Hasbro is expanding its Power Rangers Lightning Collection with a new addition based on the Shattered Grid comic crossover from 2018: Lord Drakkon. The Shattered Grid series is a crossover between the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and Go Go Power Rangers story lines. If you aren't up on your Power Rangers comic lore, Lord Drakkon is Tommy Oliver in an alternate universe where he never joined the Rangers, and instead kept his loyalties to Rita Repulsa. The Lightning Collection is Hasbro's premium Power Rangers collectible line. Think Star Wars Black Series or GI Joe Classified Series, but for Power Rangers. The figure features excellent paint and detailing and includes the shattered trophy helmets of defeated Rangers,, interchangeable hands and sword, and "transforms from Evolution to Evolution as he gains more power, eventually becoming a Black Ranger." Oh, and there are two different matrices of lightning to represent his growing powers. Yes. Lightning is an accessory. Instead of me telling you about it, take a look at the gallery below. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=lord-drakkon-evo-iii-figure-reveal&captions=true"] The Lord Drakkon Evo III figure will be available this September for $49.99 as a Hasbro Pulse exclusive. Last week, Hasbro revealed new Star Wars: Black Series figures based on the Clone Wars animated series, and also revealed a Top Gun x Transformers mash-up coming later this year. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Seth Macy is Executive Editor, IGN Commerce, and just wants to be your friend. Find him on Twitter @sethmacy.

Hasbro is expanding its Power Rangers Lightning Collection with a new addition based on the Shattered Grid comic crossover from 2018: Lord Drakkon. The Shattered Grid series is a crossover between the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and Go Go Power Rangers story lines. If you aren't up on your Power Rangers comic lore, Lord Drakkon is Tommy Oliver in an alternate universe where he never joined the Rangers, and instead kept his loyalties to Rita Repulsa. The Lightning Collection is Hasbro's premium Power Rangers collectible line. Think Star Wars Black Series or GI Joe Classified Series, but for Power Rangers. The figure features excellent paint and detailing and includes the shattered trophy helmets of defeated Rangers,, interchangeable hands and sword, and "transforms from Evolution to Evolution as he gains more power, eventually becoming a Black Ranger." Oh, and there are two different matrices of lightning to represent his growing powers. Yes. Lightning is an accessory. Instead of me telling you about it, take a look at the gallery below. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=lord-drakkon-evo-iii-figure-reveal&captions=true"] The Lord Drakkon Evo III figure will be available this September for $49.99 as a Hasbro Pulse exclusive. Last week, Hasbro revealed new Star Wars: Black Series figures based on the Clone Wars animated series, and also revealed a Top Gun x Transformers mash-up coming later this year. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Seth Macy is Executive Editor, IGN Commerce, and just wants to be your friend. Find him on Twitter @sethmacy.

Balan Company, a new Square Enix studio focused on making action games, will reveal its first title tomorrow. Announced on the studio's website, the announcement will come on July 23 at 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern / 9pm UK (that's July 24 at 5am AEST). A follow-up tweet from Square Enix adds that the announcement will be a "new title". That timing is suspiciously close to when we'd expect the Xbox Games Showcase to be wrapping up, so it feels like we may see the game as part of Microsoft's event. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/26/square-enix-will-announce-several-new-games-in-july-and-august-ign-news"] There are precious few details about Balan Company right now, aside from the kinds of games it's aiming to make, and that it will bring together both in-house and external developers. This will be one of the 'several' games Square Enix said it would be announcing between July and August. Earlier this year, Square revealed Project Athia, a new game made exclusively for PS5 and co-written by Rogue One: A Star Wars Story co-writer Gary Whitta. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Balan Company, a new Square Enix studio focused on making action games, will reveal its first title tomorrow. Announced on the studio's website, the announcement will come on July 23 at 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern / 9pm UK (that's July 24 at 5am AEST). A follow-up tweet from Square Enix adds that the announcement will be a "new title". That timing is suspiciously close to when we'd expect the Xbox Games Showcase to be wrapping up, so it feels like we may see the game as part of Microsoft's event. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/26/square-enix-will-announce-several-new-games-in-july-and-august-ign-news"] There are precious few details about Balan Company right now, aside from the kinds of games it's aiming to make, and that it will bring together both in-house and external developers. This will be one of the 'several' games Square Enix said it would be announcing between July and August. Earlier this year, Square revealed Project Athia, a new game made exclusively for PS5 and co-written by Rogue One: A Star Wars Story co-writer Gary Whitta. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Disney and Target have teamed up to release a brand new collection of merchandise inspired by the adventures of the Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge theme park areas at both the Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resorts. The good news is that you won't have to travel to a galaxy far, far away to pick up the Trading Outpost Collection as the new range is going to be exclusively available at Target stores, starting August 30. Pre-orders are also now live at Target.com with shipments expected to commence on the same date. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=star-wars-galaxys-edge-trading-outpost-collection&captions=true"] StarWars.com punched in the all of the official details about the merchandise collection and shared a preview of six of the items from the new product line-up, which features an exclusive selection of toys, collectibles, clothing items, books, and more from a range of big-name brands. As pictured in our gallery above, the product preview gave us a look at a new Funko POP! R5 Unit, Hasbro Hyperdrive BB Unit, LEGO Resistance I-TS Transport, Hasbro Smugglers Run Millennium Falcon, and two new Black Series action figures in the form of Captain Cardinal and DJ R-3X. This latest transmission comes shortly after Hasbro announced another new wave of six-inch Star Wars: The Black Series action figures inspired by the final season of The Clone Wars, which the company revealed as part of the Walmart Collector Con 2020 promotion. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/06/we-rode-star-wars-rise-of-the-resistance-at-galaxys-edge"] In other toy-related news, we recently were given a closer look at Hasbro's enormous Marvel Legends Sentinel action figure, together with a series of movie-inspired X-Men figures and a Top Gun-inspired Transformer named Maverick. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

