Monthly Archives: November 2022
Elon Musk is Already Thinking About Stepping Away From Twitter
Despite having just taken the reins of the social media company and enacting seismic changes, Elon Musk says he expects to reduce his time at Twitter and find a new CEO.
According to reports at Reuters and elsewhere, Musk told a Delaware judge that he plans to “reduce my time at Twitter and find somebody else to run Twitter over time.” This is something he has told investors as well, offering that his tenure as Twitter CEO is only temporary.
Since taking over the social media website after acquiring it for $44 billion, Musk has made headlines for each new business move including mass layoffs and prioritizing Twitter Blue which now comes with a verified check mark for subscribers.
These moves have subsequently been followed-up with additional reports, such as the inefficient way in which Twitter employees were informed of their layoff, and how the Twitter Blue feature was immediately used to impersonate official Twitter accounts for jokes.
Musk actually says he doesn’t want to be CEO of any company, despite being CEO of several. This includes his companies like Tesla and SpaceX. But in both cases, Musk told the judge that he views his role as someone who facilitates new technology, whereas the CEO title is more of a business role.
Musk was testifying on whether Tesla’s board acted appropriately when handing Musk a $52 billion pay package.
Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.
Twitter Closes All Of Its Office Buildings as Employees Resign En Masse
Hundreds of Twitter employees have resigned en masse following Elon Musk's ultimatum that they commit to what he has dubbed a "hardcore Twitter 2.0."
The employees had until 2pm PT on Thursday to select "yes" on a Google Form to the question of whether they wanted to stay at Twitter, according to reports by The Verge and New York Times among others. Instead, employees began posting farewell messages to what has been described as an avalanche of salute emojis.
Employees were previously told they could sign on for Twitter's "exciting journey" or take severance and "transition away" from the company.
As the resignations poured in, tech journalist Zoë Schiffer reported that Twitter had closed all of its office buildings and suspended badge access. Shiffer reports that Musk and his leadership team are "terrified" that employees will attempt to sabotage the company, and that they are still trying to work out which employees they need to cut access for.
According to Schiffer, the offices will reopen on November 21.
Twitter has been racked by departures and layoffs ever since Musk purchased the company less than a month ago. It has coincided with a diastrous rollout for the new Twitter Blue verification subscription strategy, which has been updated and amended multiple times.
NEW: Twitter just alerted employees that effective immediately, all office buildings are temporarily closed and badge access is suspended. No details given as to why.
— Zoë Schiffer (@ZoeSchiffer) November 17, 2022
Meanwhile, Twitter seems dangerously close to running afoul of the Federal Trade Commission [FTC}. Earlier today, seven Democratic senators sent a letter to the agency asking it to investigate whether Twitter had violated its consumer privacy agreement.
With more than half of Twitter's 7,500 member workforce having resigned or been fired, it's unclear whether the platform will be able to recover.
“I’m not pressing the button,” an employee was reported by The Verge to have posted in Slack. “My watch ends with Twitter 1.0. I do not wish to be part of Twitter 2.0”
You can read our full timeline of Musk's Twitter buyout and what has happened since right here.
Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Are Full of Glaring Technical Problems
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet's review embargo has lifted, and as it ticks over to November 18 around the world, folks are beginning to get access to them. Which means everyone is now able to see an extremely unfortunate, glaring issue with the games: they run very, very poorly.
We covered this in our review in progress, and there's a lot more to the game that we discuss in there, but here's a quick excerpt summarizing the issues we specifically ran into:
The framerate is all over the place, dipping agonizingly low even when only a few effects such as flowing water or weather are on screen. Character models only a few feet away pop in and out, sometimes rapidly, or chug along at stop motion animation speeds. Everything has a weird, shimmery blur to it, and shadows frequently disappear and reappear suddenly and illogically. Pokémon clip in and out of walls or floors at odd angles, or get stuck in them entirely – I spent an entire Gym Battle with one Pokémon halfway buried in the floor. The camera will occasionally clip through mountainsides and give a full view of a video gamey void, sometimes ruining cool moments (like, for instance, the evolution of my Wooper). Everything lags all the time, from battles to menus to cutscenes. Two of our guides writers have experienced hard game crashes. It is, by far, the worst-running Pokémon game I have ever played, and among the worst-running AAA games I’ve played on the Switch so far. And yes, this is with the day one patch.
To be clear, from my own experience playing, the issues went far beyond framerate. Aside from the aforementioned hard crashes, lag, framerate drops, pop-in, and clipping issues, I also ran into a handful of bugs. One area I explored refused to let me pick up any of the items lying around on the ground. I've seen multiple wild Pokémon stuck in walls, unable to be battled, and I've been able to briefly fly vertically up a waterfall.
