Monthly Archives: February 2022
PS5 Was January’s Best-Selling Console in the US
Sony's PlayStation 5 was the United States' best-selling console in January 2022, the NPD Group has announced.
In the analyst group's latest data it has been revealed that the PS5 was the best-selling hardware platform in January in both units sold and dollars made.
The Xbox Series X/S placed second in both categories, though the two consoles' combined front pushed overall hardware sales to the second highest January on record at $390 million, an increase of 22% from January 2021.
The January with the highest figures to date was in 2009, back when the Wii, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 had been on the market for a few years.
Despite the huge hardware sales this January, however, spending across game hardware, content, and accessories declined 2% compared to January 2021.
Software sales saw Pokémon Legends: Arceus take the top spot, followed by Call of Duty: Vanguard, Monster Hunter: Rise, Madden NFL 22, and God of War in fifth place.
Both Monster Hunter: Rise and God of War saw massive spikes in sales due to their Steam releases as last month they were 94th and 146th best sellers respectively.
The PS5 has officially outsold the Nintendo Wii U as of February 2 as it hit 17.3 million sales over the holiday period.
The console also had a fantastic 2021, outselling the PS4 in its first fiscal year, breaking the Nintendo Switch's 33-month streak at the top of US hardware sales, and being the fastest-selling console in U.S. history in both unit and dollar sales.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale.
PS5 Was January’s Best-Selling Console in the US
Sony's PlayStation 5 was the United States' best-selling console in January 2022, the NPD Group has announced.
In the analyst group's latest data it has been revealed that the PS5 was the best-selling hardware platform in January in both units sold and dollars made.
The Xbox Series X/S placed second in both categories, though the two consoles' combined front pushed overall hardware sales to the second highest January on record at $390 million, an increase of 22% from January 2021.
The January with the highest figures to date was in 2009, back when the Wii, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 had been on the market for a few years.
Despite the huge hardware sales this January, however, spending across game hardware, content, and accessories declined 2% compared to January 2021.
Software sales saw Pokémon Legends: Arceus take the top spot, followed by Call of Duty: Vanguard, Monster Hunter: Rise, Madden NFL 22, and God of War in fifth place.
Both Monster Hunter: Rise and God of War saw massive spikes in sales due to their Steam releases as last month they were 94th and 146th best sellers respectively.
The PS5 has officially outsold the Nintendo Wii U as of February 2 as it hit 17.3 million sales over the holiday period.
The console also had a fantastic 2021, outselling the PS4 in its first fiscal year, breaking the Nintendo Switch's 33-month streak at the top of US hardware sales, and being the fastest-selling console in U.S. history in both unit and dollar sales.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale.
Charlie Cox Believes There’s More Daredevil and Kingpin in the MCU’s Future
Daredevil star Charlie Cox thinks his time with Kingpin is far from over.
During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the 39-year-old Daredevil actor thinks he’ll cross paths with Wilson Fisk once more.
“I am imagining, I am hoping, that our worlds will collide again,” he said of his former co-star, Vincent D’Onofrio. “Because the stuff we’ve done in the past was tremendous fun to do, and he’s such an incredible actor. We have to start every conversation with, ‘What do you know?’ because you have to be careful. It’s really exciting.”
The last time we saw Daredevil and Kingpin together on screen was in Daredevil Season 3 when the Man Without Fear finally managed to take down Wilson Fisk once and for all. It was the culmination of an incredible show. But now, with both of them returning to the MCU, it looks as though we could see them go head-to-head once again.
“Look, I don’t have any idea what anyone’s plans are at this stage,” explained Cox. “But I presume there’s more for us to do.” However, he then confessed: “I know a little bit — not a huge amount — but a little bit.”
Marvel boss Kevin Feige confirmed that Charlie Cox would return as Daredevil in the MCU before the iconic superhero made a surprise cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home. But the day before No Way Home opened in theaters, we saw Fisk return. Vincent D’Onofrio reprised his role as Kingpin in the hit TV show, Hawkeye. But after the season finale saw Echo seemingly gunning Fisk down, it looks as though we’ll have to cross our fingers for the Kingpin’s safe return.
After all, even D’Onofrio himself claims to not know Kingpin's fate.
“I hope he didn’t die,” said D’Onofrio. “I’m with the fans, I want to keep playing this part. My hope is that we continue.”
