Blizzard Entertainment has announced that World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Classic will officially be released on June 1, 2021. As detailed by Blizzard, Burning Crusade Classic will launch in the Americas, Europe, Taiwan, Korea, and Australia/New Zealand on June 1 at 3pm ET/6pm PT/11pm BST and on June 2 at 7am CST/8am KST/10am AEDT. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/19/world-of-warcraft-burning-crusade-classic-trailer"] To access Burning Crusade Classic, all players will need is a Battle.net account and a World of Warcraft subscription. No additional purchase is required. On May 18, the Burning Crusade Classic Pre-expansion Patch will be released and "each character must choose whether to advance onward to Burning Crusade, move to a Classic Era realm, or use the Character Clone service to play in both games." You can read more about that process here. Burning Crusade was originally released in 2007, and the addition of its classic version will add two new races to World of Warcraft Classic's playable roster - the Alliance Draenei and the Horde Blood Elves. It will also raise the level cap to 70 and add flying mounts. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/19/world-of-warcraft-shadowlands-chains-of-domination-trailer"] As with World of Warcraft: Classic, content from the original games like the opening of the Black Temple, Zul-Aman, and the Sunwell will be added in phases over time. For more, check out all the details on World of Warcraft: Shadowlands Patch 9.1 Chains of Domination and all the other big announcements from BlizzCon 2021. [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.

Blizzard Entertainment has announced that World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Classic will officially be released on June 1, 2021. As detailed by Blizzard, Burning Crusade Classic will launch in the Americas, Europe, Taiwan, Korea, and Australia/New Zealand on June 1 at 3pm ET/6pm PT/11pm BST and on June 2 at 7am CST/8am KST/10am AEDT. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/19/world-of-warcraft-burning-crusade-classic-trailer"] To access Burning Crusade Classic, all players will need is a Battle.net account and a World of Warcraft subscription. No additional purchase is required. On May 18, the Burning Crusade Classic Pre-expansion Patch will be released and "each character must choose whether to advance onward to Burning Crusade, move to a Classic Era realm, or use the Character Clone service to play in both games." You can read more about that process here. Burning Crusade was originally released in 2007, and the addition of its classic version will add two new races to World of Warcraft Classic's playable roster - the Alliance Draenei and the Horde Blood Elves. It will also raise the level cap to 70 and add flying mounts. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/19/world-of-warcraft-shadowlands-chains-of-domination-trailer"] As with World of Warcraft: Classic, content from the original games like the opening of the Black Temple, Zul-Aman, and the Sunwell will be added in phases over time. For more, check out all the details on World of Warcraft: Shadowlands Patch 9.1 Chains of Domination and all the other big announcements from BlizzCon 2021. [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.

SpaceX's prototype rocket, Starship, which has plans to eventually go to the Moon and Mars, has made its first-ever successful landing back on Earth. The space company founded by Elon Musk has made four attempts at landing one of these rockets following a takeoff since December and each time, the rocket landings were unsuccessful, ending in a fireworks show of explosion. Wednesday's flight, however, was a success and the rocket landed vertically as intended, as reported by The New York Times.

Starship landing nominal!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 5, 2021

