Monthly Archives: February 2021
Daft Punk, Legendary DJ Duo, Break Up
Legendary French DJ duo, Daft Punk – who created four hit studio albums, wrote the soundtrack for Tron: Legacy, and appeared in DJ Hero – have announced that they have broken up.
The duo, made up of Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, announced the news in a video called Epilogue (in which one of the pair quite literally self-destructs), and confirmed the news to Pitchfork, giving no reason for the split. The duo have almost always worn robot-like headgear in public appearances.
The duo, who spanned pop, dance, house and more, released the likes of 'Da Funk', 'Robot Rock', 'Around the World', 'One More Time', and 'Get Lucky', and released four studio albums. 2001 album Discovery was accompanied by an anime movie, Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem, which used the entirety of the album as a soundtrack.
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Daft Punk went onto write the soundtrack to Tron: Legacy, which we awarded a 9/10 review, saying it did "an excellent job crafting a triumphant yet measured score that captures the spirit of the Tron world exceptionally well." Fortnite just released a number of crossover items based on Tron.
In the world of video games, Daft Punk appeared in 2009's DJ Hero, and offered up 11 original mixes featuring their music. I also can't help but think that Insomniac might have been a little bit inspired by Daft Punk's image when making the coolest costume in Spider-Man: Miles Morales:
[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.This costume is just Insomniac showing off, and I absolutely love it. pic.twitter.com/9Gd5TjpdTW
— Joe Skrebels (@2plus2isjoe) November 30, 2020
Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead: Netflix Release Date and Poster Revealed
The Netflix release date for Zack Snyder's Army of the Dead has been revealed in a new zombie-infected poster.
The official Army of the Dead poster, shared by Snyder on Twitter, confirmed that the zombie heist movie will breakout onto Netflix on May 21. For now, though, the poster keeps the living dead crushed behind a vault door. We're expecting to get a peek behind that door later this week, as the director announced that the movie will be getting its first teaser on February 25.
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Set in post-apocalyptic Las Vegas, Army of the Dead gives rise to a group of mercenaries who infiltrate a quarantine zone to raid a casino during a zombie outbreak. The movie stars Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Ana de la Reguera, Garret Dillahunt, Raúl Castillo, Omari Hardwick, Tig Notaro, Nora Arnezeder, Matthias Schweighöfer, Samantha Win, Theo Rossi, Huma Qureshi, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Richard Cetrone.
The Snyder-directed flick appeared in Netflix's sizzle reel for 2021 at the start of the year, with the streaming giant promising to release at least one new movie a week throughout 2021 for a total of at least 70. The titles on the forthcoming slate featured an impressive roster of A-list actors including Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Gal Gadot, Leonardo DiCaprio, Amy Adams, Ryan Reynolds, and more.
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Army of the Dead is also getting a prequel movie and an anime series at Netflix, with Shay Hatten onboard to write the scripts for both. Matthias Schweighöfer is attached to helm and star in the international prequel movie, which is said to follow his Army of the Dead character Ludwig Dieter, while the anime series, Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas, will chronicle the origins of Dave Bautista's Scott Ward.
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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.
EA Patents Technology To Let Players Stream Full Games Before They’ve Downloaded?
EA has patented technology that seeks to let players stream and play full games before they've been downloaded.
As spotted by GameRant, the patent can be found on the United States Patent and Trademark Office here, where you can see a diagram of the system in action. The plan involves the creation of a "dynamic video game client" that provides a stream of the game to players from a remote simulation engine, upon request.
"The dynamic video game client can utilize a state stream game engine in combination with a game application streaming service to provide users with the ability to begin playing games quickly on a huge range of devices," the patent reads. What this means is that you could request to play a video game you own without it being downloaded on your local system, propped up by a remote online stream akin to Google Stadia or other cloud-based services. It's not quite clear whether you will be downloading the game in the background during this process, but it is implied that this is the problem EA is trying to solve.