Disney and Target have teamed up to release a brand new collection of merchandise inspired by the adventures of the Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge theme park areas at both the Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resorts. The good news is that you won't have to travel to a galaxy far, far away to pick up the Trading Outpost Collection as the new range is going to be exclusively available at Target stores, starting August 30. Pre-orders are also now live at Target.com with shipments expected to commence on the same date. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=star-wars-galaxys-edge-trading-outpost-collection&captions=true"] StarWars.com punched in the all of the official details about the merchandise collection and shared a preview of six of the items from the new product line-up, which features an exclusive selection of toys, collectibles, clothing items, books, and more from a range of big-name brands. As pictured in our gallery above, the product preview gave us a look at a new Funko POP! R5 Unit, Hasbro Hyperdrive BB Unit, LEGO Resistance I-TS Transport, Hasbro Smugglers Run Millennium Falcon, and two new Black Series action figures in the form of Captain Cardinal and DJ R-3X. This latest transmission comes shortly after Hasbro announced another new wave of six-inch Star Wars: The Black Series action figures inspired by the final season of The Clone Wars, which the company revealed as part of the Walmart Collector Con 2020 promotion. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/06/we-rode-star-wars-rise-of-the-resistance-at-galaxys-edge"] In other toy-related news, we recently were given a closer look at Hasbro's enormous Marvel Legends Sentinel action figure, together with a series of movie-inspired X-Men figures and a Top Gun-inspired Transformer named Maverick. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon is coming to PS5 along with previously announced platforms, and will include an English voice dub option - the cast of which includes the legendary George Takei as antagonist Masumi Arakawa. Revealed exclusively as part of IGN's coverage of Comic-Con@Home, the game will arrive in November 2020 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC (via Windows Store and Steam). It will be released as a launch title for Xbox Series X this Holiday, and the PS5 version will "release at a later date". Yakuza: Like a Dragon will be priced at $59.99 across all platforms, avoiding the mooted trend for more expensive next-gen games. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/22/yakuza-like-a-dragon-official-trailer"] We knew previously that the game would feature a free upgrade across Xbox platforms using the Smart Delivery program, but Sega has confirmed that a "PlayStation 5 upgrade path is also being planned for the Western release". After series spin-off Judgment included an English dub, which we said was excellent in our review, it seems Yakuza as a whole is now embracing the option. Alongside bringing back Greg Chun - who voiced Judgment's lead character - the headline is that Mr. Sulu himself, George Takei will be taking on a major role. The game will also receive full English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish subtitles. Per the press release, here's the leading English-language voice cast:

• "Kaiji Tang as Ichiban Kasuga, protagonist of the story returning from 18 years spent in prison"
• "George Takei as Masumi Arakawa, patriarch of the Arakawa Family"
• "Andrew Morgado as Koichi Adachi, an ex-cop on the search for truth"
• "Greg Chun as Yu Nanba, downtrodden former nurse making amends with the world"
• "Elizabeth Maxwell as Saeko Mukoda, a bar hostess on a mission"