The above tweet was Musk's first tweet following the first-ever successful landing of his company's prototype rocket, something the SpaceX team has been working toward for months. According to NYT, Wednesday's flight saw the rocket shoot into the "skies over Boca Chica, adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico." It flew for four minutes to a maximum altitude of about six miles before heading back down to its landing pad in Texas. On its way back to the surface of Earth, the rocket flipped into a horizontal orientation until it was closer to the landing pad, at which point its engines were powered back on to position the rocket into its standard vertical landing position, according to NYT. This successful landing is a big step forward for SpaceX, which is working toward preparing this type of rocket for landing on the Moon and even Mars. SpaceX's now-famous Falcon 9 rockets are used often by NASA to bring satellites into space or people and cargo to the International Space Station. The challenge of SpaceX's prototype rockets used Wednesday is landing them successfully. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/02/06/spacex-successfully-test-launches-falcon-heavy-rocket"] "SpaceX's Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket (collectively referred to as Starship) represent a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond," according to the SpaceX website. "Starship will be the world's most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, with the ability to carry in excess of 100 metric tonnes to Earth orbit." According to SpaceX, the Starship being tested as of late will take Japanese entrepreneur, Yusaku Maezawa and the crew of dearMoon to space in the first-ever civilian passenger flight. The dearMoon project is currently accepting applications for eight more civilians on the flight, which will feature a flyby of the Moon during the ship's week-long journey. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/27/spacex-preparing-for-companys-first-manned-flight-to-iss"] For more about SpaceX, read about how the company is going to race remote-controlled cars on the Moon this year and then read about how SpaceX is building NASA's new Lunar Lander. Check out this story about how SpaceX successfully launched 60 more Starlink satellites into orbit last year and then read about how SpaceX astronauts used a Baby Yoda doll as a zero-gravity indicator on a flight last November. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes. 

SpaceX's prototype rocket, Starship, which has plans to eventually go to the Moon and Mars, has made its first-ever successful landing back on Earth. The space company founded by Elon Musk has made four attempts at landing one of these rockets following a takeoff since December and each time, the rocket landings were unsuccessful, ending in a fireworks show of explosion. Wednesday's flight, however, was a success and the rocket landed vertically as intended, as reported by The New York Times.

Starship landing nominal!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 5, 2021

The above tweet was Musk's first tweet following the first-ever successful landing of his company's prototype rocket, something the SpaceX team has been working toward for months. According to NYT, Wednesday's flight saw the rocket shoot into the "skies over Boca Chica, adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico." It flew for four minutes to a maximum altitude of about six miles before heading back down to its landing pad in Texas. On its way back to the surface of Earth, the rocket flipped into a horizontal orientation until it was closer to the landing pad, at which point its engines were powered back on to position the rocket into its standard vertical landing position, according to NYT. This successful landing is a big step forward for SpaceX, which is working toward preparing this type of rocket for landing on the Moon and even Mars. SpaceX's now-famous Falcon 9 rockets are used often by NASA to bring satellites into space or people and cargo to the International Space Station. The challenge of SpaceX's prototype rockets used Wednesday is landing them successfully. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/02/06/spacex-successfully-test-launches-falcon-heavy-rocket"] "SpaceX's Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket (collectively referred to as Starship) represent a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond," according to the SpaceX website. "Starship will be the world's most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, with the ability to carry in excess of 100 metric tonnes to Earth orbit." According to SpaceX, the Starship being tested as of late will take Japanese entrepreneur, Yusaku Maezawa and the crew of dearMoon to space in the first-ever civilian passenger flight. The dearMoon project is currently accepting applications for eight more civilians on the flight, which will feature a flyby of the Moon during the ship's week-long journey. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/27/spacex-preparing-for-companys-first-manned-flight-to-iss"] For more about SpaceX, read about how the company is going to race remote-controlled cars on the Moon this year and then read about how SpaceX is building NASA's new Lunar Lander. Check out this story about how SpaceX successfully launched 60 more Starlink satellites into orbit last year and then read about how SpaceX astronauts used a Baby Yoda doll as a zero-gravity indicator on a flight last November. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes. 

Ubisoft has announced The Division: Heartland, a free-to-play game set in the Tom Clancy Division universe. Developed by the original Tom Clancy studio, Red Storm Entertainment, The Division: Heartland will be standalone from the main The Division series. It's planned for release on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC in the 2021-2022 window. No details have been offered beside those, so it's currently very unclear as to what kind of game The Division: Heartland will be, beyond its free-to-play nature. Ubisoft does say that it will be an "all new perspective on the universe in a new setting", though. Those interested can sign up to get involved in early hands-on opportunities. It is, however, just one component of a "transmedia" expansion of The Division, across games, movies, and novels. The previously announced The Division Netflix movie, starring Jessica Chastain and Jake Gyllenhaal, will be joined by a new original novel set after the events of The Division 2. New content is also coming to The Division 2 later this year. The DLC will add a new game mode and "new methods" of levelling up agents, said to emphasise build variety and viability. Finally, a mobile game set in The Division universe is also in development. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. 

