Monthly Archives: November 2020
Magic: The Gathering Getting Limited-Edition Cards Featuring Bob Ross Artwork
A new Magic the Gathering card Secret Lair set will feature artwork painted by the legendary Bob Ross.
The new 'Happy Little Gathering' set is part of the limited edition Secret Lair series, which offers one-of-a-kind collectable sets from unique artists that reimagine famous Magic the Gathering cards.
As reported by Vice, Wizards of the Coast has partnered with the Bob Ross estate to create a set of Land cards featuring environmental artwork from the soothing painter, who passed in 1995. Magic players will also be able to use these collectible cards in-game, and a recent leak suggests they may be brought to Magic the Gathering: Arena in the near future.
The card set is available in foil and non-foil and will also feature an 'Evolving Wilds' card that features a variety of biomes from the Bob Ross back catalogue. You'll be able to pre-order the Happy Little Gathering set for a limited time only, from November 30 through December 14, 2020. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/13/magic-the-gathering-theros-beyond-death-cinematic-trailer"] Bob Ross has become something of an internet icon in recent years. The painter - whose Joy of Painting TV show was first braodcast in the '80s - has since become an action figure, a playable character in Smite, and the subject of a Twitch Marathon that garnered 5.6 million viewers. Back in September, we reported that Dungeons & Dragons would be getting its own Magic the Gathering set in Q3 2021. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.“You can do anything here — the only prerequisite is that it makes you happy.”
This Bob Ross quote is applicable to painting, AND building your next Magic deck. https://t.co/xwmjoQu3Q9 pic.twitter.com/SP8404P8xh — MTG Secret Lair (@MTGSecretLair) November 24, 2020
Marvel’s Avengers Hasn’t Recouped Its Development Costs Yet
Marvel's Avengers sales have been lower than expected, and the game hasn't yet recouped its development costs, leading to an estimated ¥7 billion (approximately $67 million USD) operating loss in Square Enix's HD Games segment during the last financial quarter.
Company president Yosuke Matsude explained in a newly translated results briefing, "Sales of Marvel’s Avengers were lower than we had expected and unable to completely offset the amortization of the game’s development costs."
Game analyst David Gibson previously explained that the company sold 60% of its planned units, and that the numbers implied the game cost around $100 million to make.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/09/10/marvels-avengers-review"]
Responding to an investor's question on the subject, Matsuda clarified that - had Avengers not been released in that quarter - the company would have made a profit. That comes down to both development and marketing costs:
"In addition to the amortization of that game’s development costs," explained Matsuda, "another significant factor associated with the title was the fact that we undertook a major advertising campaign at the time of its launch to make up for delays in our marketing efforts resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a certain amount of development costs still to be amortized in 3Q, but we want to recoup it by growing our sales going forward."
Matsuda doesn't offer concrete plans, but said the hope is that updates will help drive new sales: "We hope to make up for slow initial sales by offering ample additional content to grow our sales." Last week, developer Crystal Dynamics announced the December release date for its first post-launch hero and campaign, announced another, and potentially teased other heroes to come beyond that.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/11/19/marvels-avengers-kate-bishop-trailer"]
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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.
Marvel’s Avengers Hasn’t Recouped Its Development Costs Yet
Marvel's Avengers sales have been lower than expected, and the game hasn't yet recouped its development costs, leading to an estimated ¥7 billion (approximately $67 million USD) operating loss in Square Enix's HD Games segment during the last financial quarter.
Company president Yosuke Matsude explained in a newly translated results briefing, "Sales of Marvel’s Avengers were lower than we had expected and unable to completely offset the amortization of the game’s development costs."
Game analyst David Gibson previously explained that the company sold 60% of its planned units, and that the numbers implied the game cost around $100 million to make.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/09/10/marvels-avengers-review"]
Responding to an investor's question on the subject, Matsuda clarified that - had Avengers not been released in that quarter - the company would have made a profit. That comes down to both development and marketing costs:
"In addition to the amortization of that game’s development costs," explained Matsuda, "another significant factor associated with the title was the fact that we undertook a major advertising campaign at the time of its launch to make up for delays in our marketing efforts resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a certain amount of development costs still to be amortized in 3Q, but we want to recoup it by growing our sales going forward."
Matsuda doesn't offer concrete plans, but said the hope is that updates will help drive new sales: "We hope to make up for slow initial sales by offering ample additional content to grow our sales." Last week, developer Crystal Dynamics announced the December release date for its first post-launch hero and campaign, announced another, and potentially teased other heroes to come beyond that.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/11/19/marvels-avengers-kate-bishop-trailer"]
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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.