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The patent copy can be found here, where it explains how this technology seeks to solve the "time consuming" installation process, sidestepping the wait to let players jump into the action. EA's patent observes the growing issue of games getting larger and taking longer to install. "Due to the large size of games, it can take a significant amount of time of a user to begin playing a game after it has been purchased," the patent reads. "This download process can be quite frustrating if a user is interested in playing a new game with friends or has a limited amount of time to play the game."
Players will likely still need to have a decent internet connection in order to manage the simulated game stream, but it means that players could jump into a game as soon as they buy it, rather than waiting for it to install or download first.
In other EA news, the company recently completed a $1.2 billion acquisition of Codemasters, which it will be treating as an "independent group," going forward. During an earnings call, it was revealed that the company had made $3 Billion from its Star Wars games and that it has no plans to slow down future development efforts with the licence.
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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.
Google, Id and Bungie are the Subject of a Stadia Lawsuit
Google, Id Software, and Bungie are the subject of a class action lawsuit that claims the companies misled customers by saying Stadia games could be played at a 4K resolution.
Reported by ClassAction.org, the lawsuit was filed last year in Queens County Superior Court, but has now been transferred to a New York federal court. The lawsuit, brought by plaintiff Jacqueline Shepherd, centres around claims by Google ahead of Stadia's release that the streaming platform would be "more powerful than both Xbox One X and Playstation 4 Pro combined", particularly in its ability to stream games at 4K resolution.
However, upon launch, it became clear that many Stadia games weren't pushing a true 4K image, but upscaling from lower resolutions. By allowing pre-orders before launch, and not offering full information about the platform's ability to push 4K, the plaintiff alleges that, "Google made false and misleading claims concerning the streaming quality of Stadia’s service in order to generate increased revenue for the Google Stadia division."
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The plaintif includes Id Software and Bungie in the suit because of their advertising for Doom Eternal and Destiny 2 on Stadia, which included mentions of 4K resolutions – but neither game ran at true 4K upon release. The plaintiff alleges that Id, in particular, "wrongfully generated millions of dollars in revenue as a result" of those claims. Id has denied any liability or wrongdoing.
The plaintiff is seeking financial compensation for a number of different factors, as well as an order that forces Google to display the true resolution and frame rate of every game sold on Stadia.
The class action seeks to cover any person in the US who, from June 6, 2019 onwards, bought a Stadia Founder’s Edition, Stadia Premier Edition, or Stadia Pro subscription because of information that Stadia was more powerful than other consoles, or would run all games at 4K. It's unclear how far the lawsuit will progress, but we'll update you as we learn more.
Stadia recently shut down all of its internal development studios – reportedly in part due to Microsoft's Bethesda acquisition – but says the service will receive more than 100 games in 2021. That won't include Terraria, however, as the developer has boycotted Goggle after being locked out of a number of Google accounts.
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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.
Valheim Hits Record High Concurrent Players for a Survival Game on Steam
Valheim has hit over 500,000 concurrent players on Steam, making it the most successful survival game ever on the platform.
Ms. Marvel Casts Newcomer Laurel Marsden as Zoe Zimmer
Newcomer Laurel Marsden has reportedly been cast as Zoe Zimmer in Ms. Marvel, the upcoming Disney+ series that centers on teen superhero Kamala Khan.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Marsden, who recently starred in Quibi's Survive, has now joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She will reportedly appear alongside Iman Vellani, who has already been cast in the title role, playing Marvel's first mainstream Muslim hero in the highly anticipated live-action series, which is expected to debut on Disney+ sometime in late 2021.
In the comic books, Marsden's character was introduced over the pages of 2014's Ms. Marvel (Vol. 3) #1, written by G. Willow Wilson with art from Adrian Alphona. In fact, Zoe was the first person that Ms. Marvel rescued - after she fell into the Hudson River - despite being initially perceived as somewhat of a "frenemy" to Khan at Coles Academic High School.
