Elden Ring: Miyazaki Reveals His Favourite Bosses
Elden Ring director and FromSoftware CEO Hidetaka Miyazaki has officially declared his favourite boss in the game to be Starscourge Radahn.
Speaking to Xbox Wire Japan (and independently translated by IGN), Miyazaki was asked what his favourite boss in Elden Ring is and was also asked to explain himself over the infamous, terrifying Spider Hand enemy found in Caria Manor.
"It's tough to decide", Miyazaki said about the bosses, "but I'd have to say Radahn. As an individual character he's really alluring, and I really like the Radahn Festival situation. There’s a literal sense of festivity and exuberance, but also a unique tinge of sadness and loneliness."
He also laughed that, when the Radahn Festival was first brought up - which is perhaps the most ambitious boss set piece in any FromSoftware game, in which various champions from across the land battle alongside you for glory against Radahn - "no one on the team took it seriously".
His second favourite boss, Miyazaki added, is either Godrick, the Grafted or Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy, but one of his other favourite designs in the game is the Spider Hand, the giant 12-fingered hand that scuttles after players in Caria Manor.
"Spider Hand is one of my favourite designs," Miyazaki said. "It’s something you don’t want to even look at because it’s so horrible. I wonder if the way to overcome your issue is to face it head on and beat it."
Before Elden Ring was released, Miyazaki had given his favourite bosses across all of his games as the Old Monk from Demon's Souls, but he didn't comment if Radahn had dethroned that choice.
In our 10/10 review, IGN said: "Elden Ring is a massive iteration on what FromSoftware began with the Souls series, bringing its relentlessly challenging combat to an incredible open world that gives us the freedom to choose our own path."
To make those choices with the best available information, check out our guide that features everything you could ever hope to know about Elden Ring, including collectible locations, boss strategies, and more.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
Netflix Geeked Week 2022 Lineup Features Stranger Things, The Gray Man, and Much More
Netflix has unveiled its schedule for Geeked Week 2022, a virtual five-day event packed with sneak peeks, trailers, cast panels, and a whole lot more.
Geeked Week will run from June 6 through to June 10 this year, with each day of the event dedicated to a different category to showcase Netflix's most hotly anticipated titles across various genres, including television series, movies, animation, games, and Stranger Things — which takes up an entire day of its own amid its longest and most ambitious season yet.
Here's a full rundown of what you can expect, courtesy of Netflix Geeked:
June 6
The first day will dig into mind-bending series such as The Umbrella Academy, which is returning to the platform with a new season on June 22, along with all-new shows like Resident Evil, coming up on July 14, and the Neil Gaiman-inspired Sandman series, which was greenlit back in 2019. A trailer for the event showed Gwendoline Christie's Lucifer in action.
The recently-released Geeked Week schedule also confirms that we will also be learning more about Netflix's adaptation of anime One Piece, First Kill, Alice in Borderland, All of Us Are Dead, Fate: The Winx Saga, Locke & Key, Manifest, School Tales The Series, Shadow and Bone, Sweet Tooth, The Midnight Club, Vikings: Valhalla, Warrior Nun, and 1899.
June 7
The following day will center around upcoming movie releases, including the Chris Hemsworth-led Spiderhead, Paul Feig's The School for Good and Evil, and the Russo Brothers' action thriller The Gray Man, which will see two of the world's greatest assassins attempt to hunt one another down when it releases on Netflix on July 22.
Geeked Week will spotlight more titles from Netflix's summer movie slate and beyond, which features a mix of rom-coms, action, drama, family films, and documentaries. The agenda for June 7 also lists Day Shift, The Sea Bast, Wendell & Wild, Blasted, Killer Book Club, Interceptor, and Troll as titles that fans will be geeking out over.
June 8
Midway through the event, Netflix will delve into all things animation. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, a 10-episode series set in the Cyberpunk 2077 universe, is one of IGN's most anticipated anime of the year, and it will be headlining the third day alongside Love, Death & Robots, The Dragon Prince, Arcane, Inside Job, Exception, Farzar, and Moonrise.
June 9
Thursday will see Netflix go inside out (and upside down) with Stranger Things. The day will consist of an aftershow for Season 4 of the Duffer Brothers-created series, which will have already debuted Volume 1 on May 27, with the final two episodes coming on July 1. The event will also dig into "The Hellfire Club: A Stranger Things Dungeons & Dragons Adventure."