In fact, as I was writing this article, one of our guides writers informed me that they had just had this bizarre issue happen to them:
Polygon, Eurogamer, The Guardian, and basically everyone else cited the issues in their reviews, just like we did. But overall, it seems that the pool of reviewers who had early access to test these issues was pretty small. So it stands to reason that now that the general public is also playing, even more issues are being discovered. Here's one especially egregious example making the rounds on Twitter:
oof the reviews arent kidding about the terrible performance #PokemonScarletViolet #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/0oDvYQmMqV
— cherrim @ pkmn scarlet (@Cherrim) November 17, 2022
And another, somewhat similar one:
le jeu galère je crois #PokemonEcarlateViolet #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/ZxmnwBrhLR
— Snicky (@Snicky974) November 17, 2022
It's extremely likely we'll see even more bugs and bizarre technical issues like this crop up in the coming days as more people get their hands on these games and break them on accident, or even on purpose. There's currently a day one patch that supposedly improves performance, but given our entire review period was spent playing on said patch, we're not optimistic for everyone else. We're going to need more patches.
IGN has reached out to Nintendo to ask if there were more improvements planned, but has not yet received a response.
As you battle through the bugs, check out our Wiki Guide to everything you might need to know during your Paldean adventure.
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.
Overwatch 2: Blizzard Acknowledges Battle Pass Problems, Promises Better
Overwatch 2 fans aren’t entirely happy with the game’s rewards and cosmetics, especially considering their high cost. And Blizzard isn’t satisfied, either.
During a lengthy blog post, new Overwatch 2 executive producer Jared Neuss revealed that Blizzard is planning some big changes to how its season passes will work.
“In Season 2, we’ve changed up our rewards a bit so that each event has a skin you can earn by playing, in addition to the other cosmetic rewards we already offer,” he explained. Notably, the game’s recent Halloween Terror event rewarded little beyond voice lines, some titles, and XP.
“We’re also going to continue our Twitch drops programs so that you can earn skins and in-game goodies by supporting your favorite creators,” he added. “While we're working on the long-term plans, we want upcoming seasons to feel more rewarding than Season 1.”
Improvements to battle pass rewards will go a long way, especially if this includes additional free skins… but there’s more to do in the long term.
Thankfully, Blizzard is planning to up the ante when it comes to Season 3.
“For Season 3 and beyond, we’re looking at a mix of Battle Pass changes, more interesting Challenges to pursue, and more exciting play-focused progression systems for you all to dig into. We’ll be able to talk about some of these changes soon, but other changes may take more time to lock-in.”
Quite what this means for Overwatch 2 remains to be seen, and since the game’s shift to free-to-play, monetization has proven to be a bit of a sticking point. Especially since one particular weapon charm was cheaper to buy in real life than in-game.
However, the company does seem to want to get the right balance.
“We aren’t completely satisfied with how everything feels right now,” he said. “There’s a lot we like about it—knocking out a bunch of daily/weekly challenges or getting something new for a hero you love can feel great! But we also recognize that today’s experience has opportunity for improvement that we need to focus on.”
IGN’s Overwatch 2 review gave it 8/10 and said: “Overwatch 2 breathes new life into what was once the sharpest multiplayer shooter around, before it had its edges severely dulled by Blizzard’s attention shifting away," adding that "The fundamentals are all set for Overwatch to shine as it once did in the multiplayer shooter scene once again, and the future definitely looks bright with what is set to come over the following months.”
Want to read more about Overwatch 2? Check out its new tank hero, Ramattra as well as how many players Overwatch 2 reached in its first month.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
Steven Spielberg to Direct Bullitt Reboot Starring Bradley Cooper
Legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg is taking on Bullitt.
Spielberg is making a new original feature that’s based on the character of Frank Bullitt – the San Francisco cop famously played by Steve McQueen in the original 1968 film.
According to Deadline, the picture will star Bradley Cooper as the no-nonsense cop, but the film isn’t a straightforward remake. Instead, it’s said to be a new original feature that’s centered around Frank Bullitt.
Although Cooper has only just signed on for the role, he’s apparently been discussing it with Spielberg for some time.
“He and Spielberg have been talking about the character and what a new take on the story would look like going all the way back to the pandemic,” said Deadline reporter, Justin Kroll.
The original Bullitt saw the titular character trying to track down a mysterious mob boss who organized a hit on his star witness. It also features one of the most famous car chases in cinema history.
