While his studio makes Half-Life: Alyx, Valve co-founder Gabe Newell has been working on something a little more future-forward - brain-computer interface research - and says “we’re way closer to The Matrix than people realise.” In an interview with Ryan McCaffrey for IGN First, Newell was asked what a typical day looks like for one of the most influential men in gaming. Newell’s answer centred on the fact that he prefers to avoid having a ‘typical day’, but said that, “the area I'm spending a lot of time on has been growing out of a bunch of research that occurred a while ago on brain-computer interfaces, and I think that's kind of long lead stuff. So that's the kind of background thread that I get pulled back into when other things aren't demanding my attention.” [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/18/ign-first-half-life-alyx-gabe-newell-interview"] Later in the interview, Newell returned to the idea as it pertained to the opportunities that Valve has in front of it to change the medium of gaming, as it’s trying to do with Half-Life: Alyx and VR - and he led with a bold statement: “We're way closer to The Matrix than people realise. It's not going to be The Matrix - The Matrix is a movie and it misses all the interesting technical subtleties and just how weird the post-brain computer interface world is going to be - but it's going to have a huge impact in the kinds of experiences that we can create for people.” Brain-computer interface tech - the practice of connecting the human brain to a device to allow for control of one over the other - has come a long way in recent years, with researchers now able to facilitate brain-based control over tablets. Newell didn’t make it clear exactly what his work centred on, but it’s clearly in the formative stages: “I think it's one of those things where we're going to learn a lot as we progress - there'll be some things that turn out to be ridiculously hard, and other things that'll turn out to be ridiculously easy. Like, I think connecting to people's motor cortex and visual cortex is going to be way easier than people expected. [...] Reading and writing to somebody's motor cortex is much more of a tractable problem than making people feel cold, and you never would have guessed that. I never would have guessed that until going into it. But it turns out that your brain has really good interfaces for some things, and really badly-designed, kludgy interfaces for doing other things.” [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=half-life-alyx-first-screenshots-4k&captions=true"] One thing Newell does make clear is that this isn’t aimless research - he very much sees brain-computer interface technology as a next step for gaming, not to mention other forms of entertainment: “I think that it's an extinction-level event for every entertainment form that's not thinking about this. If you're in the entertainment business and you're not thinking about this, you're going to be thinking about it a lot more in the future.” As of right now, however, Newell and his team are thinking about how to change the medium in a different way with Half-Life: Alyx - arguably VR gaming's first blockbuster project. We're running an IGN First on the game all month, and can tell you about the first 4 hours, how Zelda inspired its new gravity gloves, and answer your burning questions. Of course, we also have the full half-hour interview with Gabe Newell and Half-Life: Alyx developer Robin Walker, where they talk about far more than just Matrix tech, from how Artifact is a disappointment, but a learning experience, to why a new Half-Life took so long. [ignvideo url="https://uk.ign.com/videos/half-life-2-developers-react-to-50-minute-speedrun"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News, and he's ready for one of those Zion parties. Follow him on Twitter.

HTC has announced that it has partnered with Valve Software and will bundle Half-Life: Alyx with the new HTC Vive Cosmos Elite headset. This offer applies to all customers, even those who have already pre-ordered the headset. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/04/half-life-alyx-13-minutes-of-valve-commentary-ign-first"] The HTC Vive Cosmos Elite launches today, and is HTC’s high-end headset featuring fan cooling and the ability to pair with other accessories such as the Valve Index’s Knuckles controllers. Previously, Valve had announced that Half-Life: Alyx would be provided free for all Valve Index owners, and so this news marks HTC as the second company able to make a similar offer. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=half-life-alyx-first-screenshots-4k&captions=true"] Half-Life: Alyx launches March 23, and is the first Half-Life game from Valve since 2007’s Half-Life 2: Episode 2. It’s a full-length game built for VR, and our hands-on preview of it made it clear that it’s once again something very special. For more, check out how Zelda influenced the game’s Gravity Gloves. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter. 

