We chat with Toys For Bob’s design producer Lou Studdert about the new Crash Bandicoot game, discussing the new art style, playing as Crash and Coco, and gameplay changes such as collecting masks that can bend time and gravity.
Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time Announced For PS4 And Xbox One
Crash Bandicoot has been missing in action for years at this point, with remastered versions of his past adventures and racing spin-offs keeping fans occupied. However, the time to wait is almost up, as the famous mascot is back this year with a completely new adventure that Activision is calling a “true sequel.” Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time is a follow-up to the original PlayStation trilogy, and it’s being designed by a group of longtime fans.
Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time has a release date of October 2, 2020, and it will release on PS4 and Xbox One. Unlike the N. Sane Trilogy, it hasn’t been announced for PC or Switch. It’s in the works at Toys For Bob, which also handled the Spyro Reignited Trilogy, Crash 4 uses the same basic platforming gameplay of the original titles, but with advanced and modern twists such as wall-running and grinding rails to make it through tougher areas. The art style has been overhauled for the latest systems, and you’ll be able to play as Neo Cortex alongside Crash and Coco.
Set at the very end of Crash Bandicoot: Warped, the new game sees Neo Cortex, Dr. N. Tropy, and Uka Uka finally escape from their remote plant and return for another attempt at multiverse domination. Of course, you stand in their way, and you’ll have access to four special Quantum Masks to “bend the rules of reality” itself and make it through difficult areas. These include the Time Mask (slows down time) and the Gravity Mask (lets you platform upside down).
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Persona’s Joker, Dragon Quest 11’s Hero Announced as Amiibo
Joker from Persona 5 and the Hero from Dragon Quest 11 will be released as amiibo this Fall.
Announced as part of today’s DLC announcement for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, creator Masahiro Sakurai explained that the team still plans to make amiibo for every DLC fighter in the game, but that he’s not sure how many will be made.
The Joker figure appears to be a complete design, while the Hero figure is apparently still in development.
If the remaining fighters are indeed developed as amiibo, that would mean we’ll get figures of Banjo & Kazooie, Terry, Byleth, Min Min, and 5 unannounced fighters.
The announcement comes alongside the reveal of Challenger Pack 6, which will bring Arms’ Min Min, a Spring Man assist trophy, a Spring Stadium stage, and new Mii Fighter costumes (including Vault Boy from Fallout) to Smash Bros. Ultimate on June 29.
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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.
Min Min from Arms Announced as DLC Fighter for Smash Bros. Ultimate
Min Min from Arms will be the latest Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC fighter. She will become available on June 29 for $5.99 (and is included as part of a purchase of Fighters Pass Vol. 2).
Announced by series creator Masahiro Sakurai from his own home, the spring-armed fighter will be able to use both of her extendable limbs for a variety of attacks.
Unlike most characters, the A and B buttons are mapped to one each of Min Min’s arms, rather than for regular and smash attacks. As in Arms itself, Min Min’s arm attachments can be swapped, offering a variety of different effects.
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Arm attacks can be bent in mid-air to adjust your angle of attack but, as a downside, Min Min is built for longer range combat, with attacks easy to dodge from close range.
Min Min’s Final Smash move summons every member of the Arms cast to deliver a barrage of punches to any unlucky recipients. Arms’ Spring Man will also join the game as an Assist Trophy and uses a similar (if less powerful) move when activated.
Spring Stadium is the game’s newest stage to fight across, and features bounce platforms on either side, as well as an arched ceiling that can ricochet flying characters back toward the arena. Arms drones will also periodically carry items across the stage, too.
New Mii Fighter costumes include Ninjara from Arms, Heichachi from Tekken, Callie and Marie from Splatoon, and Vault Boy from Fallout(!). All of the costumes will also be available on June 29.
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Sakurai also announced that Persona 5’s Joker and Dragon Quest 11’s Hero will be released as amiibo this Fall. The director reiterated that the team plans for all DLC charcaters to recive amiibo figurines.
