During Google's I/O 2021 developer conference today, the company fully unveiled Android 12, its upcoming operating system coming later this year. The upcoming mobile operating system introduces a slew of new features. Most notable is a new design as well as a redesigned user interface which is based on Google's Material You, a new design language that adds more flair to the OS. Moreso, Android 12  adds a ton of interesting new features, such as new animations and widgets. Yet, the biggest standout feature for Android 12 is the ability to change the color of the UI, such as the widgets and lock screen, whenever you change your phone's wallpaper.

With #Android12, we redesigned the entire look and feel of your phone. From the lock screen to widgets, it feels more responsive, personal and customizable than ever before. Check out a sneak peek now. #GoogleIO pic.twitter.com/c3VOm6sGad

— Android (@Android) May 18, 2021

Google also notes that Android 12 includes some new changes to privacy and security, most notably with a new privacy dashboard. This dashboard offers a single view into your permission settings along with other information such as easy access to disabling app permissions and looking at what data is being accessed. Android 12 will also expand on the leverage of the Android ecosystem by allowing your Android phone and other devices it is connected to provide more convenience in your day-to-day. One such feature gives "select Pixel and Samsung Galaxy phones" the option to double the smartphone as a car key. Google confirms it was working with several car manufacturers, including BMW, to add support for the feature. Google has released a public beta for Android 12, which you can download for several phones, including Google Pixel 3 and up, and devices from companies such as OnePlus, Asus, and Lenovo. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

With its full-year financial results today, publisher Take-Two Interactive announced it plans to release a total of 21 games between now and the end of its fiscal year in March 2022. Unfortunately, it looks like none of these will be Grand Theft Auto 6.

While we don't know the names of all these games yet, existing announcements, trends, and Take-Two's own analysis can help us break down exactly what to expect.

Per Take-Two's own analysis, four of these games are "immersive core releases," with two from new franchises and two from existing franchises. One of the games from a new franchise is likely the new NFL game coming out of the partnership Take-Two announced with the league last year for a "non-simulation football game experience." And one, Take-Two says, is being made by Gearbox, giving no further details.

For the two existing franchises, one is definitely WWE 2K22, which was announced at Wrestlemania last month. The second is most likely a new NBA 2K game, as the series has had a consistent pattern of annual releases going back years.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/05/18/gta-5-and-gta-online-ps5-and-xbox-series-xs-upgrades-coming-in-november"]

Unfortunately, this doesn't really leave room for GTA 6 in the coming calendar year, despite ongoing rumors and teases that the game is in development. Of the remaining 21 releases between now and March, one is an already announced independent game: OlliOlli World, from Private Division. Ten are free-to-play mobile games, with six from new franchises and four from existing franchises. And the remaining six are re-releases of existing games — so most likely platform ports or similar.

However, this doesn't count GTA 6 out entirely. Take-Two also projected out its fiscal years 2023 and 2024 (April 2022 through March 2024), saying it plans to release over 40 games, including 19 "immersive core releases," seven of which are sports sim games and four of which are free-to-play. Take-Two is also planning to release five independent games most likely through Private Division, ten free-to-play mobile games, four "mid-core" games, three of which will be "sports-oriented," and three re-releases of existing games.

There are fewer details here, but it seems much more likely that GTA 6 could slot into that 19 "immersive core releases" segment if it is indeed in development as rumored, though details are still too scarce to tell for sure.

As a disclaimer, Take-Two noted in its release that this was just a snapshot of its "current development pipeline" and that games may still be delayed, and new games might be added. Speaking to IGN, Zelnick said he felt very confident about the release slate, but acknowledged that being this specific this far in advance had its drawbacks.

"We've been asked to provide more transparency and that's what we're trying to do," he said. "...But of course, the more specificity you provide, the greater the risk we'll have to make a change in the future."