Unfortunately, there are no other details about the upcoming Bullitt film, with the plot remaining firmly under wraps.
Whether or not the new film will live up to the original remains to be seen, but with Spielberg at the helm, it feels as though Bullitt is in good hands.
The Post writer Josh Singer is writing the screenplay while Cooper, Spielberg, and Kristie Macosko Krieger are on board as producers. Steve McQueen’s son Chad McQueen and granddaughter Molly McQueen will serve as executive producers.
IGN’s review of Spielberg’s most recent film The Fabelmans gave it 9/10 and said: “Steven Spielberg goes autobiographical with The Fabelmans, his warmest and most personal film to date. With a coming-of-age story that is universal in its portrayal of misunderstood artists and broken homes, but hyper-specific in its portrayal of the childhood that formed a legendary filmmaker, this is a therapy session turned into a hugely entertaining movie, aided by a fantastic cast, and one of John Williams' best scores in years.”
Want to read more about Spielberg? Check out what the filmmaker thinks about films being dumped to HBO Max as well as his recent music video that was shot entirely on an iPhone.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
Norman Reedus’ Proposed Ending For The Walking Dead Is Grim
Walkers have ravaged the screens of fans for over a decade now, but now, the Walking Dead is finally coming to a close. Well, kinda.
On Nov. 20, the original series of The Walking Dead will air its season finale. The episode, the 24th installment in season 11, will ultimately conclude the storyline that started with Rick Grimes waking up in a hospital in Atlanta. After numerous twists and surprise deaths, the finale of The Walking Dead has a lot to conclude. In a recent feature for Entertainment Weekly, the cast of the show explained how they would want to see their characters treated in the final episode.
Norman Reedus, who plays everyone's favorite crossbow-wielding badass Daryl Dixon, has a dark idea for his conclusion. What would he like to see? "Everybody dies."
Most of the rest of the cast doesn't share Reedus' dark ideas, though. For example, Cailey Fleming thinks that a lovely alternate ending for Judith would be a bit more magical. "I think that it would've been awesome to see her riding off into the sunset on a unicorn," she said.
Some of the long-standing cast members had competing ideas about their character's fake futures. Jeffrey Dean Morgan would want to see Negan profess his love to Maggie, leaving Annie behind. Meanwhile, Lauren Cohan thinks that Maggie would rather just go to Paris and eat croissants in a café all day.
One of the weirdest fake outcomes comes from Melissa McBride. She would find it fun to see Carol float off in a hot air balloon, out of sight and fate unknown.
The final episode of the Walking Dead will air Nov. 20 on AMC. While the original series will come to a close, the franchise still has a bevy of spinoffs slated for production.
Carson Burton is a freelance news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter at @carsonsburton.
Ubisoft Shares Very Early Look at Splinter Cell Remake
Splinter Cell fans today got an unexpected glimpse at the game’s upcoming remake.
Some new concept art was released by Ubisoft as part of Splinter Cell’s 20th Anniversary celebrations, depicting Sam Fisher in action with those familiar multi-vision goggles… not to mention a particularly intense-looking interrogation.
Creative director Chris Auty confirmed that the Splinter Cell remake is still “very early” in production, and it sounds as though it’s still a long way off.
But by the time it gets here, it looks as though it’ll include some improvements on the original.
“20 years later, we can look back at the plot, the characters, the overall story of the game [and] make some improvements - things that might not have aged particularly well,” said creative director Chris Auty. “But the core of the story, the core of the experience will remain as it was in the original game.”
The game may be a way off, but Ubisoft also explained how some of these improvements will work, including an upgrade to the game’s AI.
“Obviously a special forces soldier will be better trained,” said technical director, Christian Carriere. “They’re going to breach differently or enter rooms differently to something like a regular security guard would.”
“We can really improve AI engagement, how they’re reacting, and what they’re reacting to,” added senior game designer Andy Schmoll. “With all of that, we can make improvements to the cat-and-mouse gameplay between Sam and the enemies, especially with our enemies behaving like trained professionals.”
Splinter Cell included some ground-breaking systems when it was released in 2002, including the use of the trademark Stealth Meter (or Light Meter) when sneaking through the shadows.
The remake will reportedly improve on the atmospheric lighting with ray-traced global illumination as well as better audio simulation that will “create some really, really, really compelling and detailed settings.”
Want to read more about Splinter Cell? Find out how the remake will update the story for a modern audience and check out every Ubisoft game currently in development.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
Gearbox Fully Acquires Risk of Rain Franchise
Embracer Group has announced that Borderlands developer Gearbox now owns the Risk of Rain franchise.
