Monthly Archives: April 2019
Pokemon Sword and Shield Will ‘Emphasize’ Switch Handheld Mode
Pokemon Sword and Shield are being developed to “emphasize the fun of playing Nintendo Switch in handheld mode."
Revealed in a financial results briefing for the fiscal year ending March 2019, Nintendo says that last year’s Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Eevee! were “designed to highlight the fun of Nintendo Switch in TV mode... by waving the controller at the TV screen to capture Pokémon.”
The report went on to clarify that Nintendo is designing the games for both longtime fans and relative newcomers, saying "We want these games to be played not only by longtime Pokémon fans, but also by consumers whose first encounter with the series was on a dedicated video game platform with Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee!"
Avengers Endgame Beats Star Wars, Sets Thursday Night Box Office Record
Avengers: Endgame has surpassed Star Wars: The Force Awakens at the domestic box office pulling in $60 million for Thursday night previews, breaking the previous all-time record of $57 million from the 2015 Star Wars film, as reported by Box Office Mojo.
Imax showings alone brought in $4.8 million across 412 locations, which marks the third-highest sales total of all time, according to Variety.
The finale of The Infinity Saga is the widest domestic release as it will play in over 4,600 theaters in North America starting Friday, with pre-sale tickets having set a new record within the first hour of sales.
Avengers Endgame Beats Star Wars, Sets Thursday Night Box Office Record
Avengers: Endgame has surpassed Star Wars: The Force Awakens at the domestic box office pulling in $60 million for Thursday night previews, breaking the previous all-time record of $57 million from the 2015 Star Wars film, as reported by Box Office Mojo.
Imax showings alone brought in $4.8 million across 412 locations, which marks the third-highest sales total of all time, according to Variety.
The finale of The Infinity Saga is the widest domestic release as it will play in over 4,600 theaters in North America starting Friday, with pre-sale tickets having set a new record within the first hour of sales.
League of Legends to Add Yuumi the Magical Cat, a Champion for Newcomers
League of Legends will soon be adding a new champion named Yuumi that is aimed at helping newcomers, and possibly best of all is that she is an incredibly cute magical cat.
What makes Yuumi unique and helpful for those new to LoL is that she can attach to allies so new players can focus on her abilities and learning the game while their ally does the rest.
She may be a magical cat, but she is super "squishy" and does best when she is attached to and assisting allies, as then she can only be targeted by towers.
Her Prowling Projectile summons a missile that deals magic damage, and if Yuumi casts it while Attached, it becomes a guided missile. She also has a healing spell called Zoomies, a Passive ability called Bop 'n' Block that shields both her and her attached ally, and the Final Chapter ability that launches seven waves that deal magic damage.
PlayStation 4 Has Sold 96.8 Million Units Worldwide
Sony has announced that 96.8 million PlayStation 4 consoles have been sold worldwide.
The figure comes part of a lengthy end of financial year report that offers a variety of insights into the company’s successes over the past 12 months.
In the 2018 financial year, Sony sold 17.8 million PS4 consoles, with 2.6 million of those sales occurring in the fourth quarter of the year, between January and March 2019. Overall, this figure is down 1.2 million on the previous year, but comes in .03 million higher than Sony’s original projections.
Sony expects that this decline will continue into the new financial year, with a forecast of 16 million expected sales, although the company expects that there will be an increase in game sales.
Nintendo Switch Online Surpasses 9.8 Million Subscribers
Nintendo Switch Online is very, very close to reaching 10 million subscribers.
Revealed in a financial results briefing for the fiscal year ending March 2019, Nintendo reported that NSO subscriptions have exceeded 9.8 million accounts (excluding free trail memberships) after it went live last September. While we know this figure includes family memberships, it’s unclear what the current breakdown of membership types are.
As it stands, NSO costs $4 for a one month subscription, $8 for three months, $20 for a year, and $35 for an annual Family Membership, which allows up to eight Nintendo Account holders to use the service on different systems. You can brush up on NSO’s complete service description here, which includes cloud saves, online play, and a growing library of NES games. There’s also some evidence that SNES games may be added in the future.
Rage 2: 90 Seconds of Spectacular Kills – IGN First
Rage 2 is this month's IGN First, and earlier this week we gave you an in-depth look at its upgrades and skill trees. But now it’s time for more hands-on demonstration of how you’ll use them. Watch the video at the top of the page for a minute and a half of pure creative destruction that shows off some of the spectacular ways that you can dispatch your enemies – including a bit of Wingstick mayhem!
There’s lots more where that came from too, and you can find all of our exclusive coverage from our Rage 2 IGN First this month right here. That includes more gameplay, how it has evolved from the first game, and our hands-on preview.
Best Cable Modems for 2019
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Buying your own internet equipment is an easy way to make your cable bill shrink. Typically ISPs charges you between $6 and $11 to rent their modem or gateway, but you can find much better options that will cost you a lot less in the long-run, and modems aren't super expensive either, as pricing typically starts at only $60. There are plenty of options to choose from, but I've done the research and narrowed the field down to my top picks from brands that have been in the game for ages. However, you’ll have to double check that a particular modem is compatible with your ISP before you buy any of the modems I’ve listed below.
Exclusive Margot Robbie Photo From Tarantino’s New Movie
The release of Avengers: Endgame kicks off 2019’s summer movie season. This year, we’re foregoing a traditional summer movie preview -- a single list-style film preview -- in favor of a month-long series of IGN First summer movie spotlights, featuring exclusive video debuts, image reveals, interviews and more.
IGN First is IGN's editorially-driven month-long spotlight of exclusives around upcoming film titles that both our audience -- and our staff -- are excited about. We'll be rolling out exclusives on some of the most exciting new movies opening between the beginning of May until the end of August, so make sure to check back for even more exclusives throughout April.
Today, we have the exclusive new look at Margot Robbie in writer-director Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Even More Confusing Death Stranding Details Revealed
Hideo Kojima has revealed some new details about Death Stranding at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. But, as with so many things Death Stranding related, the details are vague and leave us with more questions than answers.
"It's an open-world action game, but it's really something new," said Kojima (via GamesRadar+). Part of that something new appears to be a focus on connections: "There are so many things happening in the real world - in America, in Europe - everything is actually connected by the internet, but in a way we're not connected in the real world these days," Kojima revealed.