June 10
The Cuphead Show! will take to the virtual stage on Friday, together with Sonic Prime, DOTA: Dragon's Blood, and Tekken: Bloodline. Netflix will also show off more than 10 Netflix games, including one based on Money Heist, as the streamer looks to ramp up its gaming-based content opportunities "from every direction" to further expand its offerings on the platform.
Netflix will share all of its Geeked Week content daily on its official channels, including YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Twitch, and TikTok. If you happen to miss anything, IGN will have you covered with all the latest details and announcements, so be sure to check back here each day for the biggest trailers, teasers, and more.
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.
Elden Ring Director Hidetaka Miyazaki Was Influenced by Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Elder Scrolls, and Witcher 3
Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki said that while Elden Ring doesn't take inspiration from any one game in particular, he himself has been influenced by other open worlds including Zelda: Breath of the Wild, The Elder Scrolls series, and The Witcher 3.
Speaking to Xbox Wire Japan (independently translated by IGN), Miyazaki was asked if he took direct inspiration from any other open world games.
"I don’t think we took specific inspiration from any particular game," he said, "but I’ve personally played a lot of open world games that are considered classics of the genre, and I’ve been influenced by all of them.
"These include The Elder Scrolls series, The Witcher 3, and more recently The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild," he added.
Elden Ring's world was built with bosses in mind first, however, typical of developer FromSoftware and its series of games including the Dark Souls trilogy, Bloodborne, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.
"Our first step when designing the map was to decide where the bosses would appear, especially the important ones," Miyazaki said. "Therefore, the map was really designed on the basis of boss gameplay, then we adjusted the boss gameplay based on their location on the map."
This design system certainly worked as Elden Ring has proven somewhat of a cultural phenomenon since it was released in February with players interacting with the game in a ton of different ways. One player, for example, got the Fisher Price toy controller working with the game, while another has made a VR version.
Someone has also beaten a boss using the Nintendo Switch Ring Fit controller, while others completed the game without taking damage or dealing damage.
In our 10/10 review, IGN said: "Elden Ring is a massive iteration on what FromSoftware began with the Souls series, bringing its relentlessly challenging combat to an incredible open world that gives us the freedom to choose our own path."
To make those choices with the best available information, check out our guide that features everything you could ever hope to know about Elden Ring, including collectible locations, boss strategies, and more.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
The Quarry Online Multiplayer Mode Delayed
The online multiplayer portion of Supermassive Games' The Quarry has been delayed until July 8 at the latest.
The rest of the Until Dawn spiritual successor will launch as planned on June 10, however, including the couch co-op and movie mode options.
Supermassive Games released a statement on Twitter confirming the delay but didn't give an explicit reason as to why the online multiplayer was pushed back.
An update on The Quarry's online multiplayer: pic.twitter.com/Bipo0yxp2g
— Supermassive Games (@SuperMGames) May 26, 2022
"We've made the difficult decision to delay the online multiplayer mode to deliver the best possible experience for you," it said. "It's not a long wait though; online multiplayer will be added via an update by July 8th."
The online multiplayer portion gives control of the game to the host player while up to seven others could provide input on the dozens of choices available throughout the game.
The Quarry was only revealed two months ago on March 17 and sees Supermassive Games return to the cheesy teen horror genre in a much bigger way than The Dark Pictures Anthology games have.
Players will control nine different characters as they try to survive the last night of summer camp, and like Until Dawn, anyone can live and anyone can die.
It also features a star-studded cast including Scream's David Arquette, Modern Family's Ariel Winter, Detective Pikachu's Justice Smith, The Social Network's Brenda Song, Aliens' Lance Henriksen, and A Nightmare on Elm Street's Lin Shaye.
Players can see them all in action when The Quarry arrives on PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox Series and One, and PC via Steam.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
Steam Database Listing Suggests Returnal Is Coming to PC
A game listing for what appears to be Returnal has appeared on Steam's database, suggesting the currently PlayStation 5 exclusive could be the next Sony game to appear on PC.
There isn't an explicit reference to "Returnal" in the listing, spotted by @Nibellion on Twitter (below), but there are several mentions of names and locations from within the game.
The localisation portion of the listing mentions Atropos, the alien planet where Returnal is set, the Tower of Sisyphus, Returnal's endless mode, and Helios, the ship from which Returnal's protagonist arrives in and respawns from on each new run.
