Get ready to hop in the Battle Bus because Llama-Rama is on the way to Rocket League! Celebrate the event beginning Saturday, September 26 through October 12.While Hryb primarily asked his panel of guests about the blockbuster deal where Xbox acquired all of ZeniMax Media — which includes Bethesda and studios like Arkane — Hryb did have a surprise question about the upcoming Starfield for Todd Howard.
Hryb asked Howard if there is any new information the Bethesda game director could share about Starfield, the studio’s long-in-development space RPG. While Howard refrained from sharing too much, he did reveal that the project will be a “major engine rewrite” which will utilize the next-gen systems.
“The people all know me, I like to wait as long as possible to show stuff so uh, we’re closer to show stuff than we were at the beginning of the conversation,” Howard joked.
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Bethesda’s Creation Engine was the focus of some controversy back in 2018 when Howard revealed its next-gen games like Starfield and Elder Scrolls 6 would be using the studio’s proprietary game development tool. Though engines aren’t static and are upgraded with new features and tools regularly.
Other topics that were discussed include how the deal between Xbox and ZeniMax even happened, but Xbox boss Phil Spencer reiterated that it was all based on the long relationship between the two companies.
“For us there’s this long-standing relationship of what does it mean for [Bethesda] to build what they’re trying to build on top of our platform that makes, in many instances, us feel like one team,” Spencer said.
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When asked if Spencer had any closing thoughts, he responded, “At a fundamental level our goal with every move that we make at Team Xbox is to enable you to play the games you want to play with the people you want to play with and where you want to play them.”
Spencer added, “I just want people to know that these kinds of partnerships, these kinds of steps whether it’s a technology move or a partnership move with a studio like Bethesda, are all just about furthering our vision there. Of allowing more people to play, giving creators the best place to build the most amazing things they can build, and find the largest audience they can.”
For more on the Xbox ZeniMax acquisition, check out IGN’s top takeaways from the deal, and our special Unlocked discussing the developments.
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Matt T.M. Kim is a reporter for IGN.
October is just around the corner now, and that means a new month of events for Pokemon Go. Developer Niantic has outlined some of the activities it has planned for the hit Pokemon mobile game next month, and they include the return of more Legendary Pokemon, a special Limited Research event, and more. Here’s a rundown of the events that are happening in Pokemon Go in October 2020.
Niantic is rolling out a new set of Field Research tasks and rewards starting October 1, and there will be a new Research Breakthrough encounter as well. Each time you achieve a Research Breakthrough next month, you’ll get a chance to catch the Bug/Ghost Pokemon Shedinja.
Niantic is bringing more Legendary Pokemon back to Raids in October. Throughout the month, you’ll have another chance to encounter the Legendary birds Zapdos and Moltres in five-star Raid Battles, as well as Origin Forme Giratina. Niantic also teases that a “special Raid boss” will appear during Pokemon Go’s Halloween 2020 event. You can see the full Raid schedule below:
Now Marvel is gearing up for the next phase of Hickman’s overarching X-Men saga – X of Swords. This massive crossover will link together all of Marvel’s current X-Men comics and chronicle a major war between the X-Men and an army from another dimension. And to fight that war, the X-Men will need a whole bunch of swords.
If you’re hoping to follow along with X of Swords but don’t know where to start or what’s been happening in the X-Men’s corner of the Marvel Universe lately, we’re here to help. Read on for a primer for X of Swords and a breakdown of what books you need to buy over the next few months.
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There’s no point in jumping into X of Swords before at least familiarizing yourself with the current status quo of the X-Men franchise, which is dubbed “Dawn of X.” Suffice it to say, a lot of things have changed in the year since Hickman took the reins. You can check out IGN’s full Dawn of X breakdown if you want all the juicy details, but we’ll try to recap recent events as succinctly as possible here.
Basically, everything Hickman is doing with the X-Men line builds out of one major plot twist. Moira MacTaggert, previously depicted as a human scientist aligned with Charles Xavier, was revealed in House of X #2 to be a mutant. And not just any mutant, but one with the power to die and reawaken in the womb with the memories of her previous lives intact. Moira is currently on her tenth life cycle, with most of her past lives spent in a seemingly futile quest to prevent mutantkind from being annihilated by Sentinels. Sooner or later, each timeline culminates with the creation of the unstoppable Sentinel Nimrod and the annihilation of the X-Men.