You can check out an announcement video with Takei and lead actor Kaiji Tang below. Make sure to stay tuned to IGN today, as we'll be bring you even more Yakuza: Like a Dragon news during Up At Noon at 5pm PT, including an exclusive interview. Here's how to watch our Comic-Con@Home on IGN Live shows. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/22/yakuza-like-a-dragon-george-takei-and-kaiji-tang-announcement-video"] As well as the standard edition, pre-orders for collectors' editions of the game open today. The Day Ichi Edition (59.99)includes a Legends Costume Set, featuring eight costumes based on previous Yakuza characters, including Kasuma Kiryu. A physical version also includes a Steelbook case. The Hero Edition (digital-only-$69.99) includes all of the above, as well as two extra playable jobs to use in combat (the guitar-playing Devil Rocker and naginata-weilding Matriarch), as well as extra employees to use in the game's Management Mode minigame. The Legendary Hero Edition (digital-only, $89.99) includes all previous content, as well as bonus crafting, karaoke, ultimate costume and stat boost items. We're very excited for Yakuza: Like a Dragon, which turns Yakuza's traditional combat into a ludicrous turn-based RPG. You can check out an interview and exclusive gameplay of the western version with us right now. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=yakuza-like-a-dragon-comic-conhome-screenshots&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon is coming to PS5 along with previously announced platforms, and will include an English voice dub option - the cast of which includes the legendary George Takei as antagonist Masumi Arakawa. Revealed exclusively as part of IGN's coverage of Comic-Con@Home, the game will arrive in November 2020 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC (via Windows Store and Steam). It will be released as a launch title for Xbox Series X this Holiday, and the PS5 version will "release at a later date". Yakuza: Like a Dragon will be priced at $59.99 across all platforms, avoiding the mooted trend for more expensive next-gen games. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/22/yakuza-like-a-dragon-official-trailer"] We knew previously that the game would feature a free upgrade across Xbox platforms using the Smart Delivery program, but Sega has confirmed that a "PlayStation 5 upgrade path is also being planned for the Western release". After series spin-off Judgment included an English dub, which we said was excellent in our review, it seems Yakuza as a whole is now embracing the option. Alongside bringing back Greg Chun - who voiced Judgment's lead character - the headline is that Mr. Sulu himself, George Takei will be taking on a major role. The game will also receive full English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish subtitles. Per the press release, here's the leading English-language voice cast:

• "Kaiji Tang as Ichiban Kasuga, protagonist of the story returning from 18 years spent in prison"
• "George Takei as Masumi Arakawa, patriarch of the Arakawa Family"
• "Andrew Morgado as Koichi Adachi, an ex-cop on the search for truth"
• "Greg Chun as Yu Nanba, downtrodden former nurse making amends with the world"
• "Elizabeth Maxwell as Saeko Mukoda, a bar hostess on a mission"

You can check out an announcement video with Takei and lead actor Kaiji Tang below. Make sure to stay tuned to IGN today, as we'll be bring you even more Yakuza: Like a Dragon news during Up At Noon at 5pm PT, including an exclusive interview. Here's how to watch our Comic-Con@Home on IGN Live shows. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/22/yakuza-like-a-dragon-george-takei-and-kaiji-tang-announcement-video"] As well as the standard edition, pre-orders for collectors' editions of the game open today. The Day Ichi Edition (59.99)includes a Legends Costume Set, featuring eight costumes based on previous Yakuza characters, including Kasuma Kiryu. A physical version also includes a Steelbook case. The Hero Edition (digital-only-$69.99) includes all of the above, as well as two extra playable jobs to use in combat (the guitar-playing Devil Rocker and naginata-weilding Matriarch), as well as extra employees to use in the game's Management Mode minigame. The Legendary Hero Edition (digital-only, $89.99) includes all previous content, as well as bonus crafting, karaoke, ultimate costume and stat boost items. We're very excited for Yakuza: Like a Dragon, which turns Yakuza's traditional combat into a ludicrous turn-based RPG. You can check out an interview and exclusive gameplay of the western version with us right now. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=yakuza-like-a-dragon-comic-conhome-screenshots&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

While we've known that Assassin's Creed Valhalla will let players choose and swap between main character Eivor's gender throughout the campaign, a new video has shown how that process will work. As discovered by @AccessTheAnimus, this video shows how Eivor's gender selection is handled in Assassin's Creed Valhalla. It is presented as a "DNA stream selection," and players are then given the option to choose Male Eivor or Female Eivor's "Memory-stream."