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/12/03/gta-6-tease-might-be-hiding-in-gta-online-ign-daily-fix-"]

In total, this would get Take-Two to 61 games in three years, following its promise in 2020 to release 93 games in five years, which it reiterated in February. Though it's not clear how Take-Two counts releases just yet for the purposes of these milestones (is Borderlands 3 on next-gen one new release or two?), the publisher still seems well on its way to fulfilling this projection by 2025.

The publisher's robust release plans today came alongside comments from Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick on the company's future following a record financial year, which saw the highest full-year net bookings in company history at $3.6 billion (up 20% year over year) and $3.3 billion in revenue.

In a press release, Zelnick pointed out that he sees the pandemic as having initiated a "transformational shift in entertainment consumption" that drew many people to gaming who had previously not engaged with it. However, he added that he expects a "moderation" of these trends in the future, and told IGN that the company's plans to continue to set new records each year were tied both to the surge of gaming interest as well as its aforementioned packed release slates.

In the same release, Take-Two shared that GTA 5, which just got a November release date for its PS5 and Xbox Series X/S upgrades, has now surpassed 145 million copies sold. GTA Online saw a record number of active players in the last quarter (January to March). In addition, NBA 2K21 has now sold over 10 million copies, and an average of 2.3 million users are playing NBA 2K games each day.

 [poilib element="accentDivider"] Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Marvel's monthly Black Panther comic may be ending soon, but a new series is already in the works. Marvel announced 12 Years a Slave screenwriter John Ridley has been tapped to chronicle the next chapter in T'Challa's life. Launching in August 2021, the new series will pick up in the aftermath of writer Ta-Nehisi Coates' long-running "Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda" storyline. T'Challa is finally back on Earth, but he faces new challenges as he settles back onto the throne of Wakanda. The new series will take a more espionage-focused approach to the franchise, with T'Challa racing against time to rescue a deep-cover agent before their capture sparks an international scandal. [caption id="attachment_2515107" align="aligncenter" width="4000"] Black Panther #1 cover by Alex Ross. (Image Credit: Marvel)[/caption] In addition to Ridley, the new creative team includes artist Juann Cabal (All-New Wolverine) and cover artist Alex Ross. Ross' cover to issue #1 reveals the series will also feature the current Avengers lineup, the Dora Milaje and T'Challa's ex-wife Storm. That art also suggests the new series will deal with the long-term fallout of T'Challa's discovery of a cosmic offshoot of Wakanda. “It’s a hybrid espionage-superhero thriller, but at its core, it’s a love story,” Ridley told The New York Times. “And I don’t mean just romantic love, although there’s some of that as well. It’s love between friends." “We’re coming out of a summer where we saw Black people fighting for our rights, standing up, fighting in ways that we haven’t had to do in years,” Ridley added. “And it was really important to me after the year we had where we can have these conversations with Black people and we can use words like love and caring and hope and regret and all these really fundamental emotions that everybody has.” Black Panther #25 will conclude the current series when it hits stores on Wednesday, May 26. The new Black Panther #1 will follow in August 2021. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/05/01/black-panther-2-reshaped-to-be-respectful-to-chadwick-boseman-ign-the-fix-entertainment"] This is Ridley's latest foray into superhero comics. Ridley was among a number of creators involved in DC's Future State crossover, with his series Future State: The Next Batman showing Luke Fox taking up the Batman mantle ten years in the future. Ridley is also writing The Other History of the DC Universe, a DC Black Label comic that reexamines this world through the eyes of heroes of color like Black Lightning and Renee Montoya. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition is out and it brings a litany of changes to the series — some announced and some kept secret until it was in the hands of fans — and players are still discovering more. Leading up to the release of Mass Effect Legendary Edition, EA and BioWare detailed many of the changes coming to the series. IGN's Mass Effect Legendary Edition wiki guide breaks down many of those changes and it's worth checking out, but many new things are being discovereddaily. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/05/13/mass-effect-legendary-edition-the-10-biggest-changes"] Some come as big surprises, such as a fix to a decade-old bug, while others serve as reminders to just how much time has passed since the release of the original trilogy of Mass Effect games. IGN has rounded up some of the biggest, best, well-hidden, and most-surprising changes to BioWare's sci-fi trilogy.

