As more and more people stay home from work or school amid the COVID-19 crisis, Microsoft is unlocking double XP for Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Halo 5.
Not only will players in those games earn double XP, Microsoft is giving everyone who logs into Halo 5 free XP boost packs for Arena and Warzone every week.
“Please remember to wash your hands and keep it clean,” Microsoft said in a tweet announcing the bonuses, referencing the “Keep It Clean” achievement for Halo: Reach.
Everyone is trying to make the best of the current social distancing situation we find ourselves in as a result of the coronavirus. WWE’s events are ongoing, but with a major change: arenas for shows like Raw and Smackdown are empty–and they’re taking place at the Performance Center, which will even be the case for Wrestlemania. The result is a distinctly different vibe; we’re used to watching wrestling with raucous crowds that will cheer or boo whatever they wish (even if goes against what a company like WWE necessarily wants in a given situation). We’ve already seen “Stone Cold” Steve Austin deliver a memorable moment on WWE television with an empty arena, and now one fan has done their best to improve upon WWE’s product.
On Twitter, user SIDEEYEmusic took a clip of a standard promo featuring Bray Wyatt and John Cena and made it into something truly magical. The lack of any crowd noise during a promo like this lends the proceedings the feel of a soap opera–which wrestling already is. So what makes this better? Why, the memorable music of a deeply soap opera-inspired TV show: Twin Peaks.
i added twin peaks music to pro wrestling without an audience and it fits perfectly pic.twitter.com/OVauro8c7L
— SIDEEYE (@SIDEEYEmusic) March 18, 2020
While there might be all sorts of rights issues that would render such an idea untenable, this clip provides a glimpse of what would make for a terrific WWE Network feature. You can still have the normal broadcast, but offer up a secondary feed that overlays the hauntingly beautiful music of Angelo Badalamenti.
Recently, a Chrome extension came along called Netflix Party, and it allows you to watch Netflix content with friends, at the same time, without having to be in the same room. It does this by syncing your streams and providing a chat room, where you can talk to each other and mock movies and TV shows to your heart’s content. After testing it with some coworkers, I decided to host my own streaming party.
Right now, it’s tough for a lot of people. Our routines are shaken up because of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, and many people are forced to work from home or are not working at all. In order to flatten the curve of infections, so hospitals aren’t overwhelmed, it’s good we’re all staying inside. However, not talking to other people sucks. Not being able to see other people sucks.
In order to kick off this Netflix party, I decided to pick a movie I was sure no one had ever seen before. I found myself searching through Netflix and somehow, I stumbled upon a movie called Undercover Grandpa. The film stars James Caan, Jessica Walter, Louis Gossett Jr., and a teenager with a helmet-head haircut. It’s from 2016 and is kind of a family comedy. It’s a very, very weird movie. The film is about a teenager whose girlfriend is kidnapped, so he enlists the help of his grandfather who was in World War II as a secret operative or something–ignore the fact that Undercover Grandpa is way too young to be in WWII. There are also a bunch of Russian bad guys around too. I could not tell you why.
However, during Microsoft’s Game Stack Live presentation, Twitter user @MasyerGaming spotted an S/PDIF optical audio output above the storage expansion port.
IGN reached out to Microsoft to clarify if the final version of the console would include this optical audio port, to which it responded, “No. Xbox Series X will include ports for Networking (Ethernet), HDMI out, Seagate Storage Expansion Card and three USB 3.1 ports.”
@JezCorden @DMC_Ryan @digitalfoundry can you find out if the Spdif is officially on the series x its on the console they have on game stack live today pic.twitter.com/4IaumEy2pF
— Gamers United 2020 (@MasyerGaming) March 18, 2020
Without an optical audio output, it seems audio will only be available through the HDMI port. HDMI has the benefit of carrying audio and video through a single cable, and we know that Xbox Series X will be utilizing the latest HDMI 2.1 standard.
HDMI 2.1 has more bandwidth for information and can carry signals up to 8K as well as Dolby Atmos, simultaneously.
Additionally, considering that HDMI has become the standard for most, it seems Microsoft has gone the convenience route with this decision as most modern sound equipment utilizes HDMI.
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Earlier today, Sony finally revealed what the architecture of the upcoming PS5 looks like. During the presentation, PlayStation’s lead system architect Mark Cerny spoke at length about how PS5 will utilize the custom Tempest audio engine and will feature “3D audio” allowing for deeper, more immersive experiences.