It appears Returnal is headed to Steam
— Nibel (@Nibellion) May 26, 2022
A SteamDB page features tags that accurately describe the game and some text string that mentions the 'Tower Of Sisyphus'https://t.co/wuFqDwLV7o pic.twitter.com/jrvZf70s1K
The game is also tagged as a single player third-person shooter with online co-op and lots of exploration in an atmospheric world, is a sci-fi rogue-like, and also features a female protagonist. For those unfamiliar, this describes Returnal pretty much perfectly.
Sony has recently confirmed that it sees expanding to multiple platforms as a key part of its gaming growth strategy, with previous-PlayStation exclusives God of War and Horizon: Zero Dawn receiving PC ports in the last couple of years.
It was the developers themselves that pushed for the expansion into PC gaming as God of War's director Cory Barlog revealed in January that he and other studio heads had suggested it several times.
So far, the only PlayStation Studios games to arrive on PC are the aforementioned God of War and Horizon plus Bend Studio's Days Gone and Naughty Dog's Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection.
In our 8/10 review of Returnal, IGN said: "Its roguelike runs are too long and it needs a way to save in the middle of them, but Returnal's third-person shooter action, clever story, and atmosphere are excellent."
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
God of War: Ragnarok Rated In South Korea, Suggesting 2022 Release Date
God of War: Ragnarok has received a rating in South Korea, suggesting the game is on track for its 2022 release date.
As spotted by ResetEra user modiz, Ragaorok was rated as an "18 and over" game by South Korea's Game Rating and Administration Committee, and a game being rated usually signifies that a relatively complete version has been presented, and therefore isn't too far from being released.
While developer Sony Santa Monica has reassured fans recently that the long-awaited sequel to God of War (2018) will be released this year, there's also been reason to be a little sceptical. 2022 has proved a particularly nasty year for game delays as the impact of COVID-19 still echoes throughout the industry. 29 games have been affected by delays this year so far, headlined by the recent shift of Bethesda's Redfall and Starfield into next year.
Ragnarok itself has also been delayed before and is just one of many PlayStation Studios titles that have been pushed back. Horizon: Forbidden West, Gran Turismo 7, Returnal, and Ghost of Tsushima were all delayed by Sony in the past two years.
Originally due to be released in 2021, Ragnarok was pushed back "to ensure that Santa Monica Studio can deliver the amazing God of War game that we all want to play." Protagonist Kratos's voice actor later revealed that he was part of the reason for Ragnarok's delay, however, saying that he had to undergo physical therapy following several operations in 2019 and therefore couldn't work.
Ragnarok was announced for PlayStation 5 (and later confirmed to be coming to PS4 too) in September 2020 and a three-minute trailer was shared one year later.
In our 10/10 review of the 2018 original, IGN said: "God of War’s outstanding characters, world, and combat come together to form an unforgettable adventure."
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
PlayStation Studios Is Preparing to Invest Big in New IP
By the end of the 2025 financial year, 50% of Sony's investment into its PlayStation Studios will go towards the creation of brand new IPs.
Revealed in its latest investor briefing, Sony said that investing in new IP is part of its overall growth plans and it's looking to increase this area significantly over the next few years.
While it was previously mostly focused on developing existing IP, pointing to a 2019 figure that saw a 77% investment in its current franchises and only 23% in new ones, Sony has been slowly shifting towards a more even split.
By the end of the 2022 financial year Sony will be investing 66% in existing IP and 34% in new IP, and by the end of the 2025 financial year it wants this number to be exactly 50/50.
This is just the latest confirmation that Sony sees great value in developing its first party PlayStation Studios as it revealed earlier in May that it's investing a further $300 million into its developers including God of War's Santa Monica Studio or Horizon: Forbidden West's Guerrilla Games.
This investment is separate from its acquisitions budget as Sony is also looking to significantly expand the number of studios it owns.
It purchased Bungie in February for $3.6 billion and in the last year has also acquired several other studios, including Bluepoint and Housemarque. Sony Interactive Entertainment president Jim Ryan also said in April that it already has more purchases planned.
It's also looking to expand brand awareness by continuing its development of TV shows based on PlayStation IPs, also confirming during the investor briefing that it's creating series based on Horizon, God of War, and Gran Turismo.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey Is a Nightmare Reimagining of the Beloved Bear
Oh, bother. Winnie the Pooh just got real dark. A new horror film, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, reimagines the beloved children’s book character as a serial killer. Not exactly a cozy bedtime story.