Tali's Face in Mass Effect 3

Anyone familiar with the original Mass Effect 3 release knows that it answered a question asked by many a Tali fan: what does Tali look like under her quarian armor? If you romance Tali in Mass Effect 3, this relationship leads to a scene in which Commander Shepard looks at a photograph of an unmasked Tali and...saw what was a photoshopped image of Miss England '05 winner, Hammasa Kohistani. Sure, BioWare did add some alien features to Kohistani's face in the photo, but at the end of the day, it was still just a photo of a human. It's safe to say BioWare took that criticism to heart because in the Legendary Edition of Mass Effect 3, Tali's face is now seemingly an original piece of art and not a photoshop of a pageant winner. You can check out Tali's new look below, courtesy of MaxGoods on Reddit.   Redditor Superspicycurry37 said "this is the ONE thing I wanted them to change if they were going to change nothing else," and that they're "glad it was this." Redditor Max_Crultak26, however, said "in my head-canon, some quarians are purple or pale red with lines, and others like Tali are purple with freckles (and tree-like lines) but still, the image is cool."

New Pluto Textures in Mass Effect 2

Pluto is a hotly-debated topic in the world of science. Is it a planet? Is it not a planet? Mass Effect 2 doesn't care because regardless of its status in our solar system, it's something in space that can be scanned. What's interesting about scanning the planet in Mass Effect 2 now is that in the Legendary Edition of the game, Pluto's texture has been updated to match the most recent picture of Pluto from 2015. The photo above is what Pluto looks like in the Legendary Edition of Mass Effect 2 and it comes by way of Redditor Kunven. It's a small change, but a welcome one as indicated by some of the replies to Kunven's post on the Mass Effect subreddit. Redditor Silent_Shadow05 said they "appreciate these small details" and that they believe "BioWare really went above and beyond for this remaster."

Elanos Haliat Is a Turian in Mass Effect Now

In the original release of Mass Effect, space pirate Elanos Haliat was a human and that didn't really make much sense. Eurogamer, which originally reported on this change, pointed out how weird it was that Elanos was human in the original release of the game. As Eurogamer's report notes, Elanos hates humans, he wants to attack a human colony, and other Terminus races rally behind him as their leader. Doesn't sound very human-like, eh? That's because Elanos' status as a human was a bug in the original game. That's been fixed in the Legendary Edition of Mass Effect, however, as now Elanos appears as a Turian in the game, which makes a lot more sense. Redditor DocD173 posted a side-by-side of the change, which you can check out below. "Was always so confused that the leader of the Terminus systems responsible for the Skyllian Blitz was a human," DocD173 said on the game's subreddit. "This is such a small but welcome change in ME:LE. Was not expecting these side missions to get this kind of love."

Lovers of Liara T'Soni: Check out Her Doctorate Degree in Photo Mode

If you're romantically interested in Liara, or even just interested in this character platonically, why not get to know a little more about her educational background? Thanks to the newly-included Photo Mode in Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, players can now view Liara's doctorate degree, as discovered by Redditor TannenFalconwing. As you can see, this is Liara's doctorate degree from the University of Serrice on Planet Thessia. Who knows what else the newly-included photo mode could help players discover in Mass Effect? TannenFalconwing posted what they believe to be a transcription of what the degree says, too, alongside their discovery:

• University of Serrice
• Planet Thessia
• The governing body of the university grants this day that
• Liara T'Soni
• To be conferred the title of
• Doctor of Anthropology
• of the Prothean Era
• Having completed in due course, and with singular purpose, to continue the pursuit of truth and knowledge to further the Asari people

Beyond cool discoveries like this, the inclusion of photo mode is a welcome addition for fans of the series, both new and old. For some, it's an opportunity to take hilarious photos where Commander Shephard is awkwardly standing behind beloved characters. For others, the new photo mode is a great tool for those who wish to showcase their love of the series' characters, locales, and more.

