Overwatch Wins Game of the Year at GDC 2017
Overwatch has been named Game of the Year at the 17th annual Game Developers Choice Awards, while Quadrilateral Cowboy won the Seumas McNally Grand Prize at the 19th annual Independent Games Festival.
Both award ceremonies were held tonight as part of GDC 2017, with Overwatch also winning Best Design and Playdead's Inside also picking up two awards. Overwatch was also awarded Game of the Year at the DICE Awards 2017 last week, while IGN also gave the Blizzard multiplayer shooter our Game of the Year honor for 2016.
Why Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s Touchscreen Features Were Cut
During an interview at the Game Developers Conference, Nintendo explained why the touchscreen shown in an early demo of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was removed from the final game.
"When we were developing the game for the Wii U, we had touch features implemented as you have seen," Zelda: Breath of the Wild director Hidemaro Fujibayashi told IGN. "Once we began to develop the game in tandem for the Switch, we aimed to provide the same gameplay experience across both on Switch and Wii U."
Fujibayashi was referring to a demo from The Game Awards 2014, where Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto and series producer Eiji Aonuma played an early build of the game with touch controls displayed on the Wii U GamePad.
Xbox Boss Hints at Scorpio Event Ahead of E3
While Microsoft doesn't yet have a plan locked in place for a pre-E3 event for Project Scorpio, Head of Xbox Phil Spencer hinted at the possibility of a hardware-focused event happening sometime before the big Los Angeles-based expo.
On the latest episode of IGN's Xbox show Unlocked, Spencer said that while "the plan's not completely set," he thinks "doing everything at E3 would be difficult."
The Xbox boss acknowledged that Scorpio will definitely be discussed at E3, but he wants its presence to be game-focused rather than dedicated to covering the hardware itself. "I like our E3 show being about games," Spencer said. "Cleary we're gonna talk about Scorpio at E3, but I also don't want to take up the majority of the time doing all things about hardware. So there's a balance there. I want it on stage. It's a great opportunity for us."
Arrow: Prometheus’s Identity Is Revealed
Arrow finally revealed who the person behind the mask of its Season 5 Big Bad is, and the real identity of Prometheus might have been a surprise for many people. To weigh in on what the reveal means for the show and its main characters going forward, we spoke with showrunner Wendy Mericle and the actor who we didn't realize was playing Prometheus the whole time.
Full spoilers for Arrow continue below, so read on at your own risk.
Prometheus on Arrow
Snyder Releases Brief Aquaman Underwater Footage
Zack Snyder has released new Aquaman underwater footage from Justice League.
This brief look at the king of Atlantis, via Snyder's Twitter account, shows Jason Momoa swimming to someone holding what looks like a trident. There are also plenty of coral reefs and other sea creatures in the foreground and background. However, you can't hear anything and the footage seems to come from the editing bay, as Snyder is prepping the film for its November 17 release. Check out the clip below.
Working on my birthday pic.twitter.com/tLidlUrcyn
— Zack Snyder (@ZackSnyder) March 2, 2017
This Week’s IGN Newsletter: Our Editor-In-Chief’s Favorite Things!
IGN has two newsletters - one for awesome gaming deals that'll save you a bunch of money, and another for the most breaking, important news and reviews on the site.
Today's newsletter features a post from our Editor-in-Chief, Steve Butts, who has been writing for IGN since 1988. This is the second edition in a new series we're launching called IGN’s Favorite Things, where every Wednesday, one member of the IGN staff will share what they're most excited about that week.
Mass Effect: Andromeda Multiplayer Tech Test Canceled
Mass Effect: Andromeda won't have a multiplayer tech test for players at home after all.
On the BioWare blog, the company announced that Mass Effect: Andromeda's multiplayer test is canceled. "Thank you to everyone who signed up," BioWare said.
Instead, PAX East attendees can check out the cooperative mode ahead of the game's launch.
Late last year, game director Mac Walter talked about how multiplayer influences Mass Effect: Andromeda's campaign.
My Hero Academia S2 Dub to Premiere Alongside Japanese
The second season of My Hero Academia will premiere in both Japanese and English on April 1, 2017.
Funimation has acquired the rights to Season 2 and will air the first six episodes of both the English SimulDub and the English-subtitled simulcast on FunimationNow the very same day they broadcast in Japan. The premiere will stream simultaneously in the United States, Canada, Japan, Ireland and the UK.
My Hero Academia: Season 2 poster, via Funimation
X-Men TV Series Casts Gotham Actress in Key Role
FOX's X-Men TV series has cast another key role.
Deadline reports that Natalie Alyn Lind, who played Silver St. Cloud on Gotham and was also in The Goldbergs, is the latest to join the X-Men series. She'll star as Lauren, one of the main children of the story who discovers she has mutant powers.
Natalie Alyn Lind on Gotham.
Just a few days ago True Blood star Stephen Moyer was cast as one of the main characters on the show, an attorney named Reed struggling to balance his work and family life. The rest of the cast includes Jamie Chung (Once Upon A Time), who's playing the mutant Blink, and Blair Redford (Switched at Birth, Satisfaction), who's starring as the mutant Sam.
Breath of the Wild Team Built 2D, NES-like Zelda Prototype
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is built with player freedom and exploration in mind, and to bring this iteration of Hyrule to life, the Nintendo development team looked all the way back to Zelda's earliest days for inspiration.
Speaking at a GDC 2017 panel, Change and Constant — Breaking Conventions with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, game director Hidemaro Fujibayashi showed that in order to test gameplay ideas and philosophy for the upcoming Zelda game, a 2D prototype was created in the style of the original NES The Legend of Zelda.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2D prototype, via Nintendo's Twitter