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As a relative newcomer in Hollywood, Marsden made her TV series debut in Quibi's Survive opposite Sophie Turner. Though the streaming service was short-lived, Survive was one of the shows that deserved a watch. The thrilling drama followed the harrowing journey of two plane crash survivors who were forced to battle brutal conditions and personal traumas on their way out of the wilderness.
Ms. Marvel's cast also includes Aramis Knight, Saagar Shaikh, Rish Shah, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur, Matt Lintz, Yasmeen Fletcher, Laith Naki, Azher Usman, Travina Springer, and Nimra Bucha. Episodes will be directed by Bad Boys for Life duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, together with The Walking Dead helmer Meera Menon, and Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.
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Disney has already confirmed that both Iman Vellani's Ms. Marvel and Teyonah Parris' Monica Rambeau will appear in Captain Marvel 2, forging new ties between the upcoming series and the MCU movie, which is currently in the works with Nia DaCosta directing. Captain Marvel 2 is slated for release on November 11, 2022, after Ms. Marvel has premiered on Disney+.
For more on Marvel studio's future slate of projects and releases, read our breakdown of the biggest and most noteworthy developments in the MCU, on Disney+, and in comics this year.
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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.
AEW Console Game Aiming for Release in ‘About a Year’, Says Kenny Omega
The All Elite Wrestling Game is aiming to release in "about a year" according to AEW Executive Vice President Kenny Omega.
Omega revealed the news in an interview with talkSPORT. "I would say in a perfect world, give it about a year’s time," Omega said. talkSPORT says this suggests a release window of "first quarter of 2022," based on when they conducted the interview.
It was revealed back in November of 2020 that AEW had multiple video game projects in the works under the AEW Games banner. The console game Omega is referring to here is being developed by Yuke's and the mind behind WWF No Mercy, Hideyuki "Geta" Iwashita.
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Elsewhere in the talkSPORT interview, Omega said that the biggest challenge the team is facing is working out a way to represent "the current wrestling style in a way that still makes it feel like the games of old." He added: "Let’s make sure we’re able to make it feel like this is wrestling in 2021, but it still feels like No Mercy, but it still can be fun for not only the wrestling fan, but the casual gamer who picks up a controller and drops his friend on his head."
Omega told talkSPORT that the team doesn't want a launch like Street Fighter 5 or Cyberpunk 2077, but the interview notes that the game will feature "constant updates." "As great as it is on launch, as our roster grows – let’s say we add a pay-per-view name, add a new arena, let’s say we sign whoever, anybody! – we want to be able to support those new additions as well," added Omega.
We learned in January that the AEW console game will feature campaign, multiplayer, create-a-wrestler and "other unusual modes," as revealed by Omega in an interview with IGN Japan. As well as the console game, AEW Games is working on two mobile titles, a wrestling management game and an AEW-branded casino game.
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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.
Soulja Boy Is Planning on Releasing Another Video Game Console
Following a failed attempt in 2018, rapper Soulja Boy, perhaps best known for his song Crank That (Soulja Boy), is apparently gearing up to release another new game console.
On February 20, Soulja Boy tweeted "coming soon @SouljaGame." When you go to @SouljaGame, the newest Tweet reads that they are "building a new console from scratch, all new design. All new games. All new deals. Let's make history."
There is also an Instagram account that has three images of this upcoming console, and not only does it look similar to an Xbox One S or Xbox Series S, the photos are also accompanied by a controller that looks very much like PS2's DualShock 2.
As previously mentioned, Soulja Boy began selling SouljaGame branded consoles and handhelds in 2018, but they were quickly discovered to just be off-brand emulators that could be found elsewhere.
SouljaBoy stopped selling these systems less than a month after he began, admitting that he "had to boss up, I didn't have a choice."
The day before he stopped selling them, he wrote, in a now-deleted Tweet, "for anyone that thinks Nintendo is going to sue me... Nothings going to happen everything is legit. My console isn’t going anywhere trust me.”