Shadow Man, the fan-favorite action-adventure game originally developed by Acclaim and released for N64 (and later PC, PlayStation, and Dreamcast), will be remastered and re-released sometime next year for PC (via Steam and GOG), PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. The remaster will feature 4K resolution; improved shadow mapping, per-pixel lighting, and anti-aliasing; and the restoration of content that was cut from the original game, among other enhancements. “Our goal with the remaster is to give today’s generation of gamers all the features that they expect from a modern title while preserving the qualities that made Valiant’s iconic character and the original Shadow Man game such memorable classics to begin with,” said Stephen Kick, CEO at Nightdive Studios, the outfit handling the remaster. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=shadow-man-remastered-2020-screenshots&captions=true"] Shadow Man stars you as supernatural hero Michael LeRoi in the age of Jack the Ripper, where you'll fight demons from the Deadside who are entering our world. The remaster is being powered by Nightdive's KEX engine – the same one used in the recent remasters of System Shock, Turok, and Forsaken. A new comic book series is also in the world, with Shadowman #1 set for a May 20 release. IGN gave the original Shadow Man a 9.1 out of 10 back in 1999. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s Executive Editor of Previews. Follow him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan, catch him on Unlocked, and drop-ship him Taylor Ham sandwiches from New Jersey whenever possible.

The MCU timeline reportedly won't be affected by the delayed release of Black Widow, the first film in Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. According to Variety, a Marvel insider recently claimed that "pushing Black Widow affects nothing on the MCU timeline," even though the Cate Shortland-directed film was initially slated to be released on April 24, 2020, in the UK and on May 1, 2020, in the US, marking the official launch of Marvel Studios' Phase 4. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=marvel-phase-4-official-lineup&captions=true"] Originally, the new era was set to be ushered in with the release of Black Widow this year, followed by The Falcon and The Winter Soldier on Disney+ in August, 2020, then The Eternals in theatres on November 6, 2020, and WandaVision on Disney+ in December, 2020. The new slate is expected to offer a coherent collection of interconnected adventures, spanning both television and cinema, with that synergy initially being pushed by the announcement of Elizabeth Olsen's co-starring role as Scarlet Witch in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which will not only tie into her Disney+ show WandaVision, but also has a significant connection to the Loki series, which comes to Disney+ in Spring 2021. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/09/black-widow-official-final-trailer"] In these uncertain times, however, it is not clear whether Black Widow will find a release slot ahead of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier or whether other release dates will be shifted around in an attempt to maintain Phase 4's original order. It is also highly possible that the placement of the standalone Black Widow movie, starring Scarlett Johansson, may not be critical to the surrounding events of the other upcoming titles on the slate, especially as it's a prequel that will take place between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, prior to the superhero's sacrificial act to save her friends and restore the Vanished in Avengers: Endgame. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-delayed-movie-due-to-coronavirus-so-far&captions=true"] Whatever the case, Disney has currently put a pause on most of its live-action productions, including Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, as well as all of its upcoming Disney+ Marvel shows. Black Widow joins a growing list of movie and TV productions affected by COVID-19, including Universal's Fast 9, which will now be released in April 2021, almost a year later than originally planned, MGM's No Time to Die, which will now be released in November 2020, and Paramount's A Quiet Place: Part II, which currently does not have a new release date set. If you would like to read about how COVID-19 could affect the film industry, head here. More importantly, take a look at our list of recommendations to help, and stay safe, during the Coronavirus pandemic. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

Animal Crossing and Doom Eternal fans, your awesome collaborative fanart has been seen and is greatly appreciated by Animal Crossing: New Horizons' director, Aya Kyogoku, and producer, Hisashi Nogami. In an interview with IGN, the two briefly lauded the unity that's grown between the two fanbases leading up to both games' March 20 release. "I definitely do notice and have noticed that there’s a lot of Doom and Animal Crossing collaboration art and illustrations that are being posted, and as I look through them I’m in awe of how much creativity our fans have," Kyogoku said. If you haven't seen much from this crossover, fans have often been depicting Doomguy interacting with Isabelle in sweet ways, like teaching her how to slay demons. It's glorious. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/29/march-2020s-biggest-game-releases"] "I think because there is a common denominator of this type of communication happening between Doom and Animal Crossing fans, and also the fact that Animal Crossing is a communication game, we’re very thankful and very thrilled to see all this," Kyogoku said. "We’re so excited at the same time to see how the two [fandoms] are coming together to celebrate this day." The major link between these two games is their release date and the support of their fandom, and Nogami is celebrating the crossover in a broader sense of what it means for games. "So Animal Crossing and Doom — obviously the game genres are completely different. We definitely do have something in common, and that is that they’re both video games, and come from that same subculture so to speak. It’s so great to see that these two different [fandoms] are coming together and hyping up the gaming [community] and gaming culture itself. It really is a great thing to see," Nogami said. Animal Crossing: New Horizons' review and Doom Eternal's single-player review are both live on IGN. For more on Animal Crossing, be sure to read the other part of IGN's interview with Kyogoku and Nogami on why New Horizons doesn't support cloud saves. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Miranda Sanchez is an executive editor at IGN. As a lover of cute things and FPS, she's also very into this crossover. You can chat with her about video games and anime on Twitter.