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Moira was told by the precognitive mutant Destiny that this cycle will end with either her tenth or eleventh life, depending on the choices Moira makes. So facing what could be her final chance to ensure her people’s survival, Moira has launched her most ambitious plan yet. She’s managed to rally both Professor X and Magneto to her cause and helped them establish a mutant nation on the living island of Krakoa (the same island that tried to eat the X-Men way back in Giant-Size X-Men #1). Between that and the discovery of a way to repeatedly resurrect dead X-Men, the mutant race is finally on the rebound. But even with most of the world recognizing the sovereignty of Krakoa, it remains to be seen whether mutantkind can defy fate and finally ensure its own survival.
Sidebar – if this ambitious revamp of X-Men lore has you confused and wondering whether all previous stories have been relegated to older timelines, you’re not alone. We still have many burning questions about Dawn of X and the far-reaching implications of this reveal.
Krakoa has already weathered its first great test with the assassination of Charles Xavier in X-Force #1 (he got better). Now it faces its second test, with Apocalypse rallying the X-Men to defeat an ancient enemy from his own past.
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Beginning in House of X and Powers of X and continuing in ongoing books like X-Men and Excalibur, Hickman and his collaborators have begun fleshing out the shared history between Apocalypse and Krakoa. While we already knew Krakoa itself is a mutant – a literal living island that can grow, change its shape and even communicate with others – it turns out there’s far more to the story.
Krakoa actually has a sister island named Arakko. Both islands used to exist as a single entity named Okkara, which was home to Apocalypse, his wife Genesis and other early mutants. Okkara was invaded by demonic hordes and split in two by a weapon called the Twilight Sword. Apocalypse and his First Horsemen (who are actually his children) waged a long and bloody battle against Annihilation, a god from a realm called Amenth. While Apocalypse managed to banish Annihilation and his hordes, Genesis, the First Horsemen and the land of Arakko were sealed away in another dimension.
Genesis has been continuing that war ever since, though it’s turned out to be an impossible challenge. It doesn’t help that Arakko’s greatest warrior, White Sword, betrayed his own people and joined with the armies of Amenth. That’s because White Sword’s mutant power makes him literally unable to lose a battle, forcing him to switch to the winning side. Genesis’ only hope now is to send her grandson Summoner to Earth to find his grandfather and bring reinforcements.
As you might expect, X of Swords is shaping up to be one of the most important Apocalypse stories in quite a while. Readers will continue to learn more about his history, his family and his true motivations for throwing his lot in with Xavier and Magneto. While Apocalypse ended his feud with the X-Men after recognizing they’ve become as strong and fit as he always hoped, it’s now clear he also has very personal reasons for returning to Krakoa.
So why is the crossover called X of Swords? While Marvel is still keeping a great deal about this crossover under wraps, we do know swords play a key role in the conflict. The X-Men will need to arm themselves with various powerful swords before they can begin their newest mission. These enchanted weapons all have a connection to Otherworld, the realm from which every member of the Captain Britain Corps receives their magical powers and a key part of the Marvel multiverse. It appears that much of the crossover will actually take place within Otherworld, as the X-Men are drawn into a war between the invading armies of Amenth and Otherworld’s Queen Saturnyne.
Several X-Men already have a longstanding connection to various blades of power. Magik wields the Soulsword, a supernatural blade powered by her own soul. Wolverine, meanwhile, looks to be reclaiming the Muramasa blade, a katana tainted by his berserker rage and capable of killing even those with a healing factor. Rachel Grey is again carrying the Phoenix Blade, a Shi’ar weapon that used to contain a fragment of the Phoenix Force. Gorgon’s sword Godkiller may come in especially handy, as it’s drawn divine blood in the past. Godkiller also has a twin sword named Grasscutter.
Other X-Men have been acquiring swords in the lead-up to the main crossover. For example, Cable now wields the Light of Galador, a weapon treasured by the Spaceknights. As this teaser art shows, plenty of other X-Men will be picking up blades for the occasion, even Professor X himself:
We should point out the “X” in the title should be read as Ten, not the letter X. This story revolves around ten swords and ten pivotal X-Men, though there are more than ten of each in the image above. It may be that only ten of these swords have the magical power Apocalypse needs to save Arakko, and the rest are just fun little bonus swords for extra hacking and stabbing.