If he does, it might not be long before he gets to take on his old nemesis again. Meanwhile, Charlie Cox might have to bite his lip for a little longer.
“I hate lying,” said Cox about his No Way Home cameo. “But I really don’t want to ruin it for anyone. My feeling is, if someone asks you, and you say, ‘I don’t know … We’ll have to wait and see.’ That gives it away! It’s obvious! No one is going to say that if you’re not in it. I am relieved it’s over.”
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
Charlie Cox Believes There’s More Daredevil and Kingpin in the MCU’s Future
Daredevil star Charlie Cox thinks his time with Kingpin is far from over.
During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the 39-year-old Daredevil actor thinks he’ll cross paths with Wilson Fisk once more.
“I am imagining, I am hoping, that our worlds will collide again,” he said of his former co-star, Vincent D’Onofrio. “Because the stuff we’ve done in the past was tremendous fun to do, and he’s such an incredible actor. We have to start every conversation with, ‘What do you know?’ because you have to be careful. It’s really exciting.”
The last time we saw Daredevil and Kingpin together on screen was in Daredevil Season 3 when the Man Without Fear finally managed to take down Wilson Fisk once and for all. It was the culmination of an incredible show. But now, with both of them returning to the MCU, it looks as though we could see them go head-to-head once again.
“Look, I don’t have any idea what anyone’s plans are at this stage,” explained Cox. “But I presume there’s more for us to do.” However, he then confessed: “I know a little bit — not a huge amount — but a little bit.”
Marvel boss Kevin Feige confirmed that Charlie Cox would return as Daredevil in the MCU before the iconic superhero made a surprise cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home. But the day before No Way Home opened in theaters, we saw Fisk return. Vincent D’Onofrio reprised his role as Kingpin in the hit TV show, Hawkeye. But after the season finale saw Echo seemingly gunning Fisk down, it looks as though we’ll have to cross our fingers for the Kingpin’s safe return.
After all, even D’Onofrio himself claims to not know Kingpin's fate.
“I hope he didn’t die,” said D’Onofrio. “I’m with the fans, I want to keep playing this part. My hope is that we continue.”
If he does, it might not be long before he gets to take on his old nemesis again. Meanwhile, Charlie Cox might have to bite his lip for a little longer.
“I hate lying,” said Cox about his No Way Home cameo. “But I really don’t want to ruin it for anyone. My feeling is, if someone asks you, and you say, ‘I don’t know … We’ll have to wait and see.’ That gives it away! It’s obvious! No one is going to say that if you’re not in it. I am relieved it’s over.”
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
Lost Ark Providing Extra Founders Pack Items To Encourage Players To Swap to Quieter Servers
Lost Ark is offering players who paid to play the free-to-play MMO early additional items if they switch to quieter servers. The move comes as Lost Ark is struggling with long server queues during its early access period ahead of the official free-to-play release later today.
Some players are having "a less than ideal experience" said developer Smilegate in a blog post, and several measures to reduce queue times are being introduced.
Players who bought Founder's Packs to gain early access to Lost Ark will be offered the same items again if they switch to quieter servers as Smilegate attempts to spread out the huge number of players already online. The offer comes due to the fact that existing characters cannot be transferred to new severs, and so players will need to start the game again from scratch with new characters. Starting again would mean leaving behind the premium items on the previous server, but Smilegate's new promise means Founder's Pack items will be available for players on any server they choose.
While that makes changing servers a little less painful, there is an additional incentive. Those who purchased the Silver, Gold, or Platinum packs will also be given extra Royal Crystals that can be spent on skins, mounts, stronghold decorations and more in the in-game shop. To qualify for the replicated items and Royal Crystals, you need to switch servers and redeem your items by 12pm PT on February 14.
More than a dozen additional servers will also be opened to coincide with Lost Ark's free-to-play launch and the creation of additional characters will be limited "for the foreseeable future".
It's already one of Steam's biggest-ever games, overtaking the likes of Apex Legends and Among Us in peak concurrent users, even before it is officially released later today.
More than 530,000 concurrent players logging on seemed to be causing some problems initially, with users reporting connectivity issues and increased queue times that prompted Smilegate to open another North American server shortly after early access began.
Lost Ark will launch as a fully free-to-play game on February 11 at 9am Pacific / 12pm Eastern / 5pm UK (that's February 12 at 4am AEDT).
In our preview for the game, we said Lost Ark's combat is "very, very good, combining the best elements of MMOs and ARPGs," and there's "a sense of wonder surrounding this game that has us greatly excited."