Doom Eternal does not feature a classic-style Deathmatch multiplayer mode because the idea of it is “eons old”, according to Bethesda Senior VP of Comms Pete Hines. Talking to Shack News, Hines said that he didn’t feel as if Doom Eternal was missing out on anything by not including deathmatch. “That mode is eons old,” he said. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/12/doom-eternal-12-minutes-of-battlemode-2v1-multiplayer-gameplay-ign-first"] The decision to leave the classic Doom feature behind came after reflecting on how distant Doom 2016’s multiplayer felt from the core experience. “Whether you're playing by yourself or with others, we want it to feel like you're all playing the same game,” Hines explained. “That's as opposed to, ‘I'm a badass demon slayer in single-player, but when I go over to multiplayer, there are no demons, and it's just Deathmatch.’ I don't know what that has to do with [Doom] other than that, well, a couple of decades ago we had that, so we should just have that again.” Id Software’s refusal to include deathmatch just because it has been long associated with the Doom name has resulted in a new asynchronous multiplayer game called Battlemode, which goes live with Doom Eternal’s campaign when it launches. Rather than just throwing a bunch of Doomguys into an arena together, this new mode pits a Slayer against two other players taking on the role of Doom Eternal’s hardiest demons. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=doom-eternal-january-2019-screenshots&captions=true"] For more on Doom Eternal, check out our review of the single-player campaign, our look at how speed is vital to survival, and how the Stadia version isn’t quite as promised. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter. 

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is on the way, but you won't be able to use cloud saves to protect your deserted island's progress. IGN spoke with Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ director, Aya Kyogoku, and producer, Hisashi Nogami, to clarify why this feature isn't compatible with their vision for the game, and the alternatives they're looking at to protect player's data. The answer came down to one thing: they want to prevent cheating. Nogami said that Animal Crossing: New Horizons is an online game that allows players anywhere to connect, and cheating is a huge concern in online games. Kyogoku added on that players could unfairly take advantage of the in-game economy if certain things like cloud saves are used improperly. Nogami explained that Nintendo Switch's cloud save service functions similarly to "SD data saves", and allows users to write their data on allotted network storage. Then, you can progress through your game and eventually roll back your data to the cloud save if you wanted and effectively cheat the game. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/10-cute-animal-crossing-new-horizons-multiplayer-and-museum-features"] But how does this differ from time-traveling, another way to cheat the system to visit holidays and quickly earn bells? Nogami clarified that, yes, while some players choose to manipulate their system's clock to skip around in Animal Crossing, it doesn't have the same impact as manipulating save data. The Animal Crossing team found that with cloud saves, users could potentially cheat by multiplying or increasing the number of a specific item. "It messes with the economy of Animal Crossing by getting the items or bells as much as they want. Trying to acquire items or money is something we do in real life too, and we also want the users to understand that there is hard work involved with doing these types of things just like real life,” Kyogoku said. “By putting in hard work, I think it creates value and love for that specific item you were able to gain. And at the same time, by creating an environment like that, fans who do put in the hard work, we wanted to make sure their hard work does not go in vain and we are able to support those players who put in that time and effort.” [poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=%E2%80%9CBy%20putting%20in%20hard%20work%2C%20I%20think%20it%20creates%20value%20and%20love%20for%20that%20specific%20item%20you%20were%20able%20to%20gain."] Kyogoku is also hoping players don’t feel a need to time travel. She said, between adding an option to play in the northern or southern hemisphere and adding the DIY system that allows players to craft tools even after shops are closed, the impetus to do so should be lessened. In previous Animal Crossing games, shops sold tools at random and closed at a certain time each day. Holidays in New Horizons are also locked to free DLC updates, so time traveling has fewer incentives. "We believe that Animal Crossing is the type of game that is best played if it is synced to real-time because you are able to share that experience with your friends and family, and enhance that communication that you have with them in real life as well,” Kyogoku said. ”With all that said, I feel like we were able to create a game where users will be able to play and enjoy the game without having to change the system time clock." However, Kyogoku and Nogami reaffirmed that protecting saves for players is a priority. As previously mentioned in the Animal Crossing: New Horizons Nintendo Direct, Nogami said that the team is working on a system to recover saves if a player loses their Switch, or if it breaks. They’re also working on a system for transferring data. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="legacyId=20089295&captions=true"] "In terms of data transfer and moving, this has nothing to do with cheating. Switch hardware and Switch's systems have restrictions when transferring special data like Animal Crossing data because it's a little bit complex. In order to address those concerns, we are trying to create a transfer system that's special to Animal Crossing," Nogami said. IGN has more news from our interview with Kyogoku and Nogami. Stay tuned for that, and until then, be sure to check out the Animal Crossing: New Horizons review and maybe even the Doom Eternal single-player review. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Miranda Sanchez is an executive editor at IGN. She's hoping Roscoe moves to her island. You can chat with her about video games and anime on Twitter.

