Monthly Archives: July 2022

Paul ‘Triple H’ Leveque Is Taking Over WWE Creative After Vince McMahon’s Departure

Paul Leveque aka Triple H has been named the new head of WWE creative.

The move comes amid a management shake-up at WWE after former CEO Vince McMahon announced his retirement earlier this month.

“WWE executive Paul Levesque will assume all responsibilities related to WWE’s creative, in addition to his regular duties,” reads an official statement.

McMahon ran the WWE (formerly the WWF) since 1982, monopolizing the wrestling industry and establishing numerous high-profile events – including bringing the first Wrestlemania to Maddison Square Garden in 1985.

However, McMahon came under fire recently with allegations of misconduct and stepped down from his role as WWE CEO last month.

“I have pledged my complete cooperation to the investigation by the special committee, and I will do everything possible to support the investigation,” McMahon said in a statement. “I have also pledged to accept the findings and outcome of the investigation, whatever they are.”

Although McMahon was originally expected to retain his creative duties at WWE, he since announced his retirement.

“As I approach 77 years old, I feel it’s time for me to retire as Chairman and CEO of WWE,” he said in a statement. “Throughout the years, it’s been a privilege to help WWE bring you joy, inspire you, thrill you, surprise you, and always entertain you.”

He has since been replaced as CEO by his daughter, Stephanie McMahon, who joins as co-CEO alongside WWE president Nick Khan.

On the creative side, McMahon has now been replaced by wrestler Triple H who will head up WWE’s creative content. It was also announced just a few days ago that Leveque would resume his duties as executive vice president of Talent Relations.

“I look forward to returning to my prior position as head of Talent Relations. I’m healthy, fired up, and ready to take charge,” said Levesque in a statement.

What this shake-up means for the WWE remains to be seen. But with McMahon stepping away from the company, it’s the start of a new era whichever way you look at it.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Paul ‘Triple H’ Leveque Is Taking Over WWE Creative After Vince McMahon’s Departure

Paul Leveque aka Triple H has been named the new head of WWE creative.

The move comes amid a management shake-up at WWE after former CEO Vince McMahon announced his retirement earlier this month.

“WWE executive Paul Levesque will assume all responsibilities related to WWE’s creative, in addition to his regular duties,” reads an official statement.

McMahon ran the WWE (formerly the WWF) since 1982, monopolizing the wrestling industry and establishing numerous high-profile events – including bringing the first Wrestlemania to Maddison Square Garden in 1985.

However, McMahon came under fire recently with allegations of misconduct and stepped down from his role as WWE CEO last month.

“I have pledged my complete cooperation to the investigation by the special committee, and I will do everything possible to support the investigation,” McMahon said in a statement. “I have also pledged to accept the findings and outcome of the investigation, whatever they are.”

Although McMahon was originally expected to retain his creative duties at WWE, he since announced his retirement.

“As I approach 77 years old, I feel it’s time for me to retire as Chairman and CEO of WWE,” he said in a statement. “Throughout the years, it’s been a privilege to help WWE bring you joy, inspire you, thrill you, surprise you, and always entertain you.”

He has since been replaced as CEO by his daughter, Stephanie McMahon, who joins as co-CEO alongside WWE president Nick Khan.

On the creative side, McMahon has now been replaced by wrestler Triple H who will head up WWE’s creative content. It was also announced just a few days ago that Leveque would resume his duties as executive vice president of Talent Relations.

“I look forward to returning to my prior position as head of Talent Relations. I’m healthy, fired up, and ready to take charge,” said Levesque in a statement.

What this shake-up means for the WWE remains to be seen. But with McMahon stepping away from the company, it’s the start of a new era whichever way you look at it.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Amazon UK is Increasing The Cost of Prime In September

Amazon is officially increasing the cost of Prime memberships in Europe, including the UK, for the first time since 2014.

In the UK the cost of membership is increasing from £7.99 per month to £8.99 per month, and for those paying annually, £79 per year, to £95 per year. The change will take place from September 15.

Amazon is attributing the rising price of its Prime delivery and streaming service to "increased inflation and operation costs."

This comes only months after Amazon increased the cost of its Prime membership in the US as well, increasing yearly memberships from $119 to $139 per year.

These increases have also hit other streaming services with Netflix also adding extra fees to its service, with the cost of its standard plan increased by £1 and its premium plan stretched by an extra £2.

