Monthly Archives: February 2016
Sony Holding Free Multiplayer Weekend on PS4
In celebration of Street Fighter V's launch this week, Sony is opening its online multiplayer to all PlayStation 4 owners this weekend.
According PlayStation Blog's announcement, those without a PlayStation Plus subscription will be able to hop online and play with their friends starting Friday, February 19, at 12:01am PT. The offer runs until Sunday, February 21, at 11:59pm PT.
In addition to highlighting the launch of Capcom's new fighting game—our review for which you can check out right here—Sony is also encouraging players to check out Call of Duty: Black Ops III's new DLC, Awakening, which launched earlier this month for PlayStation 4.
A New Delivery Service for Minecraft Gear
Mojang has announced Mine Chest, a monthly shipment service of exclusive Minecraft T-shirts, collectibles, and DIY crafting recipes sent right to your doorstep.
The Loot Crate-esque service will cost $30 a month plus tax and $7 for shipping and handling and launches in May. Those that sign up before the end of February will get access to an "extremely limited" Mine Chest Beta version.
The goal of the new service is to add to "players’ game knowledge as well as their Minecraft apparel and real life crafting experience," while "bridging the space between game play and real world creativity," according to Mojang.
Mine Chest will only be available in the US for the time being, but Mojang is working to bring the service to the rest of the world. To sign up, head on over to Mine Chest's website.
The Division: 11 Impressive Little Details
When the reclusive film director Stanley Kubrick was prepping Eyes Wide Shut, he sent his nephew, Manuel Harlan, on a research mission to photograph London, armed with a camera and a stepladder. From these 30,000 or so pictures, Kubrick was able to recreate vast chunks of West London as a photographic collage.
Ubisoft Massive did something similar to make The Division. They just didn’t take a step ladder. (Not to my knowledge.)
But thousands upon thousands of reference photographs were taken by Ubisoft’s World Texture Facility Team, which were painstakingly tagged and indexed, serving as the reference point for realising its bleak version of New York. The level of detail is immense, and having spent two days with the game, here are some of the most impressive little details I noticed.
How Xbox Live Arcade Almost Didn’t Happen
Greg Canessa, the man behind Xbox Live Arcade, recently stopped by the IGN office to discuss the creation of XBLA and the long and challenging process involved in getting it off the ground.
"It was not part of the plan for Xbox or Xbox 360 at all. That's kind of one of the lesser known facts in the console space nowadays," Canessa shared in the latest episode of IGN Unfiltered. "While we all think about it as the game service that we've come to know and love over the last 10 years or so, it was a project that came in very late in the planning cycle for Xbox 360—the very end of OG Xbox—and wasn't really supposed to happen and almost didn't happen."
Kurt Russell Joins Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Cast
UPDATE: The official press release has now gone out, and reveals that Pom Klementieff, Elizabeth Debicki, Chris Sullivan and... Kurt Russell have joined the Guardians 2 cast.
Might the latter be playing Star-Lord's Dad, as previously rumoured? The release does say that the team will "unravel the mystery of Peter Quill’s true parentage."
Previous story follows...
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 has started shooting in Atlanta, with writer-director James Gunn announcing via a post on Twitter.
Alongside a picture of the famous five - which can be viewed below, Gunn wrote: "Official Photography on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 has begun. You're very welcome."
Call of Duty World League Challenger Division Dates Announced
The first series of events in the Call of Duty World League Challenge Division have been announced.
The Challenge Division is for amateur players outside of the Pro Division to help them forge their own path to the Call of Duty Championship. Top performing teams in the Challenge Division events will make it to the Stage 1 Relegation tournament, where they will take on pro teams to earn their own place in the Pro Division.
The first three European online events have prize pools of $5,000, and will take place from February 20 - 21, February 27 - 28, and March 12 - 13.
Europe will also be hosting its first live event, the EGL Open, at the Truman Brewery in London from March 5 - 6, with a prize pool of $25,000.
The Division Open Beta Pre-Load Now Available
You can now pre-load Tom Clancy's The Division for the beta weekend on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.
The upcoming open beta allows you to play The Division for free starting from February 18 on Xbox One, and February 19 on PS4 and PC. It will run through to February 21 on all platforms.
You'll be able to rank up to level eight with your agent, and up to rank 12 in the Dark Zone. In addition, there's a new mission exclusive to the open beta that players in the closed beta last month won't have seen.
Ultra-Detailed Final Fantasy 7 Remake Action Figures Revealed
Play Arts Kai took to the show floor at Toy Fair 2016 to show off its range of Final Fantasy figures.
The gallery below shows off the impressively detailed models including Cloud Strife, Lightning and Barret, as well as some cute Final Fantasy plush toys.
Toy Fair 2016, which took place in New York over the weekend, also had more Play Arts Kai figures on show, ranging from Batman to Halo.
Make sure you keep it on IGN for all your action figure needs.
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.
Nintendo Account Sign-ups Are Now Available
Sign-ups are now open for Nintendo Accounts, the company's new system that bridges the software between consoles, PCs, and smart devices.
The first time Nintendo Accounts will be of use will be in the upcoming smartphone app Miitomo, and pre-registration is now open for the game as well.
Also launching in March is the My Nintendo programme, which is the replacement for Club Nintendo. You'll be using Points to exchange for various rewards, and if you pre-register for Miimoto you'll receive a Platinum Point straight away.
League of Legends’ 2016 World Championship Is in North America
League of Legends' 2016 World Championship will travel across the United States from September 29 through October 29.
The tournament is broken into four individual stages—group, from September 29 to October 2 and October 6 to October 9 in San Francisco; quarterfinals, from October 13 to October 16 in Chicago; semifinals from October 21 to October 22 in New York City; and finals, on October 29 in Los Angeles. There, a new World Champion will be crowned.
Riot Games will bring the World Championship to "iconic stadiums" throughout the country, including Madison Square Garden and the Staples Center, both of which hold over 18,000 people.