Fallout 76 Accidentally Releases New Update on Xbox
Bethesda has launched the Fallout 76 Steel Dawn update early, after a glitch allowed Xbox players to download the update ahead of schedule.
In a post on the Fallout blog. Bethesda explained that the Steel Dawn update was originally scheduled to go live on December 1 across all platforms, but the Brotherhood of Steel-themed expansion is available now for all platforms following the mistake.
Essentially, players on Xbox platforms could download Steel Dawn, but it meant that this prevented them from playing the rest of the game. Bethesda was actively investigating the issue before making the decision.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/11/20/final-fallout-76-review"]
According to the blog post, "the entire BGS team felt confident that Steel Dawn is ready to go," so instead of fixing the early access Xbox issue, they have now launched the update for everyone, a week ahead of schedule.
The new update brings with it a questline that introduces The Brotherhood of Steel to Appalachia, as well as C.A.M.P Shelters, which are customizable underground bases. You can check the full update notes for more details, and see the file size required for the platform you plan to download Steel Dawn on.
If you're just getting into the game, check out our article explaining everything you need to know about the factions system in Fallout 76.
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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.
Fallout 76 Accidentally Releases New Update on Xbox
Bethesda has launched the Fallout 76 Steel Dawn update early, after a glitch allowed Xbox players to download the update ahead of schedule.
In a post on the Fallout blog. Bethesda explained that the Steel Dawn update was originally scheduled to go live on December 1 across all platforms, but the Brotherhood of Steel-themed expansion is available now for all platforms following the mistake.
Essentially, players on Xbox platforms could download Steel Dawn, but it meant that this prevented them from playing the rest of the game. Bethesda was actively investigating the issue before making the decision.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/11/20/final-fallout-76-review"]
According to the blog post, "the entire BGS team felt confident that Steel Dawn is ready to go," so instead of fixing the early access Xbox issue, they have now launched the update for everyone, a week ahead of schedule.
The new update brings with it a questline that introduces The Brotherhood of Steel to Appalachia, as well as C.A.M.P Shelters, which are customizable underground bases. You can check the full update notes for more details, and see the file size required for the platform you plan to download Steel Dawn on.
If you're just getting into the game, check out our article explaining everything you need to know about the factions system in Fallout 76.
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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.
PS5 Gets a Second Performance-Improving System Update
For the second week running, Sony has dropped a PS5 system update designed to improve system performance - but it's still unclear what the patch specifically changes.
The 20.02-02.26.00 system update weighs in at 886MB and, like last week's update, its details read simply: "This system software update improves system performance."
If you want to download the update manually, head to: Settings > System > System Software > System Software Update and Settings > Update System Software.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/11/20/sony-shares-solution-for-ps5-downloading-queue-bug-ign-news"]
Sony traditionally doesn't comment on the contents of its system updates, and hasn't responded to requests for comment on the recent patches either.
Last week's patch did appear to help solve the download queue bug that had affected PS5 players since launch. It may be that we now see new fixes for the other PS5 issues that have been reported in recent weeks, although nothing has been confirmed at time of writing.
If you're in the market for a PS5, or games and accessories for your new console, Black Friday could be the right time to find them. Make sure to check out our best Black Friday PS5 deals, and our best video game deals.
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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.
PS5 Gets a Second Performance-Improving System Update
For the second week running, Sony has dropped a PS5 system update designed to improve system performance - but it's still unclear what the patch specifically changes.
The 20.02-02.26.00 system update weighs in at 886MB and, like last week's update, its details read simply: "This system software update improves system performance."
If you want to download the update manually, head to: Settings > System > System Software > System Software Update and Settings > Update System Software.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/11/20/sony-shares-solution-for-ps5-downloading-queue-bug-ign-news"]
Sony traditionally doesn't comment on the contents of its system updates, and hasn't responded to requests for comment on the recent patches either.
Last week's patch did appear to help solve the download queue bug that had affected PS5 players since launch. It may be that we now see new fixes for the other PS5 issues that have been reported in recent weeks, although nothing has been confirmed at time of writing.
If you're in the market for a PS5, or games and accessories for your new console, Black Friday could be the right time to find them. Make sure to check out our best Black Friday PS5 deals, and our best video game deals.
[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=confirmed-playstation-5-games&captions=true"]
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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.