#MassEffectLegendaryEdition #SeriesX pic.twitter.com/Tuq1f7I8YD

— Shinobi602 (@shinobi602) May 18, 2021

A quick stroll through the Mass Effect subreddit reveals dozens of posts where players are praising BioWare for adding a photo mode to the game. Redditor Demiurge93 said "adding photo mode was the best decision BioWare ever made" and that they "hope they keep it for future ME/DA titles." Another Redditor, ShadowVia, said "photo mode is a game changer," while other users, like Beanjameen, are astonished at the photos they're able to capture because of the game's photo mode, such as the one they took below.

You Can Use the Original Mako if the New One Handles Too Well for Your Liking

It's well-documented just how poorly the Mako handled in Mass Effect and while it's still not a perfect, easy-to-handle, all-terrain space vehicle, the team deserves credit for making the new Mako handle much better. It's impossible to deny that it controls much better. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/04/06/mass-effect-legendary-edition-changes-original-vs-remastered-performance-preview"] However, if you want to drive the original Mako around, flaws and all, you're free to do that by simply switching to the original version in the game's settings, as noted by a PC Gamer report. Be it nostalgia or masochism or something else entirely, this is a judgement-free zone: use that original Mako if you want to — we're just here to let you know it's possible to switch back and forth between the old and the revamped version.

Even The Latest Mass Effect Legendary Edition Update Made Some Changes

As noted by the examples listed above, there are some previously-announced changes and secret changes to be found in Mass Effect Legendary Edition and at least for now, it seems more could be on the way if the latest update for the game is any indication. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/02/mass-effect-legendary-edition-our-first-impressions"] A new update pushed out on May 17 brought new visual changes to Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2. Specifically, some terrain textures in Mass Effect have been improved and across both Mass Effect and its sequel, some pre-rendered cutscenes have been changed to remove visual artifacts. As noted by IGN's coverage of the update, Mass Effect 2 players will be able to enjoy "improved lighting and shadows" in the game's cinematics and "minor visual, rendering and VFX improvements" as well. Other things like achievements were fixed with this update too. If all of these discovered changes are anything to go off of, it seems there might be even more hidden within Mass Effect: Legendary Edition. Have you seen some changes we didn't catch here? Drop a comment and let us know. In the meantime, be sure to read about how the game's project director says Mass Effect 3's multiplayer could return and then check out IGN's official Mass Effect wiki guide for tips and tricks, walkthroughs, how-to guides, and more. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes. 