Ubisoft has announced The Division: Heartland, a free-to-play game set in the Tom Clancy Division universe. Developed by the original Tom Clancy studio, Red Storm Entertainment, The Division: Heartland will be standalone from the main The Division series. It's planned for release on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC in the 2021-2022 window. No details have been offered beside those, so it's currently very unclear as to what kind of game The Division: Heartland will be, beyond its free-to-play nature. Ubisoft does say that it will be an "all new perspective on the universe in a new setting", though. Those interested can sign up to get involved in early hands-on opportunities. It is, however, just one component of a "transmedia" expansion of The Division, across games, movies, and novels. The previously announced The Division Netflix movie, starring Jessica Chastain and Jake Gyllenhaal, will be joined by a new original novel set after the events of The Division 2. New content is also coming to The Division 2 later this year. The DLC will add a new game mode and "new methods" of levelling up agents, said to emphasise build variety and viability. Finally, a mobile game set in The Division universe is also in development. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. 

This week in GTA Online, claim double rewards for Mobile Operations Missions, Triple Rewards for Motor Wars, and much more.

This week in GTA Online, claim double rewards for Mobile Operations Missions, Triple Rewards for Motor Wars, and much more.

Chris Meledandri, CEO of American animation studio Illumination, has been nominated to join Nintendo as an Outside Director. Meledandri, whose company is responsible for Minions, Despicable Me, and the upcoming Mario animated movie, is anticipated to join the company following approval of the position at Nintendo’s 81st Annual General Meeting of Shareholders. That meeting is set to be held on June 29, 2021, according to Nintendo’s latest financial report. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/02/01/nintendo-and-illumination-are-working-on-a-mario-movie"] As an Outside Director, Meledandri will be a non-executive and likely part of the company to provide advice rather than solidify strategy and decisions. Nintendo currently has three outside directors, but Meledandri will be the first American citizen to hold the position. Nintendo is looking into more animated features beyond Mario, and it may be that Meledandri and his knowledge of film and animation could be an asset in regards to that expansion. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/02/03/why-the-mario-movie-might-actually-be-good"] Meledandri and Mario creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, have developed a good relationship over the years. “We are keeping him front and center in the creation of this film,” Meledandri said when discussing Illumination’s approach to the Mario movie. “I’ve rarely seen that happen with any adaptation where the original creative voice is being embraced like we’re embracing Miyamoto.” The news of Meledandri joining Nintendo was announced as part of Nintendo’s financial results, which show a record year of profits for the Japanese gaming giant. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. 

Chris Meledandri, CEO of American animation studio Illumination, has been nominated to join Nintendo as an Outside Director. Meledandri, whose company is responsible for Minions, Despicable Me, and the upcoming Mario animated movie, is anticipated to join the company following approval of the position at Nintendo’s 81st Annual General Meeting of Shareholders. That meeting is set to be held on June 29, 2021, according to Nintendo’s latest financial report. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/02/01/nintendo-and-illumination-are-working-on-a-mario-movie"] As an Outside Director, Meledandri will be a non-executive and likely part of the company to provide advice rather than solidify strategy and decisions. Nintendo currently has three outside directors, but Meledandri will be the first American citizen to hold the position. Nintendo is looking into more animated features beyond Mario, and it may be that Meledandri and his knowledge of film and animation could be an asset in regards to that expansion. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/02/03/why-the-mario-movie-might-actually-be-good"] Meledandri and Mario creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, have developed a good relationship over the years. “We are keeping him front and center in the creation of this film,” Meledandri said when discussing Illumination’s approach to the Mario movie. “I’ve rarely seen that happen with any adaptation where the original creative voice is being embraced like we’re embracing Miyamoto.” The news of Meledandri joining Nintendo was announced as part of Nintendo’s financial results, which show a record year of profits for the Japanese gaming giant. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.