she looked “a little lighter” than the actress she was hired to portray a younger version of, and then “noticed my foundation is getting darker and darker… as soon as we wrapped I went right back to hair and makeup to ask for some makeup wipes because I refused to go out in the world like that.”

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Six Days In Fallujah publisher Victura has said that it understands the events of its game are “inseparable from politics”, somewhat contradicting the comments of company CEO Peter Tamte last month.

In February, Tamte said the game is not attempting to “make a political commentary about whether or not the war itself was a good or a bad idea,” and “will not grapple with the political machinations that led to the titular conflict.” The comments drew criticism for, among other things, seemingly displaying a wish to remove important context from a game about a real-life battle in which more than 100 members of the military, over 1,000 insurgents, and at least 800 civilians were killed.

Victura today released a statement that seems to walk back on Tamte’s remarks. It begins, “We understand the events recreated in Six Days in Fallujah are inseparable from politics.”

We understand the events recreated in Six Days in Fallujah are inseparable from politics. pic.twitter.com/N7nkPilp1Q

— Victura (@VicturaGG) March 8, 2021

The statement continues:

“The stories in Six Days in Fallujah are told through gameplay and documentary footage featuring service members and civilians with diverse experiences and opinions about the Iraq War. So far, 26 Iraqi civilians and dozens of service members have shared the most difficult moments of their lives with us, so we can share them with you, in their words.

“The documentary segments discuss many tough topics, including the events and political decisions that led to the Fallujah battles as well as their aftermath. While we do not allow players to use white phosphorous as a weapon during gameplay, its use is described during the documentary segments.

“During gameplay players will participate in stories that are given context through the documentary segments. Each mission challenges players to solve real military and civilian scenarios from the battle interactively, offering a perspective into urban warfare not possible through any other media.

“We believe the stories of this generation’s sacrifices deserve to be told by the Marines, Soldiers and civilians who were there.

“We trust you will find the game — like the events it recreates — to be complex.”

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While it seems apparent that Victura’s statement has been released to counter some of the aforementioned criticism, it has provided no surrounding explanation for the timing of the post, nor includes any mention of Tamte’s previous comments. Tamte himself has not yet commented, and the statement is not attributed to any member of Victura in particular. We’ve contacted the publisher for comment.

Six Days In Fallujah was announced and cancelled in 2009 after criticism of its approach, before being revived for a 2021 release. The publisher has previously insisted that the game is not an Army recruiting tool.

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Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

For 20 years now, the Stronghold series has fortified itself in an interesting place somewhere between a city builder and a more traditional real-time strategy. Stronghold Warlords continues this tradition with a new flavor as it takes us, for the first time in the series, to the battlefields of ancient and medieval East Asia. But as an RTS, it feels like it’s still living in the mists of the past. And the city building, while it can be an interesting and almost zen little puzzle, often feels at odds with the goal of straightforwardly conquering your enemies.

The biggest, often refreshing difference between a Stronghold game and, say, Warcraft or StarCraft, is in how it pushes you to think about space. You’re going to be turning an open plot of land into an impressive, thriving walled city… assuming no one razes it to the ground first. And it’s not just the availability of natural resources you need to worry about. Decisions like placing your main stockpile close to resource collection areas can have a big effect on the efficiency of your economy, and keeping your people happy later on will partly depend on how many of your buildings are in the radius of temples. You really have to try and picture how everything is going to fit together, on top of building out your defenses to maximize your home field advantage. It does a good job of scratching that Tetris-y itch and making long-term planning pay off.

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That’s been true of the series as a whole, but Warlords has added a new wrinkle in that you can choose whether to keep your people in line through love or fear. One building chain will let you construct torture racks and other unsubtle symbols of oppression, which make your workers work faster but demoralize your armies and reduce your popularity. The other offers creature comforts that will inspire the troops and endear you in the hearts of the commoners, but also lowers their resource output since they’re spending too much time playing lawn darts or whatever. I enjoyed the tension this created because I could see how much productivity I could squeeze out of my people and also keep each new stronghold from feeling like a repeat of the last.

[poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=You%20can%20choose%20whether%20to%20keep%20your%20people%20in%20line%20through%20love%20or%20fear.”]Keeping happiness at least somewhat positive is important because it’s the only way your population will grow, and raising taxes to afford higher-tier units is only possible if you’re giving something back in return, like more rice rations or fancy new silk duds. This helps your cities feel like a bit more than just a collection of peasants dumping gold in a pile to fund your armies like in a traditional RTS. But once those armies get on the move, that’s sort of all it boils down to.

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Combat in Stronghold Warlords is at its best during sieges, whether you’re on the attacking or the defending side. All the modular pieces you can construct your walls and towers from allow for some interesting and clever set-ups to maximize your advantages against a larger force, especially if you know a thing or two about how real castles were designed in these eras. And figuring out how to take on an enemy fortress, probing for weak spots and choosing your opportunities carefully, can be exciting as well. Field battles just aren’t as interesting, though.

[poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=Fights%20are%20very%20old-school%20Age%20of%20Empires%20in%20their%20pacing%20and%20scale.”]There is a huge gap in movement speed between lower-tier skirmishers and the tanky imperial troops you can get later in the tech tree, which does allow a savvy commander to outmaneuver a more potent army and win the day. But overall, these fights are very old-school Age of Empires in their pacing and scale. It’s not terrible, it just feels very behind the times compared to more recent RTSes like Northgard or Total War. And the art doesn’t help. While the grand keeps and shining pagodas are detailed and attractive, these low polygon, flat-looking unit models could be outshone by something like the original Company of Heroes, which came out almost 15 years ago.

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Each of the six single-player campaigns, which are around six to 10 hours long, take you to a different time and place in history, they only seem like distinct factions because most missions limit what you can build. In multiplayer and skirmish vs AI, on the other hand, that distinction is lost: not only are the unit rosters identical for each army, your Imperial Swordsmen will always speak Chinese even if you’re playing as the Vietnamese. Genghis Khan can hire Ninja and Samurai units just as easily as his rival, the shogun, can get Mongol horse archers. There’s a little bit of visual variation in architecture, but overall, it’s all a weirdly homogenous abstraction of a setting that spans an entire continent and over a thousand years of history.

[poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=Genghis%20Khan%20can%20hire%20Ninja%20and%20Samurai%20units%20just%20as%20easily%20as%20his%20rival%2C%20the%20shogun%2C%20can%20get%20Mongol%20horse%20archers.”]Some of the voice acting is definitely pretty iffy, too. The main advisor character in the campaign, especially, sounds like a really cartoonish, potentially offensive stereotype of a fussy Chinese bureaucrat. It’s similar in tone to the somewhat over-the-top and playful depictions of historical figures the series has dabbled with previously, but when it’s applied to a non-European character, it’s hard not to wince any time he opens his mouth. The leaders themselves, while exaggerated, at least don’t sound like caricatures.

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At least the mission objectives have good variety and nod to some interesting historical battles. They definitely play fast and loose with history, but keep it interesting by alternating between more traditional base building, a few that have you trying to take down a castle with a fixed army and no ability to replenish troops, and some that are purely focused on building up your economy while defending a castle. Those last ones are the most fun, especially when combined with the system of militarily or diplomatically vassalizing AI warlords on each map to grant you various bonuses. It made me wish there was some kind of horde mode for skirmish or multiplayer, which could have taken the strongest part of Warlords and made it endlessly replayable.

It’s International Women’s Day and to celebrate we decided to pair two women at the top of their field in the video game and entertainment space to have a conversation about their careers, what they’re working on, advice for newcomers, and a lot more.

Please enjoy actress Kelly Marie Tran, known for her roles in Star Wars The Last Jedi, Sorry For Your Loss, and most recently, Raya and the Last Dragon out now in theaters and on Disney+, in conversation with BAFTA award-winning voice actress Cissy Jones, known for her roles in Firewatch, The Owl House, and Call of the Sea.

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