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While this new SouljaGame may have to go against the PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch, it also will have tough competition from the 4K, 240FPS KFConsole that comes packaged with a Chicken Chamber that will keep your chicken warm as you game.
Image Credit: Brad Barket/Getty Images.
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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.
CD Projekt Red Is Using DMCA to Remove Tweets That Share Stolen Game Code
Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Project Red is issuing DMCA takedowns to Twitter users who are sharing stolen code.
As reported by Vice, CDPR notified at least two Twitter users of the takedowns after they shared illegally obtained source code of Gwent: The Witcher Card Game. This game code was part of the big cyberattack that CDPR suffered earlier this month that also saw the source code of The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 stolen.
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"Description of infringement: Illegally obtained source code of Gwent: The Witcher Card Game. Posted without authorisation, not intended to be released to the public," the DMCA takedown notice read.
One of the users who received the above notice mentioned that their Tweet got taken down as it contained a torrent to download the source code for Gwent. The user also stated that, "Let's just say it wasn't anything I didn't expect."
Tweets by three other users were also issued DMCA takedowns, and those Tweets have been replaced with a message saying that they have "been withheld in response to a report from the copyright holder."
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This source code could have been part of the the files that were reportedly sold in a dark web auction for a sale price that may have reached upwards of $7 million.
DMCA takedowns have been a huge problem for Twitch streamers, and it even caused a hilarious moment when Metallica's BlizzCon concert was replaced with the most non-heavy metal music possible to avoid any copyright issues.
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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.
PS5 DualSense Teardown Shows Potential Causes for Drifting Issues
A new DualSense controller teardown video from IFixIt has revealed potential causes for the drifting issues that some PS5 owners have been experiencing.
The video from IFixIt, which you can watch here, explains how the DualSense uses "off-the-shelf joystick hardware with a long history of predictable, preventable issues."
These joystick modules are manufactured by a company called ALPS and have been used by such other controllers as PS4's DualShock 4, the Xbox One and Xbox Elite controller, and the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller.
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The particular model number used in the DualSense controller, RKJXV, has an operating life of two million cycles, while the life span of the center push function is around 500,000 cycles.
IFixIt mentions that, while this number can vary greatly depending on how often you play games and what types of games you play, these parts can exceed their lifespan with just over 400 hours of game time. This "back of the napkin math" is based on IFixIt employees' Call of Duty gameplay.
However, that is assuming there are no drifting issues experienced before then. Much like the Nintendo Switch, there have already been cases of DualSense drifting issues, and a lawsuit has been filed against Sony for these problems.
However, IFixIt mentions that ALPS is most likely not to blame for these drift issues and "probably aren't the villain of this story."
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The main cause of drifting actually appears to be related to the potentiometers, which help sense what type of movement a player is trying to accomplish.
Each joystick has two potentiometers in them that are perpendicular to each other, and they measure both up and down and left and right.
Potentiometers are a three-terminal system that uses voltage to measure the position of the joystick. The third terminal, known as the wiper, slides around a semi-circular track. When you move the joystick, the position of the wiper - relative to a neutral, central position - allows the controller to know where and how you are trying to move.
There are two other parts that can potentially cause issues, a spring that returns the joystick to a centered, neutral position, and one that allows the thumbsticks to be pushed in.
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Over time, the spring can stretch and create a new neutral position off-center. This would make it so the potentiometers think your thumb is moving the joystick even if you aren't, causing drift.
Contaminants and imperfections can cause also drift, as they can alter the voltage and can cause erroneous readings across terminals. These range from plastic dust from components grinding together to outside elements like food or drink.
IFixIt offers some solutions for fixes, including taking off the potentiometers housing and cleaning or replacing wipers. Some of the more advanced options include soldering and there are plenty of YouTube videos on how to do that if you wish to try it.
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If not, it is recommended to try to get a warranty replacement or, unfortunately, purchase a new DualSense. It's also important to note that drift can occur to a brand new controller, as advanced calibrations are needed to ensure the potentiometers are functioning properly, and sometimes this does not happen.
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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.