Monthly Archives: November 2019

How to Remaster a Video Game Without Pissing Everybody Off

In Dark Souls Remastered, The Chosen Undead traipses through the booby traps, cuts through an army of necromancers, and plunges deep into the grim catacombs of Lodrhan. There, they will find a friendly skeletal blacksmith named Vamos. Next to him lies a glimmering bonfire, shining a reassuring glow into the overwhelming darkness.

For longtime fans of the series, this was a moment of salvation. In the original version of Dark Souls, there was no such bonfire near Vamos. Every visit to the smith required a long, dangerous journey, replete with the kind of frustrating deaths that first made this series famous. Now, with the Lordvessel in tow, we could transport our characters directly to his feet -- making Dark Souls, ever so slightly, a more generous game. All it took was one astute edit, seven years after its initial release.

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Red Dead Redemption 2 PC Is Crashing for Players, but Rockstar Is Working on a Fix

Red Dead Redemption 2 is finally out on PC, but some users are discovering that they can’t get past the loading screen before the game crashes. Rockstar Games says it’s working to resolve this issue immediately.

The most common issue stems from trying to launch the game from Rockstar’s official games launcher. When some players click “Play” to get into Red Dead Redemption 2 PC, they’re instead greeted with a pop-up that says, “The Rockstar Games Launcher exited unexpectedly.”

Rockstar’s official support Twitter account has been spending the morning asking users with issues to start support tickets. Meanwhile, the Rockstar support FAQ page is suggesting users who encounter this issue to update their graphics drivers and run RDR2.exe as administrator.

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Best PlayStation Gifts 2019

Finding exactly the right gift for the people on your list each year is no easy task. But if someone in your life is a PlayStation fan, we can make it a whole lot easier. We've gathered all the latest and greatest PS4 hardware, software, accessories, and gear into one place just for you.

There's no shortage of gift ideas for PlayStation fans, so you're bound to find something that fits your needs and budget. You can click the links below to jump to the category of your choice, or scroll through at your leisure. Enjoy.

Don't see the deals below? Click here.

Best PlayStation 4 Gifts 2019

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Cyber Monday LIVE: Xbox Controller with Game Pass, PS4 Controllers, iPhone, Apple Watch, 1/3 off LEGO

Welcome to IGN's Cyber Monday 2019 central deals hub, your source for all the best Cyber Monday deals from every category you can get in the UK this month.

Cyber Monday deals are LIVE: Every retailer has now gone live with their Cyber Monday deals. If you don't want to trawl through every site to find the best deals, there's no better place to be than here - IGN's central deals hub.

I'll be updating this page with only the best deals from every category as soon as they come out, so make sure to bookmark this page and check back more than once.

JUMP TO THE BEST CYBER MONDAY DEALS

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How Spider-Man Helped DD Reboot the Legion of Super Heroes

If you want to know what the future holds for the DC Universe, you should be checking out DC's newest Legion of Super Heroes comic this week. Not only is this series the latest major undertaking from writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Ryan Sook, it serves as a completely fresh start for a long-running and often convoluted franchise. The Legion is being rebooted from the ground up, and DC has Spider-Man to thank.

Before we explain what relevance Marvel's most iconic hero has to DC's 31st Century super-team, check out an exclusive preview of Legion of Super Heroes #1 below. Then read on as Bendis explains why the Legion is being rebooted, why Superman's son is at the center of this story and how long this reboot has been in the works.

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Star Wars: C-3PO Actor Anthony Daniels Open to Another Taking on Role

Star Wars veteran Anthony Daniels has admitted that he would "accept" another actor stepping into his iconic character's gold-plated shoes beyond the release of The Rise of Skywalker.

The C-3PO star seemingly laid his parts on the line in a recent interview with Radio Times, as he opened up about the possibility of his role moving forward without him, insisting that the galaxy's beloved protocol droid is "too good of character, too big of a character" to fade into history.

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Square Enix Is Working on a New Action Game IP for Next-Gen Consoles

The studio behind Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy VII Remake is working on a brand new game that will introduce a new action game IP to 'high-definition consoles', potentially including next-generation.

A project listed on The First Development Division's recruitment website spotted by Gematsu promises a “'next-generation action game experience' that takes a step forward from the existing action game framework." The untitled game is apparently being worked on by an international team experienced in AAA game development both within and outside of Japan.

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Best PC Gaming and eSports Gifts

When it comes to top-tier gaming experiences, it's hard to beat PC. If you know someone serious about gaming, especially competitive gaming, or an eSports enthusiast, we've assembled this guide to help you pick out the perfect gift this holiday season.

Whether it's a brand new eSports-ready gaming monitor or a comfortable chair to sit in, these are the best PC gaming and eSports gifts for 2019.

Don't see the deals below? Click here.

Best PC Gaming and eSports Gifts 2019

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Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts Preview: Aiming To Be The Ultimate Sniper Sim

It seems weird to me that after about 20 years of military shooters, so few of them really focus on sniping. Plenty of movies have highlighted snipers as lethal and heroic soldiers, but very few game franchises go through the effort -- with one of those few staples being Sniper Ghost Warrior. While Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 was a major departure for the franchise by expanding things into an open-world setting, Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts scales things back to a mission-based format once again.

In Contracts, out on November 22 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC, you’ll complete 25 different jobs spread across five sprawling maps that act as mid-sized self-contained sandboxes. The preview build I played only had two missions available, so it’s hard to get a feel for how things will wind up at launch, but it seemed to strike a good balance between open-ended levels where you forge your own path alongside more traditional targeted, specific objectives. So it’s less about being let loose in a massive open world and figuring out where to go and what to do and more about tracking and eliminating targets on the other end of dense bases and battlefields.

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Dark Souls Modders Discover How To Import Custom Maps Into The Original Game

Dark Souls has been out for eight years, but modders are still discovering new ways to beef up the original code. The latest find allows players to import custom maps into the game.

Until now, that had been a tricky task. For the longest time, modders have been grappling with issues caused by the file formats used in collision detection. Since collision detection is basically the physics-based technology that makes an in-game object seem solid, it's vital for a functioning map - or you end up with characters walking through walls.

As one modder, Katalash, explained on Reddit, collision file data in Dark Souls games are squirreled away in a proprietary file format (called Havok) which is difficult to access. To get around it, the modders used old Havok Content Tools to make a new template that could be imported in to Dark Souls maps.

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