Min Min and the rest of the announced content makes up Challenger Pack 6, the first of six new fighters being added to Smash Bros. Ultimate before December 2021, and part of Fighters Pass Vol. 2.
Min Min marks a change from the plethora of sword-using characters, particularly from Fire Emblem – even Sakurai himself has admitted there are too many Fire Emblem characters in the game, so we’re hoping Min Min marks the start of a variety of more imaginative characters in Fighters Pass Vol. 2.
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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.
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The Witcher Season 2 to Resume Production on August 17
Netflix has announced that principal photography on The Witcher Season 2 will officially resume in the UK on August 17.
The Twitter account for the smash hit series confirmed that filming would resume in just under two months via a nifty little ditty, written in the poetic style of fan-favourite bard Jaskier.
I’m dusting off my lute and quill,
I have some news, some mead to spill:
After all the months we’ve been apart
It’s time for production to restart.
The Witcher and his bard – who’s flawless,
Will reunite on set 17 August.— The Witcher (@witchernetflix) June 22, 2020
“I’m dusting off my lute and quill, I have some news, some mead to spill: After all the months we’ve been apart it’s time for production to restart. The Witcher and his bard – who’s flawless, will reunite on set 17 August,” the post read.
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The Witcher season 2 suspended its production in London back in March, as Netflix paused filming on all of its films and TV shows in the US and Canada in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. However, several productions have recently been given the “green light” to take their first steps back into production after a new mandate of safety protocols were approved in the UK.
“This is a green light that signals that the UK is open for business again for film and high-end TV production,” an industry source told The Guardian at the beginning of June. “Many productions have to get up and running again in the next two months or they won’t get made this year as they rely on summer weather and conditions.”
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The Witcher has been a huge success for Netflix, with 76 million households watching the first season of the action-packed fantasy-drama, and yet many fans were left bemused by the show’s “controversial” multi-timeline format. Although showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich has stood by this as a storytelling device, she has promised that the second season will be more streamlined, now that the characters’ individual stories have intersected to exist on the “same timeline.”
The Witcher Season 2 is due to stream on Netflix in 2021.
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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.
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EA Boss On The Importance Of Diversity And Inclusion
EA’s chief studios officer Laura Miele has shared new details on the company’s ambition to be a more inclusive and diverse company, and why that will help the outfit to make the best games.
Speaking to GI.biz, Miele shared that EA has created a new set of internal guidelines called the “Inclusion Framework” that studios use to help make more inclusive characters and stories. Miele pointed to Kim Hunter, the fictional female hero of the FIFA story mode in recent years, as an example of a development team creating a game with the aim of helping to appeal to a wider audience than before.
“We want to make games for everyone, and our games and characters must be as diverse as the communities we serve,” Miele said. “One way we enable that is our Inclusion Framework, a set of filters designed to challenge our thinking and help our studios develop more inclusive characters and stories across our games. A great example of this is FIFA. The team has adopted the framework and completes a diversity assessment every year. It enabled the FIFA team to ensure Kim Hunter was a unique and truly authentic character and a gaming first–the first female playable hero in a sports story.”
Call Of Duty: Warzone–Watch A Squad Drum Up A Victory With Only Kali Stick Kills
Call of Duty: Warzone added a new melee weapon in Season 4–the Kali Stick, a pair of sticks that can be used as melee weapons to quickly beat down an opponent. Generally, a new melee weapon is not as exciting in a game like this as a new powerful gun. As it turns out, though, the Kali Stick is incredibly deadly in the right hands.
YouTuber Vikkstar123 has released a video of him and the other members of his three-person squad racking up a win in the Call of Duty battle royale game only using Kali Sticks to hurt their enemies.
While secondary grenades like flashbangs are used, and the squad also use vehicles to move around the map and riot shields to protect themselves, their kills are all scored with these sticks.