The indie horror title is currently in production by director Rhys Frake-Waterfield. Quite a staggering directorial debut if you ask me. The cast includes Craig David-Dowsett as Winnie, with Chris Cordell as Piglet. Other characters include “Caged Man” and “Mauled Woman” just to give you an idea of where they’re going with this…
The film is being made by the London-based Jagged Edge Productions, which also made The Curse of Humpty Dumpty and The Legend of Jack and Jill. So, it seems they’ve got form for putting a bloody take on childhood stories.
But how are they able to make a Winnie the Pooh movie? Winnie the Pooh is almost synonymous with Disney at this point after the studio turned A.A. Milne’s classic children’s books into a collection of movies and the recent Christopher Robin film. Until now, Disney had the exclusive rights to the character… but Milne’s work entered the public domain earlier this year, meaning that anyone can now adapt those classic characters as they see fit. We just weren’t expecting it to get quite so dark, quite so quickly.
At the moment, details are scarce about Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, and with no official synopsis just yet we don’t really know what the film is about. However, from a batch of images, it looks as though Winnie and Piglet will be killers wearing these masks.
The film’s IMDB page states that it’s “A horror retelling of the famous legend of Winnie the Poo.” Whatever it turns out to be, it’s definitely one to keep your eye on. After all, it’s not every day you see Winnie the Pooh with a hammer.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
PSVR2 Will Have More Than 20 Major Games At Launch
The PlayStation VR2 will launch with more than 20 major games, seemingly including the Horizon virtual reality game, Call of the Mountain.
Revealed in Sony's latest investor briefing, there are "20 plus first-party and third-party titles confirmed for PS VR2 at launch".
Interestingly, the slide uses Horizon: Call of the Mountain - the VR game set in the world of Horizon: Zero Dawn and Forbidden West - as its image to go alongside the launch game reveal. While Sony hasn't confirmed that Call of the Mountain will be a launch title explicitly, the investor briefing certainly makes it appear to be.
Other titles confirmed for PS VR2 include the lite-RPG Samurai Slaughter House, cyberpunk-esque Low-Fi, fast-paced racer-shooter Runner, narrative adventure Firmament, and hit deception game Among Us.
Some developers are also confirmed to be working on PS VR2 games but are yet to announce what the games are, including Apex Construct's Fast Travel Games, Firewall: Zero Hour's First Contact Entertainment, Ghostbusters VR's nDreams, and Gang Beasts' Coatsink Software.
Sony announced it was working on a "next generation" VR headset in August 2020 but only officially unveiled the PS VR2 in February last year.
The new controllers were revealed a month later, and in June a report emerged that said Sony plans to release its new headset in holiday 2022, though this remains unconfirmed.
In February this year Sony gave fans a proper look at the new headset and its features but we're still waiting for an official showcase with launch games, a release date, and pricing.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
Sony Expects to Be Done With PS4 Games by 2025
At the latest Sony investor presentation, Sony revealed that it plans to be done with PS4 games by 2025. Additionally, the company also explored the growth they’ve had in the PC and mobile realms, and used numbers to examine the past and predict the future of releases.
In the 2019 fiscal year, almost all Sony's releases were on PS4. But the estimated spread for 2022’s fiscal year accounts for Sony’s recent success on PC, and includes their foray into mobile as well. For 2025? There is nary a mention of the PS4. Instead, half the graph broadcasts releases for the PS5. Sony expects that PC should account for around 30% and mobile 20% for the rest of that fiscal year’s releases.
Many current games, like Elden Ring and Horizon: Forbidden West, can be found on both PS4 and PS5, but according to Sony’s projections that will be a thing of the past within three years.
Elsewhere, the presentation largely focused on how the company plans to expand its reach to more people, what it's doing to get there, and what is working currently. One thing that is working is Sony's dive into the world of PC gaming. The company is projected to make a staggering $300 million in net sales at the end of this fiscal year next March.
Their venture toward mobile and PC gaming aligns with Sony's goal to move from a “console-centric” approach “to a future where large elements of our community extend beyond the console.”
There have been several big-name, PS5 only releases such as Returnal and Deathloop that have found success despite being only available on one Sony console. With the release of Sony's first official PS5 bundle, let's hope we're moving to a future where even more will be avaliable.
Casey is a freelance writer for IGN. You can usually find him talking about JRPGs on Twitter at @caseydavidmt.