E3 is fast approaching, and there are rumors Microsoft could be lining up a new hardware announcement at the show.

Microsoft insider Brad Sams wrote on Thurrott.com, saying that he expects to see new hardware and a new controller at E3.

Citing Microsoft sources, Sams says the new controller will be similar in design to the current one, but will "likely come in a new color."

Beyond the controller, Sams says the company has a "much larger hardware related announcement" coming which he doesn't have all the details on yet. There are rumors it could be a new Elite Xbox One console. Once IGN learns more, we'll be sure to let you know.

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Creative Assembly has made some adjustments to its DLC plans, as Chaos Warriors will now be offered for free to people who buy Total War: Warhammer within the first week of sale.

Previously, the Chaos Warriors Race Pack was a pre-order bonus, which to led to backlash from fans both on forums and on the Chaos Warriors announcement trailer, which has an overwhelming number of dislikes on YouTube.

Creative director Mike Simpson said the race's popularity has led to the decision to offer it free for seven days. "By extending the deadline for getting them for free by a week, we can ensure loyal fans who don’t feel like pre-ordering don’t miss out, while still rewarding early adopters whose support is really valuable to us.”

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After nearly 20 years and a plethora of genre-defining titles, Legendary British developer Lionhead closes its doors today for the last time.

Early last month, General Manager at Microsoft Studios Europe, Hanno Lemke, broke the news Lionhead would enter a consultation period to discuss the possibility of closure.

“After much consideration we have decided to cease development on Fable Legends, and are in discussions with employees about the proposed closure of Lionhead Studios in the UK,” said Lemke.

With the consultation period over and no potential buyers in sight, today, Friday, April 29, marks the last day in the history of the esteemed developer.

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IGN recently visited Pixar HQ to speak to the talented folk behind their forthcoming summer release, Finding Dory. As part of that trip, we also got to watch the first 30 minutes of the belated sequel, which sees Finding Nemo’s most lovable fish taking centre stage in her very own adventure.

Unfortunately the scenes we most want to tell you about – which take place during the film’s first five minutes – are strictly out-of-bounds, with Pixar’s head honchos swearing us to secrecy about details they want to keep under wraps, which is perfectly understandable. But what we will say is that Finding Dory’s early moments pack a punch as emotional as their predecessor.

Then, mercifully, we’re back to the fun stuff, the film revolving around an underwater adventure triggered by Dory suddenly remembering that she has a family, and embarking on a quest to find them.

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Bungie aims to fix a bug that's been affecting melee attacks in sci-fi shooter, Destiny, but you won't see results for around a couple of weeks yet.

"Ever thrown a punch – we’re only talking about Destiny here – that seemed to land (you heard it and you felt it) but it didn’t deal any damage?" asks community manager, DeeJ, on this week's Bungie update. "Yeah, us too."

Sandbox engineer Jon Cable explains what's happened, and how the developer intends to put it right.

"When a melee attack seems like it connects, but it doesn’t do any damage, this is usually a networking problem. Most commonly, it occurs when there is an issue communicating your position to the other machines in the game, or if your would-be victim is having a similar problem. I’ve tweaked some networking logic related to player positions during melee attacks which should help address these issues.

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The Senate Environment and Communications References Committee report on the future of Australia’s video game development industry was released today and contains several recommendations designed to stimulate the sector.

One of the key proposals is the establishment of a successor to the Australian Interactive Games Fund (AIGF), which was axed by the Abbott Government after just 12 months, much to the bitter disappointment of the Australian games development community.

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Microsoft and developer Turn 10 have announced the upcoming PC debut of the Forza series, Forza Motorsport 6: Apex, will be available to play via an open beta next month.

The open beta will begin on May 5 and “will run on a variety of Windows 10-enabled machines” at resolutions up to 4K. Head to the Forza Motorsport site here for a rundown of recommended PC specs.

Turn 10’s Brian Ekberg explained updates and improvements will be grafted into the beta as development continues, citing wheel support, the ability to disable Vsync, and an in-app framerate counter are some of the features the studio is currently working on.

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The second episode of Hitman opens with Agent 47 lounging on a bench in the idyllic vacation destination, Sapienza. With a newspaper in hand and a crisp Italian shirt on his back, you could be forgiven for mistaking Agent 47 as a proxy of Daniel Craig's James Bond--if it wasn't for his shaved, barcoded head.

Sapienza's laid back atmosphere is almost the antithesis of the first episode's bustling fashion show, and this shift comes as a breath of fresh air. There's a greater variety of events to behold and more ground to cover, and you're afforded more opportunities to explore, unfettered by potential threats on the streets. While familiarizing yourself with the area, you'll regularly stumble into amusing scenes and personalities. Whether it's a street performer entertaining a group of tourists, an off-duty waiter taking a leak, or a priest who's flustered to see you barge into the middle of a confession, there are numerous vignettes that made me snicker and buy into the idea that Sapienza is a functioning community. It's disappointing that you can't enter every building given the potential advantages and entertainment they could provide, but episode two's world feels intricate and alive.

It didn't take long for me to warm up to the sunlit streets and coastal views, which provided a relaxing buffer from this episode's dangerous destination: a mansion with a secret underground laboratory, protected by mafia-like guards and professional security. Your mission is to infiltrate the home, kill two targets, and destroy an experimental virus located in the heart of the lab. In traditional Hitman fashion, there are disguises to steal from unsuspecting NPCs that allow you to pass through security checkpoints and fool hired hands into thinking you're just another employee, toiling away in the opulent villa. A keen eye--or a finger on the button that triggers the x-ray vision-like Instinct mode--will help you locate tools to unlock doors or items that take out enemies, such as an exploding golf ball.