However, the title is also referencing the tarot card Ten of Swords, which traditionally represents betrayal, loss and heartache in its upright position and resistance and recovery in its inverted position. It’s not hard to see how those themes tie into the events of X of Swords. Plus, tarot card imagery previously played a key role in Powers of X, all of it connected to the futuristic X-Men from Moira’s ninth life.
The tarot cards seen above feature Rasputin and Cardinal, two genetically engineered “chimera” mutants from Moira’s ninth life. While both characters are now just relics of a dead timeline, X of Swords could somehow integrate them into this new timeline. There have already been signs Moira’s tenth life will take the same tragic turn as her ninth, with Mister Sinister paving the way for the mutant breeding pits and these futuristic chimera creations. We probably haven’t seen the last of Rasputin and Cardinal.
X of Swords isn’t structured like most of Marvel’s crossovers events. In the case of something like Civil War, Marvel published a core miniseries featuring the main story beats and further fleshed out that story with a number of ancillary tie-in books. But X of Swords is more in the vein of classic ’90s X-Men crossovers like X-Tinction Agenda and Apocalypse: The Twelve. There’s just one story to follow, and it plays out across all the ongoing X-Men comics in September, October and November 2020.
X of Swords spans no fewer than 22 comics. The story begins in the one-shot special X of Swords: Creation #1 (due out on September 23), before transitioning into ongoing titles like X-Men, Excalibur, Marauders, Wolverine and others. The event will finally conclude in late November with another one-shot special called X of Swords: Destruction #1. The recently released Excalibur #12 and X-Men #12 also serve as direct prologues to the crossover, as does Free Comic Book Day 2020: X-Men #1. You can see the full checklist and reading order below:
At 22 comics and assorted prologue tales, there’s definitely a steep price of entry into this X-Men crossover. If you’re wary of diving in or simply want to wait for reviews before making a commitment, you might be better off waiting for the X of Swords hardcover collection. That hardcover will be released immediately after the conclusion of the crossover on November 24 and will offer a somewhat cheaper alternative to buying the individual issues. Barring that, you can always wait six months for these comics to arrive on the Marvel Unlimited digital service.
But however you choose to read X of Swords, it’s clear this crossover will have a profound impact on the entire line and help shape the future of the X-Men in 2021. The X-Men won a huge victory when they established their mutant nation, and it’s probably all downhill for the mutant race from here.
For more on the world of the X-Men, see how the first WandaVision trailer references another seminal Marvel crossover:
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Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
Fear not, animation fans. Two of Fox’s heavy hitters are in no danger of cancelation any time soon. Deadline reports that both Bob’s Burgers and Family Guy have received two-season renewals on the network. They join The Simpsons, which already received its own renewal order for Seasons 31 and 32 back in 2019, as two more of the network’s major tentpoles.
President of Entertainment for Fox Michael Thorn offered this comment: “Family Guy and Bob’s Burgers are key pillars of our network’s success. By taking the genre to new heights and driving pop culture in meaningful ways, they’ve laid the foundation for making Animation Domination one of the most powerful program blocks in all of television. Both of these two-season renewals affirm once again our commitment to animation and empower us to continue in our build as the leader in the space with distinct and fresh new comedies. We’d like to thank Seth, Loren and their entire teams, not to mention our partners at 20th Television, and we’re excited to continue these great shows with them.”
From The Haunting of Bly Manor to The Mandalorian Season 2, here are the 13 most anticipated TV series of Fall 2020, their release dates, and where to watch them.Perhaps as was to be expected, more of the films slated for release this year have been delayed, and that includes Black Widow. With the next movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe pushed until 2021, that clears the entire year’s slate of Marvel films–making 2020 the first year since 2009 without any new Marvel movies to hit theaters.
That will come as a surprise one way or the other, whether you think it’s shocking it’s already been a decade of annual (or more frequent) entries or that it’s only been a decade. Either way, it seems fitting that what has been such a weird year will buck tradition in yet another way.
The release of new Marvel movies is like clockwork. This year will be not only the first time we’re not getting one in a given year in over a decade, it’s also the first time since 2012 that we’re not getting two (and the first time since 2016 that we’re not getting three in a single year). A new Marvel movie hits theaters almost as often as the seasons change. I clean the unfortunate gap between the counter and my fridge less often. Their debut is a signal that it’s a time for me to change my toothbrush head. It’s how I know it’s time to consider (but not actually follow through with) canceling my unused gym membership.