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale.
Lost Ark Providing Extra Founders Pack Items To Encourage Players To Swap to Quieter Servers
Lost Ark is offering players who paid to play the free-to-play MMO early additional items if they switch to quieter servers. The move comes as Lost Ark is struggling with long server queues during its early access period ahead of the official free-to-play release later today.
Some players are having "a less than ideal experience" said developer Smilegate in a blog post, and several measures to reduce queue times are being introduced.
Players who bought Founder's Packs to gain early access to Lost Ark will be offered the same items again if they switch to quieter servers as Smilegate attempts to spread out the huge number of players already online. The offer comes due to the fact that existing characters cannot be transferred to new severs, and so players will need to start the game again from scratch with new characters. Starting again would mean leaving behind the premium items on the previous server, but Smilegate's new promise means Founder's Pack items will be available for players on any server they choose.
While that makes changing servers a little less painful, there is an additional incentive. Those who purchased the Silver, Gold, or Platinum packs will also be given extra Royal Crystals that can be spent on skins, mounts, stronghold decorations and more in the in-game shop. To qualify for the replicated items and Royal Crystals, you need to switch servers and redeem your items by 12pm PT on February 14.
More than a dozen additional servers will also be opened to coincide with Lost Ark's free-to-play launch and the creation of additional characters will be limited "for the foreseeable future".
It's already one of Steam's biggest-ever games, overtaking the likes of Apex Legends and Among Us in peak concurrent users, even before it is officially released later today.
More than 530,000 concurrent players logging on seemed to be causing some problems initially, with users reporting connectivity issues and increased queue times that prompted Smilegate to open another North American server shortly after early access began.
Lost Ark will launch as a fully free-to-play game on February 11 at 9am Pacific / 12pm Eastern / 5pm UK (that's February 12 at 4am AEDT).
In our preview for the game, we said Lost Ark's combat is "very, very good, combining the best elements of MMOs and ARPGs," and there's "a sense of wonder surrounding this game that has us greatly excited."
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale.
Microsoft Promises To Put the ‘Right People in the Right Position’ To Improve Activision Blizzard Culture
Microsoft has committed to putting "the right people in the right position" at the helm of Activision Blizzard amid the ongoing serious allegations around the company's toxic workplace culture.
As reported by VGC, Microsoft president Brad Smith told CNBC that his company is looking at the current leadership team at Activision Blizzard, and that there will be "change" to some aspects should the acquisition deal proceed.
He said: "We're looking to the leadership team at Activision Blizzard today to make culture and workplace safety a top priority every single day, until the day when this deal hopefully closes. And then we'll take over and we need to make that same commitment.
"There will be some aspects that will change but it will all be one new team that will work together," he continued. "Most importantly, we want to see the culture evolve, and we'll see how people perform between now and the day this closes, assuming it's approved. And then we'll have the opportunity to make sure that we have the right people in the right position."
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has been at the centre of rumoured changes and is currently expected to leave after the Microsoft deal closes. Several shareholders, employees, and members of the Activision Blizzard King (ABK) Workers Alliance have called for Kotick's resignation after a report claimed he knew about alleged sexual assault and harassment allegations within the company.
Activision Blizzard was sued by California over allegations of a "frat boy culture" and sexual harassment, but Blizzard has promised to improve its culture after what it called a "challenging" 2021.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale.
Channing Tatum’s Gambit Would Have Been ‘Mutant Goodfellas in New Orleans’
Reid Carolin, who was once set to direct Gambit, has revealed some details about the cancelled movie.
During an interview with Playlist, the film’s former director explained what the cancelled superhero flick would have been about. And it sounds all kinds of awesome
“It was all this kind of low-level mutant fights and disagreements,” he said. “We set it in this world of the Mafia—almost kind of like a mutant Goodfellas in New Orleans.”
Gambit was originally confirmed back in 2014 with Channing Tatum suiting up as the Louisiana mutant and long-time member of the X-Men. And it sounds as though it would have played heavily on his Cajun background.
“We made this world in New Orleans that was a city of mutants that didn’t care about saving the world,” explained Carolin. “They went there so they could use their powers to party and hook up, and their hands could fry the grease at MacDonald’s and whatever else and the hardest thing for them to do was to fall in love because they could read each other’s minds, or when they got into a fight, they could turn a table into a grenade and send their partner to the hospital or whatever.”