Hunting for opportunities in your environment is just as critical to the Hitman experience as the act of assassinating targets. You spend most of your time sneaking and procuring said items, and while you need to be ever vigilant to avoid detection from suspicious NPCs, Hitman's unreliable AI can be easily fooled once you learn how to manipulate the way the game handles line-of-sight. It's reasonable to expect that rounding a corner and making a sharp turn in an unexpected direction would throw off a hapless guard, but it's a little silly that you can avoid detection by crouching and walking circles around objects, despite Agent 47's head poking out in plain view.

Even though the enemies you circumvent aren't the brightest, there are enough of them to make your job difficult once you infiltrate the mansion's perimeter. Anyone who played the first episode will feel right at home, and potentially more at ease, despite staring danger in the face on a constant basis. Whereas the mansion in Paris was brimming with people and stuffed with hallways and tiny rooms, Sapienza's has more open space and fewer twists and turns. This looser layout potentially presents fewer hiding places--with no crowds to confuse guards and fewer windows to jump through--but this also makes the moment-to-moment action feel more manageable. That is, until you see what lurks under your feet.

The underground laboratory is a totally different beast compared to the mansion. It's small and jam-packed with professional security and doctors in a space that's only big enough for a few medical trailers and crates. It's a scene that's tough to navigate and even harder to crack, but its concentrated nature makes victory all the more rewarding. With a swap of an outfit, an errant keycard, and a handy hazmat suit, you can make it into the virus' containment facility, but it requires extreme patience--any amount of aggressive behavior in the lab is met with extreme force.

Though you can still rely on Hitman's forgiving radar-meets-map--which automatically tracks movements of targets and NPCs--you can use infiltration and reconnaissance across the entirety of Sapienza to locate your targets on foot. NPCs often engage in conversations that reveal the habits or locations of specific characters, but you can also pursue mini-objectives that lead you right into the lion's den, such as playing the part of a target's golf instructor. However, it's not unusual to turn a corner and organically cross paths with your target. However, they have routines, and once you realize your target is simply following a pre-programmed path rather than living in and reacting to the world as a real person might, their mystique takes a nose-dive.

The mediocre AI and animations return, as does the need to repeat the same old spy tricks, but they take a backseat this time around as Sapienza and its colorful denizens take center stage.

Indeed, once you understand the movements of your targets, the limitations of Hitman's enemy AI and the locations of critically useful items, the sense of wonder and immersion fade, and Hitman begins to feel more like a puzzle game. This is most evident when you dive into escalation missions.

These multi-stage missions come in five parts, stacking new objectives with each round. The added challenges--like not pacifying NPCs--make completing these challenges more difficult with each round, but not necessarily more enjoyable, as you already know how to complete the unchanging objectives. It's possible to clear the first few stages of an escalation mission in a couple of minutes using the knowledge you gleaned from the episode's main mission, and it doesn't take long to grow tired of walking the same paths and resorting to the same tactics. You can look for new solutions, but it's up to you to drum up the interest in doing so as the game doesn't go out of its way to mix up the variables and guide you in new directions.

Despite having a few distinct locations to explore within Sapienza, your main mission won't last long, but the variety is appreciated, with the lab feeling different from the mansion feeling different than the streets. In that regard, this episode feels far more well-rounded than the first. The mediocre AI and animations return, as does the need to repeat the same old spy tricks, but they take a backseat this time around as Sapienza and its colorful denizens take center stage. Episode two doesn't fill your plate, but it's a satisfying experience nonetheless.

Marvel held one of their "Next Bg Thing" press calls today. Writer Nick Spencer and Executive Editor Tom Brevoort were in attendance to discuss the fallout of the Avengers Standoff crossover and the impending launch of Captain America: Steve Rogers. How does Steve Rogers feel about having his youth and strength restored? How will the two Captains America co-exist going forward? What part will Steve Rogers play in Civil War II? These were just some of the topics Spencer and Brevoort addressed.

Scroll down to see what we learned during the call and feast your eyes on some newly revealed interior art from Captain America: Steve Rogers artist Jesus Saiz.

Jesus Saiz recently made the jump to Marvel, illustrating one of the opening chapters of the Avengers Standoff crossover and designing a brand new costume for the Star-Spangled Avenger. Now he'll be helping Spencer to launch Marvel's second concurrent Captain America series. Brevoort praised Saiz's work, saying the the artist has reached a new level of storytelling ability with this project. "People say this all the time but this is genuine. Jesus Saiz took a real leap forward. Whether it's just he's energized to be at Marvel or on Captain America or part of Standoff, his work has never looked better."

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A Wheel of Time TV series is indeed in the works.

In a press statement, Harriet McDougal -- the editor of the Wheel of Time novels and widow of Robert Jordan -- announced an official announcement about the forthcoming series should be coming from a studio soon.

"Wanted to share with you exciting news about The Wheel of Time. Legal issues have been resolved. The Wheel of Time will become a cutting edge TV series! I couldn’t be more pleased," she wrote on Google+. "Look for the official announcement coming soon from a major studio."

Wheel of Time was included on IGN's list of the 5 unadapted fantasy series that deserve Hollywood's attention. One of the most recognizable and popular fantasy series of all time, Wheel of Time is a massive epic with a sprawling cast of characters that tells the story of the quest to find the Dragon Reborn and stop the Dark One.

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