Monthly Archives: May 2019
Why Drogon Did What He Did in the Game of Thrones Finale
Jon Snow didn’t want to kill Daenerys Targaryen, but being the guy who always does the right thing no matter what, he knew he had to. Jon surely would've sacrificed himself first if it meant he could stop his queen from committing more atrocities like the razing of King's Landing. And chances are, if anyone else had murdered Daenerys the way Jon did, they would've been killed themselves shortly thereafter. For when the queen falls to the floor dead, her dragon Drogon seemingly senses what has happened and quickly appears in what is now the open-air Great Hall of the Red Keep.
Blizzard Learned A Lot From Controversial Diablo Immortal Reveal
Blizzard Entertainment president J. Allen Brack recently spoke with IGN, saying the studio learned “A huge number of lessons” from the less-than-warmly-received Diablo Immortal reveal.
In an interview with IGN conducted by James Duggan, we asked Brack about the lessons learned from this adverse fan reaction. He said the company learned "A huge number of lessons. I think that one of the things that we failed to do was to really help articulate that we are a PC gaming company and that we’re going to continue to be a PC gaming company."
Brack addressed fan concerns that, with Diablo Immortal being a mobile game and various PC games moving over to consoles, Blizzard has shifted its focus away from PC. "We started our journey in ye-olden times as a console company, and then we migrated to PC,” said Brack. "And in the last few years, we’ve moved Diablo 3 to console, we’ve moved Overwatch to console, we’ve moved Diablo 3 to Switch. And those have been good things, that I think a lot of people have resonated with. But fundamentally our roots are PC, a strong PC game company, and that’s not going to change.
Why Blizzard Changed Its Mind And Made World of Warcraft Classic
World of Warcraft Classic has been in closed beta for just under a week. In that time hundreds of players clashed in the Arathi Highlands, the Classic WoW subreddit crested 100,000 subscribers, and the beta has garnered over 150,000 concurrent viewers on Twitch. I've personally invested 20 hours into the beta at this point and am shocked to find myself enjoying parts of the 15-year-old MMO that I remember as mundane. Going in, I knew I'd love the single-shard servers, non-homogeneous classes, lack of flying mounts, and many reasons to interact with other players, but I didn't expect to enjoy the surprising difficulty of simply questing on my own. It's easy to take what I'm playing for granted but the fact of the matter is that WoW Classic wouldn't exist without years of deliberation on the part of a passionate fanbase, followed by years of development on the part of an equally passionate developer.
Nintendo Shutting Down Mobile Games In Belgium Due to Loot Box Laws
Nintendo is shutting down two of its mobile games in Belgium due to the “current unclear situation in Belgium regarding certain in-game revenue models". From August 27 both Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp will be unavailable in the country.
Vanwege de huidige onduidelijke situatie in België omtrent bepaalde verdienmodellen van games, zal de service voor Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp en Fire Emblem Heroes op 27 augustus 2019 in België worden stopgezet. https://t.co/8xvDHr0zkO
— Nintendo België (@NintendoBE_NL) May 21, 2019
Dota 2’s Battle Pass 2019 Lets You Avoid Certain Players
This year’s Dota 2 Battle Pass includes an experimental “Avoid Player” list that aims to ensure you won’t match with players you don’t want to.
Revealed on Dota 2’s International Battle Pass 2019 page (via GamesIndustry.biz), the page states "Not all players and playstyles work well together. To help keep your team chemistry balanced and fun, we've added an experimental Avoid Player list that guarantees you won't match with a player again. Designate players to avoid on the post-game screen to filter them out of your matchmaking pool."
How Ghost Recon Breakpoint Is Redefining Survival
We’re rolling right along with our Ghost Recon Breakpoint IGN First this month, and today we’re bringing you a look at its survival features. Now, there’s an important distinction to be made here: Breakpoint isn’t a “survival” game, it’s a game about survival. Watch the video above to hear Ubisoft breakdown what that actually means, and explain why you won’t need to drink or eat to stay alive.
You can also catch up with all of our previous Breakpoint IGN First features right here, including a first look at its online social hub and a look back at how the Ghost Recon series has evolved. You can also watch our hands-on Breakpoint preview below.
Dauntless Becomes First Game To Launch With PS4 Cross-Play
Dauntless has fulfilled its "One Dauntless" promise as it launches today with full cross-play and cross-progression on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on the Epic Games Store and is the first game to launch with this functionality for PS4.
Phoenix Labs' free-to-play co-op action-RPG Dauntless' promise of a "One Dauntless" for all players around the world to play together, no matter where they play, was a "truly audacious goal," but one that was very important for the team in its mission.
“When we first started talking about ‘One Dauntless,’ we knew it was a truly audacious goal," Jesse Houston, CEO and co-founder of Phoenix Labs said. "No one has ever launched on console with full cross-play support from the start, but we believed in our vision and, thankfully, our friends at Epic Games, Sony, and Microsoft did too. Keeping the community connected is one of our top priorities, and with all the new players coming in at launch, there’s never been a better time to be a Slayer in Dauntless.”
Dauntless Becomes First Game To Launch With PS4 Cross-Play
Dauntless has fulfilled its "One Dauntless" promise as it launches today with full cross-play and cross-progression on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on the Epic Games Store and is the first game to launch with this functionality for PS4.
Phoenix Labs' free-to-play co-op action-RPG Dauntless' promise of a "One Dauntless" for all players around the world to play together, no matter where they play, was a "truly audacious goal," but one that was very important for the team in its mission.
“When we first started talking about ‘One Dauntless,’ we knew it was a truly audacious goal," Jesse Houston, CEO and co-founder of Phoenix Labs said. "No one has ever launched on console with full cross-play support from the start, but we believed in our vision and, thankfully, our friends at Epic Games, Sony, and Microsoft did too. Keeping the community connected is one of our top priorities, and with all the new players coming in at launch, there’s never been a better time to be a Slayer in Dauntless.”
How Winter Works in Game of Thrones Season 8
Full spoilers for Game of Thrones' series finale follow below. For more on Game of Thrones, be sure to vote in our poll of your finale reactions and let us know what you thought of the episode in our "The Iron Throne" review.
There are basically two slogans every citizen of Westeros seems to have taken to heart - "All men must die" and "Winter is coming." And if the series has taught us anything over the past eight years, it's that both are very, very true. The coming of winter has been a common theme in the series from the beginning, with the Starks and other Great Houses preparing for what they fear will be the coldest, most devastating winter in living memory. And given that seasons in this fantasy world can last years - or even a full generation in the case of the infamous "Long Night" 8000 years ago - the coming of snow is something to be feared.
How Winter Works in Game of Thrones Season 8
Full spoilers for Game of Thrones' series finale follow below. For more on Game of Thrones, be sure to vote in our poll of your finale reactions and let us know what you thought of the episode in our "The Iron Throne" review.
There are basically two slogans every citizen of Westeros seems to have taken to heart - "All men must die" and "Winter is coming." And if the series has taught us anything over the past eight years, it's that both are very, very true. The coming of winter has been a common theme in the series from the beginning, with the Starks and other Great Houses preparing for what they fear will be the coldest, most devastating winter in living memory. And given that seasons in this fantasy world can last years - or even a full generation in the case of the infamous "Long Night" 8000 years ago - the coming of snow is something to be feared.