Monthly Archives: September 2015
New Xbox One Experience Coming in November
Microsoft's New Xbox One Experience will be launching this November for the general public and over the next couple of weeks for Preview members.
The update provides a massive system overhaul, revamping the dashboard, adding backwards compatibility for Xbox 360 games, and much more. Additionally, the New Xbox One Experience will be powered by Windows 10, enabling players to access "popular gaming features up to 50 percent faster."
Other changes include a new, more social-friendly Community section, as well as an optimized online store and revamped OneGuide that provides a more intuitive and user-friendly experience. You can head over to Xbox Wire for a comprehensive overview of all the new features.
Star Wars: Smuggler’s Bounty Is a Toy Box Subscription
Disney and Funko have announced Star Wars: Smuggler's Bounty, a toy subscription service and Loot Crate competitor. For $25 every two months, you'll receive $50 of themed merchandise, such as "accessories, toys and memorabilia." The items in each Smuggler's Bounty box are exclusive to subscribers.
The first box launches in November and features two Force Awakens-themed Pop! vinyls. January 2016's theme, and the months beyond, have yet to be revealed, but their content could include shirts and other kinds of merch. In addition to the $25 option, there's a $150 annual option that earns you the six toy boxes for the year, and a bonus gift on the anniversary of your annual membership.
Supernatural: Season 11 Trailer
The CW has released the trailer for Season 11 of Supernatural.
Season 11 is changing the tone, and will feature the Winchester brothers coming back together to fight against the Darkness. Check out the trailer below.
IGN caught up with actors Jared Padalecki (Sam Winchester) and Jensen Ackles (Dean Winchester) at Comic-Con this year. You can watch our interviews below to see what they think of superheroes, and what's in store for Season 11.
Supernatural returns to The CW on Wednesday, October 7.
Matt Porter is a freelance writer based in London. Make sure to visit what he thinks is the best website in the world, but is actually just his Twitter page.
Bradley Cooper Talks Limitless TV Show
IGN has an exclusive behind-the-scenes video for CBS's new Limitless series, based on the 2011 movie starring Bradley Cooper. The featurette includes new footage from the series, as well as on-set interviews with stars Jake McDorman and Jennifer Carpenter and executive producers Cooper and Alex Kurtzman, among other cast and creators. Cooper not only is an executive producer, but reprises his role from the film as well. Check it out:
As a continuation of the film, Limitless follows Brian Finch (McDorman), who discovers the brain-boosting power of the mysterious drug NZT and is coerced by the FBI into using his extraordinary cognitive abilities to solve complex cases for them. The series also stars Carpenter as Special Agent Rebecca Harris, a formidable investigator with a dark past. Meanwhile, Cooper will return as Edward Mora, both in the pilot episode and on a recurring basis throughout Season 1.
This Week in the Nintendo eShop
Tomorrow, the fall season more or less officially kicks off for Nintendo as Super Mario Maker launches on Wii U. But before then, there is a lone 3DS game in the rhythmic Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX and a good lineup of Wii U eShop games out today. Most notably, there's The Swindle and Q.U.B.E: Director's Cut, two games that have been well received in their prior releases on other platforms. For football fans, Tecmo Bowl hits the Wii U Virtual Console.
Super Mario Maker ($59.99, Available September 11th)
It's here! Finally. Super Mario Maker is finally here. What else is there to say? Well, I guess we could talk about how you can now create your own 2D Mario levels using a variety of items and tools across four different art styles. You can also hop online and play what everyone else is making through a variety of different means. It's magical. If you don't believe us, read our review.
FIFA 16 Soundtrack Revealed
EA Sports has revealed the songs that will be on the FIFA 16 soundtrack.
This year's game features tracks from 42 artists, the full list of which can be found on EA Sports.
Here's a selection from the track list:
- Atlas Genius - Stockholm
- Bastille - Hangin'
- Beck - Dreams
- Foals - Mountain At My Gates
- John Newman - Tiring Game feat. Charlie Wilson
- Louis The Child - It's Strange feat K. Flay
- Slaptop - Walls
- The Royal Concept - Smile
- Years & Years - Gold (FIFA Edit)
Jotun: Introducing the New Terrifying, Flaming Boss
Jotun comes to PC later this month, and so far it seems really promising. The 2D action game is all about spectacular boss battles with enormous enemies. We loved the icy enemy we fought earlier this year, and the newest boss, Kaunan, is a completely different, much more on-fire affair.
Jotun is all about recognizing and exploiting enemy patterns while surviving against massively damaging attacks. It's a difficult series of fights made somewhat easier by healing, damage-boosting, and speed-improving spells your tiny Viking heroine can cast mid-battle. Those need to be used efficiently, effectively, and often in conjunction if you're going to survive. Check out our first look at Kaunan above as we try to impress the gods, and a gallery of Jotun's gorgeous art below.
Deadpool Star Discusses The Twisted Psychology of Ajax
Ed Skrein is currently and rather effectively Stath-ing it up as Frank Martin in action-movie reboot The Transporter Refueled. He recently stopped by IGN’s London office to discuss the film – the video from which can be viewed below – while at the same time giving us the skinny on forthcoming superhero movie Deadpool, in which he plays Ajax…
IGN: What can you tell us about Ajax?
Ed Skrein: He’s very different from The Transporter, I’ll tell you that. He’s a sociopath in the truest sense. He’s had all of his nerve endings removed so he no longer feels pain. No longer feels anything. And that was such an interesting entry point – to enter into the psyche of a character and to try and portray Ajax. He’s a fun character. He’s pretty dark. He was a fun character to play.
How GTA Online Has Changed Rockstar North
Today GTA Online is very different than when it launched.
The great city of Los Santos, bequeathed to players by Grand Theft Auto V, was always meant to evolve over time. Although initially blighted by server problems, it has grown through a succession of free updates, including the excellent multiplayer heists, and consequently so has the player base. Currently, 8 million people log-in each week.
Freemode events are the next major addition, a suite of new and varied challenges only possible on next-gen and PC versions of the game. You can read much more about those modes in our hands-on preview and learn how they reinvigorate GTA Online.
Freemode Events Are GTA Online’s Biggest Change Since Heists
Like all brilliant Grand Theft Auto moments, the one that sticks out while recently playing the upcoming Freemode events coming to Online wasn’t scripted, it was just a perfect coincidence.
We were playing Hunt the Beast, a new mode in which players team up to track and kill ‘the beast’, a randomly-selected player who is blessed with super strength and speed for the duration of the round. (They also look a whole lot like Michael J. Fox in Teen Wolf, covered in fur and wearing a red varsity jacket.) The beast’s aim is to get to 10 checkpoints scattered around Los Santos within a specified time limit. However, because the beast is invisible to other players, on the mini-map at least, trying to track down a single person among thousands is no easy feat, and so the hunt begins.