The upcoming Marvel's Voices: Pride #1 will celebrate the many LGBTQ+ characters in the Marvel Universe, and that includes a brand new hero. This Pride Motnh-themed anthology special will introduce Somnus, a mutant with deep ties to the X-Men. Somnus was created by writer Steve Orlando (Wonder Woman) and artist Luciano Vecchio. Named after the Roman god of sleep, this mutant hero has the power to control the dreams of others, though his abilities seem to have come at the cost of his own personal life. Marvel teases Somnus has a long-running history with the X-Men yet to be revealed, and once had a profound effect on the life of a fellow mutant. And with the mutant race enjoying a new utopia on Krakoa, Somnus finally has the chance to build a life for himself. Orlando makes it clear Somnus is a very personal creation, one whose story draws on his own experiences and family history. “Somnus, Carl Valentino, is inspired not only by my own family history, but by my experiences with past generations of LGBTQ+ folks from across the country, people I wouldn't have met without comics,” Orlando said in Marvel's press release. “While there is still plenty of work to do, we've also come a long way as a community. Somnus is a chance to explore how my own late queer relatives may have felt, living in more prejudiced times. He's also a chance to celebrate past generations as a whole and acknowledge the strides we've made that they may not have lived to see. And with the Krakoan era being one of relative utopia for mutantkind, Somnus will bring a fresh perspective, and respectful gut check, to the young mutants of the present who may not know just how hard some had to fight for all mutants have achieved. Within the story and without, Somnus will be a new, complex character carrying a message of respect, power, and vision.” “Marvel’s Voices: Pride is ticking so many dream assignments for me! On top of doing the cover, a frame variant, and a story that I got to write myself, I also got to design a new queer character introduced in a story written by Steve Orlando,” Vecchio said. “I’m so happy to finally collaborate officially with Steve and I fell in love with Somnus’ concept and backstory right away. I got some input from him and editor Sarah Brunstad but also a lot of liberty to propose ideas. This time the design process itself felt almost like channeling. I wanted him to have an air of ‘man of your dreams,’ very charming and human but unreachable at the same time. Some visual elements are a mix of Mod fashion, a bit of Hellfire Gala influence, and a palette based on Etruscan vase art as a nod to the god he’s named after.” Marvel is also releasing a series of Pride-themed variant covers over the course of June, spotlighting other LGBTQ+ heroes like Miss America Chavez, Valkyrie, Iceman, Wiccan and Hulkling, Black Cat. You can see all of artist Phil Jimenez's covers revealed in the slideshow gallery below: [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=marvels-price-month-covers-celebrate-a-diverse-superhero-universe&captions=true"] Somnus will debut in Marvel's Voices: Pride #1 through a short story written by Orlando and drawn by Claudia Aguirre (Hotel Dare). That issue is slated to hit stores on June 23. Marvel is also celebrating Pride Month by debuting the first LGBTQ+ Captain America. The limited series The United States of Captain America will introduce Aaron Fischer, a teen runaway who becomes the "Captain America of the Railways." [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

Call of Duty has confirmed that Rambo and John McClane, two 80s action heroes, will be joining Call of Duty: Warzone, Black Ops Cold War multiplayer, and Call of Duty: Mobile as part of the mid-season update. Both characters will be available across all three currently active Call of Duty games starting on May 19 at 9 pm PT/12 am ET. The two will be available for Call of Duty Mobile on May 20.

John McClane and Rambo enter the fray

John McClane, star of the Die Hard series with Bruce Willis, is a cop who finds himself in a deadly hostage situation on Nakatomi Plaza. Meanwhile, Rambo, the hero played in the movies by Sylvester Stallone, is a double-crossed special force who has to go off the grid to get revenge. Both characters are 80s icons that went on to launch two highly successful action franchises, way before superheroes took over the cinemas. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=call-of-duty-warzone-80s-action-movies-event&captions=true"] McClane will be available in the “Die Hard” bundle which goes live in both Black Ops Cold War and Warzone stores on May 19 to June 18 at 9 pm PT and includes the McClane Operator, a finishing move, three weapon blueprints — a tactical rifle, two SMG, and one assault rifle — a Legendary Calling Card and Emblem, an Epic Watch, and an Epic Weapon Charm. Rambo will be available during the same time in the “Rambo” bundle which includes Rambo, two Finishing Moves, his signature bow and arrow, three weapon blueprints — an assault rifle, LMG, and Knife — a Legendary Calling Card and Emblem; and Epic Watch and charm. Beyond just the two playable characters, Nakatomi Plaza from Die Hard and the Survival Camps and CIA Outpost from Rambo will be added to the Verdansk map for a limited time. These iconic locations are re-created to play and fight in for Call of Duty: Warzone.