Digital Commerce 360 estimates Amazon’s sales on Prime Day hit somewhere around $12.09 billion globally during the retail event that spanned July 12 and 13.

That's an increase of 8.1% year over year from the same shopping spree in 2021, which ran from June 21 through 22.

Amazon has been dumping heaps of cash into new projects, spending around £750 million in rights and filming costs for the release of The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings of Power series on Prime Video this September.

Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.

Amazon UK is Increasing The Cost of Prime In September

Amazon is officially increasing the cost of Prime memberships in Europe, including the UK, for the first time since 2014.

In the UK the cost of membership is increasing from £7.99 per month to £8.99 per month, and for those paying annually, £79 per year, to £95 per year. The change will take place from September 15.

Amazon is attributing the rising price of its Prime delivery and streaming service to "increased inflation and operation costs."

This comes only months after Amazon increased the cost of its Prime membership in the US as well, increasing yearly memberships from $119 to $139 per year.

These increases have also hit other streaming services with Netflix also adding extra fees to its service, with the cost of its standard plan increased by £1 and its premium plan stretched by an extra £2.

Digital Commerce 360 estimates Amazon’s sales on Prime Day hit somewhere around $12.09 billion globally during the retail event that spanned July 12 and 13.

That's an increase of 8.1% year over year from the same shopping spree in 2021, which ran from June 21 through 22.

Amazon has been dumping heaps of cash into new projects, spending around £750 million in rights and filming costs for the release of The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings of Power series on Prime Video this September.

Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.

FIFA 23 Reclaims the Juventus License After 3 Years of PES Exclusivity

The Italian football club, Juventus, is coming back to EA starting with FIFA 23 which will be released on September 30.

In a press release, EA announced it has agreed to a multi-year partnership with Juventus that will welcome the Italian club back to EA Sports starting with the next FIFA game and continuing when EA rebrands as EA Sports FC.

Juventus previously had an exclusive relationship with Konami for its Pro Evolution Soccer series for the past three years.

The new deal means Juventus’ players, stadium, and jerseys will appear in the next EA soccer game, but the two brands will also “work across a number of lifestyle and cultural initiatives bringing new opportunities outside of football.”

EA announced earlier this year that it would not renew its license with FIFA, choosing instead to remain in the soccer sim space under the name EA Sports FC. Despite the name change, Along with Juventus EA has secured other teams from Europe’s top leagues who announced they are sticking with EA.

Meanwhile FIFA says it will work with other developers to create authentic football games and carry on the FIFA series with FIFA 23, FIFA 24, and so on.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

Roller Champions Isn’t Cancelled, But Ubisoft Is Working to Address Complaints

Ubisoft says that Roller Champions isn't going to be canceled and that it will continue to support the game with more content and fixes.

"Let's clear it out of the way first, Roller Champions isn't getting canceled, and Ubisoft fully supports it. What the Roller Champions dev team is doing is making sure we focus on what our players have told us needs improvements, and that supersedes all other priorities," Ubisoft said in a statement on Twitter.

The game's first and current season, Disco Fever, will be extended and an upcoming patch will include cross-invites, which allows players to bring in friends who play Roller Champions on other platforms. Additionally, the team is trying to fix issues and address player feedback before moving on to the game’s next season.

Ubisoft’s statement is seemingly a response to rumors that began circulating saying that Roller Champions would be canceled after its third season.

“As far as content is concerned, we can tell you that we’ve got exciting stuff planned for the net seasons,” explains the development team. “We strongly believe, however, that before we release new content, we’ve got to do right by our players, hence why we are taking the time needed before we do.”

Roller Champions is a free-to-play game that launched on May 25, 2022, for PC, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One. In our Roller Champions first impressions, we said, “Though it’s a solid start to what could be my next team-based competitive addiction, it also feels in danger of becoming repetitive rather quickly.”

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @yinyangfooey

This Stray Mod Lets You Play as Garfield the Cat

Stray is an adorable new game about a cat exploring a post-apocalyptic future full of robots, and now, you can play through the whole thing as the laziest, chillest cat of them all: Garfield.