He also added that down the line Sony may look to create unique audio experiences that are tuned to an individual’s ears.
Wondering how Xbox Series X compares to PlayStation 5? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. We’ve also compared the power between the two machines, and explain why more teraflops doesn’t necessarily mean better performance.
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Matthew Adler is a News and Features writer for IGN. You can chat with him on Twitter or watch him stream on Twitch.
Bloodshot was released in theaters on March 13, and due to COVID-19 causing theaters around the world to close or limit capacity, Bloodshot will be made available for $19.99 USD with all leading digital retailers. International digital sales dates will be revealed in “the days ahead with territory-specific COVID-19 impact considerations.”
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“Sony Pictures is firmly committed to theatrical exhibition and we support windowing,” said Tom Rothman, Chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Motion Picture Group. “This is a unique and exceedingly rare circumstance where theaters have been required to close nationwide for the greater good and Bloodshot is abruptly unavailable in any medium. Audiences will now have the chance to own Bloodshot right away and see it at home, where we are all spending more time. We are confident that — like other businesses hit hard by the virus — movie theaters will bounce back strongly, and we will be there to support them.”
Bloodshot will be joining other such films as Universal’s The Hunt, The Invisible Man, and Emma to become available On Demand months before originally scheduled.
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Besides theatrical releases, Disney decided to release Frozen 2 three months early on Disney+ and make Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker available digitally four days early.
In our review of Bloodshot, we said it “is unapologetically a popcorn movie of the switch-off-your-brain-and-kick-back variety. Diesel and company soldier through a wonky plot to deliver glowers, superhero poses, and loads of action.”
If you want to know how to stay safe and help others during the coronavirus outbreak, please see our guide.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
Not long after Microsoft brought to light a ton of new info on Xbox Series X, Sony announced that it would broadcast a video featuring Mark Cerny, lead console architect behind PS5, diving deep into the next-gen console tech that would define “the future of gaming.” For many, it’s about time, as there’s very little known about PS5 in the lead up to this presentation.
Now that the broadcast has passed, what did we learn? It was a dense presentation by Cerny that outlined an incredible number of details and data points, but it may have been hard to follow if you aren’t at least somewhat familiar with the rapid-fire delivery of terms and concepts. To help distill all that valuable specs info down into something digestible, we’ve got a quick hit list of important takeaways. Let’s start with the most familiar PS5 talking point thus far: loading time, or rather, the lack thereof.
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He may have only appeared in the original trilogy for a matter of seconds, but Boba Fett quickly became everyone’s favorite intergalactic bounty hunter. This 625-piece LEGO set lets you build the iconic helmet from bottom to top. Like all of these helmet sets, it comes with a stand and nameplate so it’ll look great on your shelf.
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They may not be able to blast a target on command, but Stormtroopers’ helmets sure look cool as hell. This 647-piece kit lets you piece together a Stormtrooper helmet of your own for play or display.
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While this one isn’t available at Amazon or Walmart yet, you can place your preorder directly from LEGO. And for my money, the TIE Fighter Pilot helmet is one of the coolest designs that you don’t see all the time in toy lines.
Check out some of the other recent LEGO sets and other Star Wars toys you can preorder now, including the animatronic Baby Yoda that sure seems on pace to become the hot Christmas present this year.
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Chris Reed is IGN’s shopping and commerce editor. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.
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The story will unfold across eight one-shot annuals that pair one of the new Infinity Stone-powered characters (like Amulet, Quantum, and Star) with a classic Marvel character (like Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor).
“We’ve had a wave of incredible new characters over the last few years, and Infinite Destinies will shine a light on eight of them,” Editor Nick Lowe said in a Marvel press release. “We’ll discover new aspects of these heroes and villains in adventures with our the most archetypal Marvel heroes.”
In addition to the main story, a chapter of a B-story titled ‘Super-Spy vs. Super-Spy’ will appear in the back of each annual. The story features Nick Fury as the Agent of Nothing and Phil Coulson as the Agent of Mephisto. Both characters have undergone some extreme changes over the past few years and now they’ll be meeting face-to-face for the first time since Coulson’s death.
Check out the Infinite Destinies comic release schedule below:
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Joshua is Senior Features Editor at IGN. If Pokemon, Green Lantern, or Game of Thrones are frequently used words in your vocabulary, you’ll want to follow him on Twitter @JoshuaYehl and IGN.