New Modes for Warzone and Black Ops Cold War Maps

Several new modes are coming to both Warzone and Black Ops Cold War for a limited time also. In Warzone, the new mode is called Power Grab which pits over 100 players in select squad sizes in a more intense battle royale mode. The circle collapse will be smaller and happen in five stages, but there will be no Gulag to revive from. Players will instead have to revive teammates with the Buy Station or collect Dog Tags. Every confirmed kill will drop a Dog Tag, and collecting Dog Tags will move you up the reward ladder to summon tools like a UAV, Respawn Token, Advanced Gas Masks, and more. In Black Ops Cold War, a couple of classic modes get a Die Hard and Rambo twist. First is Die Hardpoint, a race to gain 200 points first by eliminating enemies and capturing Hardpoints. In week 2 there’s Rambo’s Gun Game, a Free-for-All mode where players need to earn at least one kill with 20 different weapons. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/05/18/call-of-duty-black-ops-cold-war-warzone-season-three-80s-action-heroes-trailer"] All of this, plus the Standoff and Duga maps in Black Ops Cold War, Action Movie-inspired Medals, and a new main quest for Zombies will be available when the mid-season update launches on May 19. Check out IGN’s Black Ops Cold War review, or Warzone guide for even more coverage. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor.

Not only is 1996's Batman: The Long Halloween finally getting an animated adaptation, it's one of the few DC Comics stories to be adapted into two parts. Today, IGN can exclusively debut the trailer for Batman: The Long Halloween, Part Two, coming to Blu-ray and digital later this year via Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. Check out the video player above or the embedded video below to get a taste of what's in store for the second half of this dark, twisted murder mystery: [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/05/18/batman-the-long-halloween-part-two-exclusive-official-trailer"] The Long Halloween, Part Two chronicles the second half of this yearlong crime saga. As the mysterious Holiday Killer continues their deadly crime spree, District Attorney Harvey Dent is pushed to the brink in his quest to bring justice to Gotham City. As the trailer shows, The Long Halloween is also the origin story of Two-Face. Making matters worse, Bruce Wayne has been captured by Poison Ivy, leaving Gotham undefended during its darkest hour. Even mob boss Carmine Falcone is becoming increasingly desperate, striking a Faustian bargain with Gotham's new generation of super-criminals. The Long Halloween, Part Two features the same creative team as Part One, including supervising producer Butch Lukic, director Chris Palmer and screenwriter Tim Sheridan. The film is produced by Jim Krieg and Kimberly S. Moreau and executive produced by Michael Uslan and Sam Register. Most of the Part One voice cast will return for the sequel, including Jensen Ackles (Supernatural, Batman: Under the Red Hood) as Batman/Bruce Wayne, the late Naya Rivera (Glee) as Catwoman/Selina Kyle, Josh Duhamel (Transformers, Las Vegas) as Harvey Dent/Two-Face, Billy Burke (Twilight, Revolution, Zoo) as Commissioner James Gordon, Katee Sackhoff (The Mandalorian, Battlestar Galactica, Batman: Year One) as Poison Ivy, Titus Welliver (Bosch, Deadwood) as Carmine Falcone, Julie Nathanson (Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Suicide Squad: Hell To Pay) as Gilda Dent, David Dastmalchian (The Suicide Squad, Dune, Ant-Man,) as Calendar Man and The Penguin, Troy Baker (The Last of Us, Batman: Arkham Knight) as The Joker, Amy Landecker (Your Honor, Transparent) as Barbara Gordon and Carla Vitti, Fred Tatasciore (American Dad!, Family Guy) as Solomon Grundy, Alyssa Diaz (The Rookie, Ray Donovan) as Renee Montoya and Alastair Duncan (The Batman, Batman Unlimited franchise) as Alfred. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=batman-the-long-halloween-part-two&captions=true"] Part Two will also feature several new additions to the voice cast. These newcomers include Robin Atkin Downes (The Strain, Constantine: City of Demons) as both Scarecrow and Thomas Wayne, John DiMaggio (Futurama, Disenchantment) as the Mad Hatter, Laila Berzins (Genshin Impact) as Sofia Falcone, Jim Pirri (World of Warcraft franchise) as Sal Maroni and Zach Callison (The Goldbergs, Steven Universe) as Young Bruce Wayne. Gary Leroi Gray and Rick Wasserman also provide additional voice work. Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One will release on June 22, 2021, with Part Two expected to follow later in the year. For more on the DC Universe Movies line, check out IGN's recent reviews of Superman: Man of Tomorrow, Batman: Soul of the Dragon and Justice Society: World War II. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

This week in Red Dead Online, claim racing bonuses, triple racing rewards, a free Horse Care Package for visiting stables, and much more.

