College Football 25: EA Sports Details the Immersion Created by College Sights, Sounds, and Tradition

EA Sports continues its week-long push to provide new information on College Football 25, with today’s deep dive revealing how the development team incorporates sights and sounds to give the game an authentic and immersive experience.

EA revealed five key features highlighting how it captured the traditions, unique details, sights, and sounds across all 134 Division 1 Football Bowl Subdivision schools. These include Authentic Gameday Experiences, Detailed Traditions, Motion Capture Efforts, Mascots, and Turnover Traditions.

To capture the spirit of a college football game, EA Sports said it provided pre-game atmospheres with crowd chants and team runouts. A few notable examples include Clemson University’s run down The Hill before the start of the game or Notre Dame’s tradition of tapping the “Play Like a Champion Today” sign before running out the tunnel.

With those authentic experiences, EA Sports revealed that it even built props and sets to provide accurate motion capture for some of these traditions, using real people and stunt actors to get the most realistic movement possible.

EA Sports said it didn’t neglect the unique turnover traditions at some schools either. These include Pitt’s turnover hoop, Oregon State’s Chainsaw, and the Alabama Ball Out Belt. Some of these traditions are briefly seen in the official reveal trailer for College Football 25.

Of course, mascots are also a big component of college football atmospheres, traditions, and spirit. College Football 25 will feature 50 mascots in the game, 40 of them being costumed mascots such as Wake Forest’s Demon Deacon and Ohio State’s Brutus Buckeye. There will also be 10 real mascots, like Texas’ Bevo, the longhorn steer, or Uga, the bulldog from the University of Georgia.

College Football 25 will be released on July 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. For more, check out our hands-on preview, how Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals will be incorporated into the game, and yesterday’s news story where EA revealed the top 25 toughest stadiums to play in College Football 25.

Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Remembering the forgotten “Aliens MMO” created by the devs behind Dark Age Of Camelot and Elder Scrolls Online

The internet doesn’t exist in the world depicted by the film Aliens, though variations of it crop up in the expanded universe. Nor does the idea of a digital society. There’s networked communications tech, but it consists of signals between bodies in deepest space, light years apart, of lonely video terminals in cramped dockloader apartments, and of maniacally collaged CCTV feeds of Marines getting their asses kicked, man. There’s no ocean of online interactions, corroding the everyday from all directions, just 1-to-1s through boxy, retro-futurist screens that are so dingy and inadequate it feels like Ripley and Burke are peering at each other through a letterbox. Small wonder, given that Aliens was released in 1986, when what would become the internet was still mostly the province of universities and the military.

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Helldivers 2 Director Defends Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Difficulty

Helldivers 2 director Johan Pilestedt has defended FromSoftware for the difficulty of Elden Ring expansion Shadow of the Erdtree.

As reported by PC Gamer, Pilestedt responded to someone on X/Twitter who complained about the intense difficulty of Shadow of the Erdtree, which has been a heavily discussed topic since its launch on June 21, 2024.

Pilestedt initially shared another post saying FromSoftware doesn’t make bosses hard for the sake of it, but for the feeling overcoming them gives players. “Indeed, this 1,000%,” Pilestedt said. “Good game design is evoking emotion more than anything.”

X/Twitter user @Indoor_Carrot responded, saying “the problem with this design philosophy is it only caters to a select audience. I tried Dark Souls 1. After defeating the first couple of bosses, I realized it wasn’t fun or rewarding. I only felt relief, not accomplished. I stopped playing Dark Souls because of this.”

Pilestedt disagreed. “A game for everyone is a game for no one,” he said, which is essentially the motto of his developer Arrowhead Game Studios. “Always cater to a select audience.”

FromSoftware games like Elden Ring, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice are famously difficult but have been praised across the board for their overall game design, challenge included.

IGN’s Shadow of the Erdtree review awarded it a 10/10, for example. “Like the base game did before it, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree raises the bar for single player expansions,” we said. “It takes everything that made the base game such a landmark role-playing game, condenses it into a relatively compact 20 to 25 hour campaign, and provides fantastic new challenges for heavily invested fans to chew on.”

But some who’ve purchased the expansion have expressed frustration at the difficulty, even review bombing it on Steam because of it and performance issues. Regardless, FromSoftware boss and Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki has remained true to his vision, saying making things easier would “break the game.”

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

The First Descendant launches on PS5 and PS4 July 2, new character gameplay revealed

Descendants, after a long wait, The First Descendant releases worldwide July 2 on PS5 and PS4. To help you prepare for the action, we’re here with new gameplay details for characters Bunny, Valba, and Ajax, ​​along with insights into the unique graphic features available on PS5 .

Not familiar? The First Descendant is a third-person online co-op looter shooter. In the game, you will become a Descendant, inheriting mysterious powers and tasked with protecting your homeland – the continent of Ingris – from alien invaders.

Launch content

Powered by Unreal Engine 5, The First Descendant is a next-generation looter shooter that focuses on the fun of grinding and growth. It’s a game where you collect and enhance various characters, unique-effect firearms, external components that boost character and skill performance, and modules to tune the performance of characters and weapons, presenting you with the challenge of creating your own unique build.

At launch, five new fields that have not been previously revealed will be added, along with 16 types of new end-game content called Instance Dungeons. Additionally, 16 types of Void Intercept Battles – large boss raids considered the highlight of The First Descendant – will also be introduced.