“After the quarter, Gearbox acquired the Risk of Rain IP along with all released games in the commercially successful video game franchise from Hopoo Games,” Embracer Group explains in its second-quarter interim report.
“Risk of Rain now joins Gearbox’s portfolio of owned games that includes acclaimed franchises such as Borderlands, Brothers in Arms, Homeworld, and more.”
Risk of Rain was released in 2013, developed by Hopoo Games and published by Chucklefish to critical and commercial acclaim. A sequel, Risk of Rain 2, was published by Gearbox into early access in 2019 with a full 1.0 launch in 2020.
In IGN’s Risk of Rain 2 review, we said, “What’s here now is polished, fun, and immensely replayable, and what’s on the horizon leads me to believe I’ll be playing Risk of Rain 2 for a very long time to come.”
In the same report, Embracer Group has also transferred Saints Row developer Volition from PLAION Group to Gearbox, moving 195 employees over. Furthermore, after Embracer’s recent acquisition of Square Enix’s former western studios, the company is also integrating Eidos Shanghai into Gearbox.
This would allow Gearbox to work with development teams in Asia as well as have them support North American studios too.
George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. He's been writing about the industry since 2019 and has worked with other publications such as Insider, Kotaku, NPR, and Variety.
When not writing about video games, George is playing video games. What a surprise! You can follow him on Twitter @Yinyangfooey
Nvidia is Being Sued Over Controversial 16-Pin Connector
An RTX 4090 owner has filed a class-action lawsuit against Nvidia over the company's controversial connector cable.
As reported by Tom's Hardware, Lucas Genova filed a lawsuit last week concerning the 12VHPWR 16-pin connector used for the company's current high-end graphics card, the GeForce RTX 4090. In the legal complaint, Genova's legal team notes that he purchased an RTX 4090 graphics card and noticed the connector cable began to melt shortly after installing it into his PC.
Nvidia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"The cause of the melting appears to be a design flaw, relating to the high wattage flowing through each of the 16 pins," the legal complaint notes. "If there is even a temporary break in the electrical connection for any of the pins, too high a current will flow through the remaining pins, causing a meltdown."
Genova is not the only user to publicly flag melting issues with the connector cable, as several other RTX 4090 owners have also expressed issues with the connector cable melting on websites like Reddit. Nvidia revealed it was still investigating reports.
The suit calls for relief in the form of Nvidia paying damages to the plaintiff and all other RTX 4090 owners affected by the 16-pin cable connector melting.
Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
Silk: Spider Society Live-Action TV Series Heads to Prime Video With Spider-verse Team
An upcoming Spider-Man spin-off based on Marvel’s Silk is heading to Prime Video.
Angela Kang, who served as showrunner on The Walking Dead, will head up Silk: Spider Society which also sees Spider-Verse alumni Phil Lord and Chris Miller as well as Sony boss Amy Pascal as executive producers.
“I'm beyond thrilled to be joining the Amazon Studios family for this next chapter of my career,” said Kang. “I look forward to working with the executive team on diverse, character-forward, watercooler shows for a global audience and am so excited to dive into my first challenge—bringing Korean-American superhero Silk to life on screen.”
The show is based on the character Cindy Moon aka Silk – a Korean American hero who was bitten by the same spider that bit Peter Parker, imbuing her with Spider-Sense, web-shooting abilities, and superhuman strength, speed, and agility.
Silk was originally created by comic book creators, Dan Slott and Humberto Ramos.
Additionally, Silk: Spider Society will be the first in a series of Spider-Man spin-offs heading to Prime Video as part of a multi-series deal.
“Amy Pascal, Phil Lord, Chris Miller, and Sony’s recent live-action and animated reimagining of the Spider-Man franchise has represented some of the most dynamic superhero storytelling in film,” said Amazon Studios head, Jennifer Salke. “Together with Angela Kang’s creative vision, we couldn’t be more pleased to bring Silk: Spider Society to our MGM+ and Prime Video customers.”
The project was first revealed to be in development way back in 2020 as part of Sony’s ongoing efforts to build its own Spider-Verse.
Since then, the character of Cindy Moon has already made her live-action debut – a classmate of Tom Holland’s Peter Parker in the recent Marvel movies, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Avengers: Infinity War.
It’s unknown whether original actress Tiffany Espensen will return for the series, or whether the role will simply be recast.
Want to read more about Spider-Man spin-offs? Check out the upcoming Spider-Man spin-off El Muerto as well as our first glimpse of Across the Spider-Verse’s villain.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.