Nvidia announced today that all newly manufactured RTX 3080, 3070, and 3060 Ti graphics cards will receive a reduced ETH hash rate, making them less useful to users that plan to use the cards to mine Ethereum cryptocurrency. Nvidia's head of GeForce marketing, Matt Wuebbling, announced in a blog post today the reduced hash rate will only apply to newly manufactured cards that include the lite hash rate label, meaning if you were lucky enough to get your hands on a card from the RTX 30 line previously, the reduced hash rate will not apply to you. According to Nvidia, the new RTX 3080, 3070, and 3060 Ti cards with the lite hash rate identifier are slated to ship in late May. “We believe this additional step will get more GeForce cards at better prices into the hands of gamers everywhere," Wuebbling notes. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/09/16/nvidia-geforce-rtx-3080-founders-edition-review"] RTX 30 cards with reduced hash rate aim to make them less desirable to crypto miners, who use these cards to mine Ethereum cryptocurrency. Reducing the hash rate for newly manufactured GeForce graphics cards should help make supply available for the core gaming audience looking to get their hands on these desktop GPUs, which have been high in demand and short supply due to a number of contributing factors including a global semiconductor shortage. This would not be the first time Nvidia has tried to make its cards less useful to crypto miners. Ahead of the RTX 3060 launch in February, Nvidia announced it would reduce the ETH hash rate for the cards, but as reported by PC Watch in March, Nvidia accidentally released a beta driver that allowed cryptominers to bypass Nvidia's protections before the company pulled it. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Team Cherry does not have any announcements or blogs planned for Hollow Knight: Silksong at E3 this year, and so the wait for more news about the game continues. Another blow to fans desperate for more information about Silksong, Matthew Griffin, a member of the marketing and publishing team for the game, has revealed that Team Cherry won't have anything to say about Silksong at E3 2021. It seems Griffin announced the news on Discord, but users on the Hollow Knight subreddit pointed it out and the post has nearly 200 comments discussing this news, or rather, lack thereof. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/02/14/hollow-knight-silksong-reveal-trailer"] "Hey guys," Griffin said. "I just wanted to pop in to let you know that Team Cherry does not have any announcements/blogs scheduled for E3 this year." Obviously anything could happen, but this statement is pretty clear: don't expect any Silksong news during E3 2021 next month. The users on the game's subreddit are taking the news quite well, with many supporting and praising the team for announcing this weeks ahead of time to avoid the disappointment that might have happened otherwise. "I respect them for coming out and saying it so people don't get upset and yell at the team when nothing happens," Redditor Mr_Mimiseku said. "Doesn't mean I'm not antsy to get a hold of this game with my grubby little fingers. The longer we wait, the better the game will be." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/06/12/hollow-knight-silksong-16-minutes-of-gameplay-midgame-at-e3-2019"] While there is an air of disappointment — Silksong fans are hungry for even just a morsel of new information regarding the game — most of the comments in the subreddit mimic Mr_Mimiseku's comment. Due to COVID-19, E3 was canceled last year, but the electronics gaming show is set to return this year from June 12 to June 15. While there won't be any Silksong shown there, many other studios and companies like Xbox, Nintendo, Ubisoft, and more will showcase upcoming games. Silksong was last seen at E3 2019 and it's there that IGN was able to play the game. Read IGN's thoughts on it, and why it feels like Hollow Knight cranked up to 11, and then be sure to watch 16 minutes of gameplay from E3 2019 after that. While waiting for more Silksong news, whenever that might occur, check out this Nintendo Treehouse Silksong presentation from E3 2019. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.