DNA STREAM SELECTION

This was described by Narrative Director Darby McDevitt as a new feature that ensures both male and female versions of Eivor are considered canon. The feature is backed up by new lore that upgrades the abilities of the Animus#AssassinsCreed Valhalla pic.twitter.com/SlV5Q0Bh7v — AccessTheAnimus (@AccessTheAnimus) July 21, 2020

It appears this can be done at any point in the story, that it will not restart the game or take you back to the main menu, and all the player's gear will remain intact. Assassin's Creed Valhalla's narrative director Darby McDevitt has previously confirmed that, although you can choose Eivor's gender throughout the story, both male and female versions of Eivor are considered canon and that the "feature is backed up by new lore that upgrades the abilities of the Animus." This ability to switch the main character's gender in-game is in contrast to Assassin's Creed Odyssey's in which the choice players made at the beginning of the game - between playing as Alexios or Kassandra, was the one they were stuck with. Furthermore, the official tie-in novel was written with Kassandra in the main role, meaning she was the canon version of the story. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/12/assassins-creed-valhalla-hands-on"] Speaking of differences between the two games, both Alexios and Kassandra lived in the world, you just chose to play as one, while in Valhalla, Eivor is the same no matter what gender you chose. How you play them is your choice, and McDevitt promises it will "reveal the nuances of its approach to canon when we can finally play it in Holiday 2020." Assassin's Creed Valhalla will be released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Google Stadia on November 17, 2020. It will also be a launch title for both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, but the dates of those are yet unknown. We were able to get our hands-on Assassin's Creed Valhalla, and we said it "looks to be, as is the tradition of the series, an iterative update on its predecessors. If the new approach to RPG design and gear-based progression has put you off the series, this slice of the game indicates that you’ll likely be unconvinced by Valhalla’s barely altered direction. But the few changes it makes to those systems suggests developer Ubisoft Montreal may have a newfound confidence in its RPG abilities, and a willingness to embrace more of the genre’s toolset." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=assassins-creed-valhalla-ubisoft-forward-screenshots&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com. Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

While we've known that Assassin's Creed Valhalla will let players choose and swap between main character Eivor's gender throughout the campaign, a new video has shown how that process will work. As discovered by @AccessTheAnimus, this video shows how Eivor's gender selection is handled in Assassin's Creed Valhalla. It is presented as a "DNA stream selection," and players are then given the option to choose Male Eivor or Female Eivor's "Memory-stream."

DNA STREAM SELECTION

This was described by Narrative Director Darby McDevitt as a new feature that ensures both male and female versions of Eivor are considered canon. The feature is backed up by new lore that upgrades the abilities of the Animus#AssassinsCreed Valhalla pic.twitter.com/SlV5Q0Bh7v — AccessTheAnimus (@AccessTheAnimus) July 21, 2020

It appears this can be done at any point in the story, that it will not restart the game or take you back to the main menu, and all the player's gear will remain intact. Assassin's Creed Valhalla's narrative director Darby McDevitt has previously confirmed that, although you can choose Eivor's gender throughout the story, both male and female versions of Eivor are considered canon and that the "feature is backed up by new lore that upgrades the abilities of the Animus." This ability to switch the main character's gender in-game is in contrast to Assassin's Creed Odyssey's in which the choice players made at the beginning of the game - between playing as Alexios or Kassandra, was the one they were stuck with. Furthermore, the official tie-in novel was written with Kassandra in the main role, meaning she was the canon version of the story. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/12/assassins-creed-valhalla-hands-on"] Speaking of differences between the two games, both Alexios and Kassandra lived in the world, you just chose to play as one, while in Valhalla, Eivor is the same no matter what gender you chose. How you play them is your choice, and McDevitt promises it will "reveal the nuances of its approach to canon when we can finally play it in Holiday 2020." Assassin's Creed Valhalla will be released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Google Stadia on November 17, 2020. It will also be a launch title for both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, but the dates of those are yet unknown. We were able to get our hands-on Assassin's Creed Valhalla, and we said it "looks to be, as is the tradition of the series, an iterative update on its predecessors. If the new approach to RPG design and gear-based progression has put you off the series, this slice of the game indicates that you’ll likely be unconvinced by Valhalla’s barely altered direction. But the few changes it makes to those systems suggests developer Ubisoft Montreal may have a newfound confidence in its RPG abilities, and a willingness to embrace more of the genre’s toolset." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=assassins-creed-valhalla-ubisoft-forward-screenshots&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com. Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.