PlayStation 5 is a getting a system architecture 'deep dive' livestream today, hosted by Sony designer Mark Cerny - and we'll be watching it and updating you live. The PS5 'deep dive' will go live at 9am Pacific / 12pm Eastern / 4pm UK (that's 3am AEDT on March 19), on the PlayStation Blog, or on YouTube. The show will be livestreamed, and we'll be updating this story live as we watch it, and we'll have the video on-site for you to watch as soon as it's available. As for what might be in the show, a now-deleted Sony tweet indicated that this would be a replacement for Sony's GDC showing. That show is developer-focused, perhaps indicating a more technical look at the console's specifications (as we saw from Microsoft's Xbox Series X earlier this week). Is it too much to hope we'll see what the non-devkit version looks like? Perhaps, but we can dream. [poilib element="accentDivider"]

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members will now get regular Perks, including DLC, in-game content and more, included as part of the membership subscription. As of today, March 18, Ultimate members can redeem the following four perks:  

• Phantasy Star Online 2: "Enter the world of one of Japan’s biggest online RPGs with a special content bundle, which includes unique emotes, in-game cosmetics including an Xbox jacket, a gold ticket Mission Pass and in-game currency with a Meseta Crystal. Available to members in the US and Canada only."
• World of Tanks: Mercenaries: "A global multiplayer free-to-play game dedicated to tank warfare in the mid-20th century. Start your journey with three powerful tanks and more!"
• Sea of Thieves: "The essential pirate experience, from sailing and fighting to exploring and looting – everything you need to live the pirate life and become a legend in your own right. With Perks, you get a free Ori-inspired Ancestral Sails, Figurehead, Hull, and Flag to adorn your ship."
• Smite: "Become divine in the #1 MOBA on Xbox, with a bundle that unlocks five Gods, special character skins and voice packs so you can ride into the battle of the Gods in style. With Smite, join a community of 30 million players and defend your portal in showdowns in the Collesium."

  New perks will be added alongside additions to the Game Pass catalog. You can find them within the Xbox Game Pass tab, in the new Xbox app on Windows 10 PC, or within the Xbox Game Pass mobile app. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/04/16/microsoft-announces-xbox-game-pass-ultimate"] Xbox Game Pass Ultimate combines the Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass subscriptions, and you can stock up on codes for one of the best deals in gaming right now. Your subscription will carry over to Xbox Series X, too. The announcement comes alongside a raft of upcoming additions to and removals from Game Pass for console and PC:

Joining Console

• Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown
• Kona
• The Surge 2 – Xbox One X Enhanced
• Bleeding Edge – Xbox One X Enhanced / Xbox Play Anywhere
• Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid

Joining PC

• Astrologaster
• Bleeding Edge
• Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid
• The Surge 2

Leaving Console

• Borderlands: The Handsome Collection
• Cities: Skylines
• The Golf Club 2
• LEGO Worlds
• Operencia: The Stolen Sun
• Vampyr

Leaving PC

• Battle Chef Brigade
• Cities: Skylines
• Kingsway
• Operencia: The Stolen Sun
• Orwell: Keeping an Eye on You
• Vampyr

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Sony's Benelux PR Agency, BAAS, has said that the PlayStation 5 launch is not yet delayed by the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) outbreak. Speaking to LetsGoDigital, the Amsterdam PR agency - which represents PlayStation across the Benelux region - reportedly said the PS5 launch is still on target for its unspecified holiday release date. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/17/ps5-news-coming-tomorrow-march-18-ign-now"] Some have been clear to point out the "yet" in that wording - implying those discussions could be taking place - but it's not clear if the statement reported by LetsGoDigital is exactly what was written by a BAAS spokesperson, or if it's been paraphrased. Sony has not yet responded to IGN at time of writing. Whatever release PS5 ends up getting, we know that we're getting new information today, with system architect Mark Cerny presenting a 'deep dive' on the console at 9am Pacific / 12pm Eastern / 4pm UK (that's 3am AEDT on March 19), on the PlayStation Blog. [poilib element="accentDivider"]