A new mod by modder Chris Rubino replaces the cat in Stray with a surprisingly believable rendition of Garfield of comics fame, right down to the lazy expression and chubby cheeks. That's it, that's all it does - no lasagna or Odie or Lorenzo Music voice, just the good old Garfield wandering around a robot city, fending off Zurks, and probably getting into more trouble than Garfield himself ever could at Jon Arbuckle's house.

For me, the best part of this mod is the deep expression of total ennui on his face:

It's no surprise that Garfield has entered Stray given that the original kitty is an orange tabby just like him, but other modders have taken it even farther already. There's a weird mod you can add that replaces Stray's meowing action with the sound of Heavy Rain protagonist Ethan Mars calling for his lost son. And delightfully, a number of modders are jumping on a new trend of making the cat in Stray look like their own cats at home.

Even though we reviewed a version of Stray sans Garfield, we still found it to be a "delightful cat-based adventure in a cyberpunk world worth exploring." If you're picking it up for the first time, there are a number of wonderfully cat-like things you can do in Stray's world, and IGN has a full wiki guide to help you through from start to finish.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Zelda: Breath of the Wild Split-Screen Mod Will Launch This Week

Breath of the Wild is one of the greatest games of all time, but wouldn't it be better if you could play it together? And no, we're not talking about Linked Together, we're talking actual split-screen multiplayer.

Well, thanks to one modder, the dream to play Breath of the Wild with a friend is now a reality.

First spotted by Eurogamer, a new mod developed by Kirbymimi introduces split-screen gameplay to the world of Breath of the Wild. The mod will release in beta form this Friday, July 29.

You can watch over 8 minutes of split-screen Breath of the Wild gameplay on YouTube, which shows the pair of Links exploring Hyrule Castle, battling enemies, and eventually taking on the final boss. The two Links can even harm each other! Of course, this version of Breath of the Wild isn't running on Nintendo's official hardware, so don't expect to romp around Hyrule with a friend on Switch.

In late 2021, the content creator PointCrow offered a $10,000 reward for the first person to create a working Breath of the Wild multiplayer mod. However, the reward had a number of stiff requirements, including granting PointCrow 1 to 2 weeks of exclusive access to the mod, which has not happened with Kirbymimi's mod.

The modding community for Breath of the Wild has been active basically since the game launched back in 2017. Some of our favorite mods include one that turns the game into a NieR: Automata hybrid starring 2B, or a mod that swaps Link with the fan-favorite Waluigi.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum Delayed ‘By a Few Months’

Sorry, Tolkien fans – Daedalic has announced that its upcoming stealth title The Lord of the Rings: Gollum has been delayed "by a few months" so that the team can “deliver the best possible experience.”

The studio shared the news via Twitter, where it thanked fans for their ongoing patience regarding the release of The Lord of the Rings: Gollum. The statement, which says that the game has been pushed back by a few months, promises that the team is dedicated to "uncovering the untold story of Gollum in a way that honors the vision of J. R. R. Tolkien."

While no updated release date was given, the statement promises an update on the exact timing in the "near future." The game was initially planned for release on September 1, so with only a handful of months before the end of the year, it's now feasible that it could join the growing list of games to be delayed into 2023.

That may be for the best, though, based on what we've seen of The Lord of the Rings: Gollum already.

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum casts players as the titular creature in a tale set before the events pertaining to the mainline books and movies. As a stealth title, combat will be very limited, instead asking players to sneak through perilous locations within Middle-earth and assassinate enemies in creative ways.

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is set to release on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

Billy Givens is a freelancer at IGN with over a decade of experience writing gaming, film, and tech content. His work can also be found on GameSpot, USA Today, Digital Trends, Tom's Guide, and more. You'll find him blabbering on about video games and more on Twitter at @mektige.

Serum, a First-Person Survival Game, Announced

Developer Game Island has announced Serum, a first-person survival game for PC in which you must craft, hunt, adapt, and survive in a forest that's been posioned by the titular serum.

Game Island says there will be safe zones and shelters where you can craft weapons and traps and prepare to stave off the wilds. Meanwhile, you'll need to fight off the serum-infected mutant animals in the forest.

A hook, though, is that you have to inject the serum into your own system in order to stay alive; even though it will change you physically and mentally, you will die if you don't get more of it every few minutes. But every living thing is a potential serum source, as you can harvest the serum from enemies and other entities.

Serum does not yet have a release date, but it will be released on Steam when it's ready.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.