Destiny 2 Beyond Light Review – Time Loop
My six-player Destiny 2 fireteam fired away as the Deep Stone Crypt raid boss, the toughest enemy of the Beyond Light expansion, teleported around the arena and roared with rage. We threw everything we had left at the flying monster in a desperate attempt to stave off defeat. Bullets and grenades filled the air as chunks of orbital debris slammed down onto the landscape, threatening to crush us as we scrambled for cover. It was now or never--if we didn't manage to kill this thing immediately, it would kill us, and we'd be back to the start of the lengthy fight. And we'd sunk more than 12 hours into the raid over the past two days already.
But then: an explosion. The boss twisted in pain and a cheer went up from our crew. Finally, we'd bested the greatest challenge of the new expansion, after hours of struggling to work out the mechanics and suffering death after death to its powerful enemies. It's moments like this one that keep me coming back to Destiny 2. There's nothing quite like powering through a Destiny raid, relying on teammates to handle complex roles and cooperate through some of the game's most creative designs.
Beyond Light provides more of what Destiny 2 is good at: satisfying first-person shooting, a great raid, fascinating places to explore, and a whole lot of punchy guns to try out. It also maintains some of the game's lingering problems though, like a reliance on repetitive content and time-sucking grinds to arbitrarily raise numbers. To put it simply, Beyond Light is largely more Destiny--if that's a thing you like, you'll enjoy it, and if it's a thing you complain about, you probably won't.
Continue Reading at GameSpotDestiny 2 Beyond Light Review – Time Loop
My six-player Destiny 2 fireteam fired away as the Deep Stone Crypt raid boss, the toughest enemy of the Beyond Light expansion, teleported around the arena and roared with rage. We threw everything we had left at the flying monster in a desperate attempt to stave off defeat. Bullets and grenades filled the air as chunks of orbital debris slammed down onto the landscape, threatening to crush us as we scrambled for cover. It was now or never--if we didn't manage to kill this thing immediately, it would kill us, and we'd be back to the start of the lengthy fight. And we'd sunk more than 12 hours into the raid over the past two days already.
But then: an explosion. The boss twisted in pain and a cheer went up from our crew. Finally, we'd bested the greatest challenge of the new expansion, after hours of struggling to work out the mechanics and suffering death after death to its powerful enemies. It's moments like this one that keep me coming back to Destiny 2. There's nothing quite like powering through a Destiny raid, relying on teammates to handle complex roles and cooperate through some of the game's most creative designs.
Beyond Light provides more of what Destiny 2 is good at: satisfying first-person shooting, a great raid, fascinating places to explore, and a whole lot of punchy guns to try out. It also maintains some of the game's lingering problems though, like a reliance on repetitive content and time-sucking grinds to arbitrarily raise numbers. To put it simply, Beyond Light is largely more Destiny--if that's a thing you like, you'll enjoy it, and if it's a thing you complain about, you probably won't.
Continue Reading at GameSpotMonster Hunter World: Iceborne Getting Monster Hunter Movie Crossover DLC
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne is getting a crossover with the Monster Hunter movie. From December 4, you'll be able to play as Milla Jovovich's Lieutenant Artemis in a two-part Event Quest inspired by the upcoming Paul W.S. Anderson film.
Announced today, Jovovich lends her voice to the in-game Artemis, with the quests setting players against a Black Diablos and a Greater Rathalos in turn. Completing the quests will earn you layered armour, new titles, Guild card background and pose, and "special gear" – but you'll only be able to take on the quests if you've reached Master Rank.
Before the event, players will be able to claim a free item pack as a log-on bonus to celebrate the film, starting from November 27. Take a look at an exclusive behind-the-scenes sizzle reel with Milla Jovovich below:
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/11/25/monster-hunter-behind-the-scenes-with-artemis-milla-jovovich"]
The Monster Hunter movie – out on December 4 in the UK, December 25 in the US, and January 1 in Australia – aims to bring communicate the feeling of Monster Hunter World in movie form. It tells the story of Artemis, a US soldier mysteriously transported to the world of Monster Hunter, where she meets Tony Jaa's unnamed Hunter.
After some slightly un-Monster Hunter-y trailers, a recent Chinese trailer was praised for showing a much more familiar-looking movie, right down to its inclusion of Palicoes. It's clearly been fertile ground fot Anderson, as there are already ideas for a sequel in the offing.
This is far from the first crossover for Monster Hunter World - we've already seen Aloy from Horizon: Zero Dawn (twice), Mega Man, Dante from Devil May Cry, and more.
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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.