Carolin said that he and Tatum produced the film for over five years, actively working on it for two years straight. They wrote “multiple versions of the script and finally found the one that I think that was going to be really awesome.”
But the film’s troubled production kept it in development hell, with Channing Tatum still devastated at its cancellation.
“It is still one of my favorite scripts I’ve ever read,” Carolin explained. “I mean I worked on it, so it’s easy to say that.”
“I think it played really well in the Deadpool universe at Fox,” he added. "Emma Watts had really championed it at Fox. They made Deadpool at Fox and they understood that when you went a little punk rock with these characters you could pop some wheelies and really attract an audience.”
Unfortunately, it looks as though Disney wasn’t so keen on the movie. After Disney acquired Fox back in 2019, the axe finally came down on Gambit. Carolin revealed that the movie was fully cast, a crew was assembled, and they were just months away from filming “when ultimately Disney scrapped it.”
Whether or not the project gets revived remains to be seen. But Carolin and Tatum are certainly keen to get back on board.
“Those guys at Marvel have a really good thing going and I’m sure they have a plan that I don’t know about for the ‘X-Men’ universe,” said Carolin. “I’m not going to tell them how to do their jobs, they’re nailing it. But I hold out hope that maybe someday it’ll come back—Channing is perfect for the role. And as long as they keep making Deadpool a character, he’ll need a world to play in and… if they want some more characters like that, I think [they should] come our way.”
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
Iconic Jurassic Park T-Rex Scene Becomes a LEGO Set
LEGO is releasing a new set recreating Jurassic Park's iconic T-Rex paddock breakout scene.
Revealed exclusively by IGN, the 1,212-piece set includes a posable T-Rex, two Ford Explorers (one flipped and crushed, the other intact), and a smashed electric fence. Minifigs include Alan Grant, Ian Malcolm, Tim Murphy, and Lex Murphy, and you also get LEGO-fied night vision goggles, a flare, and even two tiny water cups.
The set is available for pre-order at the LEGO Store and Target, and will arrive on April 17, priced at $99.99 USD. Check out images of the set in the gallery below:
The original Jurassic Park scene remains an all-time classic cinema moment, in which Jurassic Park's electric fence system goes dark, and a T-Rex escapes, only to chase down the island's visitors. From rippling water to a desperate flare escape, it's magnificent stuff.
We broke down the scene a few years ago, explaining why the the T-Rex's paddock attack still works to this day, and how it's had a lasting effect on filmmaking to this day.
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.
Days Gone Director Wanted To Make An Uncharted Prequel Starring Young Sully
Days Gone director Jeff Ross wanted to make an Uncharted prequel.
During an interview with Sacred Symbols (via VGC), Ross explained what his Uncharted prequel would have been all about.
“Victor Sullivan at the age of 25 in a very stylised world where… it would be around 1976, I think is where we figured out his age might be,” he explained.
Sony Bend was at one point reportedly working on a new Uncharted game… and while many thought it was likely an Uncharted sequel, it could be that this was actually Jeff Ross’s young Sully prequel.
And it’s certainly an interesting concept.
“He busted out of the Navy for reasons, and I thought seeing him young and trying to figure out his way in this world going from trying to be a soldier or you know a military man to now I’m just out on the streets and I’m gonna become a hustler,” he added.
After Sony failed to greenlight Days Gone 2, the director wanted to work on something new and began putting together ideas for this unmade Uncharted game.
And given the upcoming Uncharted movie features a far younger Sully than we’ve seen in the games, it would have been a nice touch to see the iconic adventurer get his own globe-trotting game.
The idea, Ross said, was that Sully would evoke a classic James Bond. “A young, sexy Victor Sullivan, to me, would have been like Sean Connery,” he said.
Unfortunately, the concept soon ground to a halt, and it sounds though that’s largely due to problems making it feel like an Uncharted game.
Ross admitted there were far fewer “opportunities for shootouts”. This was a big problem. After all, he didn’t want to make “the first Uncharted game where the player didn’t shoot anybody.”
The upcoming Uncharted movie starring Tom Holland sees Sully played by Mark Wahlberg. Although not exactly a ‘70s era Sean Connery, it’s exactly the kind of youthful take on Sully that could have made a great Uncharted prequel. As it stands, we’ll have to wait for the upcoming movie to next see Sully’s iconic moustache in action.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.