Additionally, Descendants, who are central to the game, will be added. In total, 19 Descendants will be introduced, including 14 original Descendants and 5 high-performance versions known as Ultimate Descendants.


The First Descendant launches on PS5 and PS4 July 2, new character gameplay revealed

Our most popular Descendant, Bunny, is known as an iconic mascot with a helmet resembling rabbit ears. Bunny wears a unique suit that can charge and discharge electrical energy, allowing her to run at incredible speeds. This suit not only enhances Bunny’s agility but also enables her to release stored electrical energy around her or concentrate it into a powerful focused beam, making her a formidable force on the battlefield.


The First Descendant launches on PS5 and PS4 July 2, new character gameplay revealed

Valby is my personal favorite character. She has a special ability to transform into water and create puddles at will, anytime and anywhere. While on water, Valby can use skills with reduced MP, allowing for more efficient use of abilities. This ability enables Valby to create puddles among enemies for quick movement or to liquefy and pass through obstacles, providing advantages in both offense and defense.


The First Descendant launches on PS5 and PS4 July 2, new character gameplay revealed

Our creative director’s top recommended Descendant is Ajax. As a tank dealer, Ajax provides a unique strategic element to the team. He possesses the incredible ability to distort physical space and summon protective shields for allies. These shields effectively block enemy attacks while allowing allied attacks to pass through unhindered, protecting allies and providing a tactical advantage. He ensures the safety of teammates on the battlefield while enabling them to launch attacks without interference.

PS5 Graphical features

 Additionally, we are pleased to introduce the graphical features available at launch for the first time, specifically for PS5. Since last year’s Crossplay Open Beta, we have invested significant effort into optimizing and enhancing graphic quality for PS5.

Firstly, we added a Balanced Mode to the graphics settings, which was unavailable during the Beta.  PS5 users can now choose from three modes: Fidelity, Balanced, and Performance, offering a variety of options to suit your preferences.

 Additionally, we have implemented the high-resolution shadow mapping technique, Virtual Shadow Map (VSM), provided by Unreal Engine 5 after extensive optimization efforts, enhancing the overall visual quality.

Furthermore, we added options for Ray Tracing and AMD Frame Generation, offering choices for those who desire higher visual quality or improved performance.

The First Descendant’s development team is always listening to your feedback. Therefore, we invite you to the continent of Ingris to explore and share your valuable insights with us. The First Descendant launches July 2 on PS5 and PS4.

Cattle Country Aims to Mix Stardew Valley With a Dash of Red Dead Redemption

Developer Castle Pixel and publisher Playtonic Friends have announced Cattle Country, a new “cozy cowboy life-sim adventure” in the works for PC (via Steam). It promises pixel-art graphics, 18 romanceable characters, cattle to raise, bandits to fend off, and buried treasure to dig up, among other gameplay elements. Watch the announcement trailer above or check out the first screenshots in the gallery below.

Fishing, hunting, and farming will make up the core of the gameplay in what Castle Pixel and Playtonic Friends bill as a game that aims to be “Red Dead Redemption meets Stardew Valley.”

Playtonic Friends is the publishing arm of Yooka-Laylee developer Playtonic, while Castle Pixel previously developed Blossom Tales and Rex Rocket.

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.

Fallen Aces has just enough immersive sim substance to match up to its eye-popping pulp comic style

Fallen Aces is a stylish FPS lead pipe ‘em up with immersive sim elements, published by good gun-knowers New Blood Interactive. Your gumshoe ‘tagonist wakes up, hungover of brain, skint of wallet, and unshaven of face, to discover your apartment – undoubtedly reeking of smokerettes and dehydration wee – is being broken into by foes goonly and mookish. They take a while to boot the door down, which gives you a moment to observe the place and consider which of Fallen Aces’ expansive makeshift weapon selection you’d like to batter them with. Decisions, decisions…

After eating some fridge fruit, I prepare an ambush by flicking off the lightswitch, then hide behind a desk. When they break in, I bravely sneak up behind them and put the frying pan I picked up to work. The sound effects tell me this a quality bit of cookware. Probably cast iron. Barely a dent. In the pan.

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Ex Destiny and Halo Producer Says Live Service Is ‘Better for Developers and Players’

A former Halo and Destiny executive producer at Bungie has said the live service model is “so much better for developers and players” than the one-off $60 or $70 purchase model.

Speaking to PC Gamer, Theorycraft Games CEO and former Halo: Reach and Destiny executive producer Joe Tung said the traditional method of buying video games, meaning to make a single payment of around $60 or $70, causes developers to make decisions which were not “in the best interest” of players.

“I always felt like, in the $60 boxed product model, I was having to make decisions that were not in the best interest of players,” Tung said.

The games as a service model is so much better for developers and players.

“It was in the best interest of: ‘How do we sell as many copies in the first 48 hours as we can?’ One of the huge strengths of the games as a service model is you can be long term, you can think long term in terms of what is best for the player, and how does that overlap with what is best for the company. I think it allows you to make much, much, much better decisions overall.”

Tung referenced the now defunct E3 and the trailers and gameplay clips which premiered there, promising what he called “bulls**t vaporware” that players would never actually get to experience, because all developers had to do was convince them to spend $60.

“I would wager that any developer who has ever worked in the $60 box product model, up until the point where E3 was cancelled, has a story about the E3 build,” he said. “It’s like, let’s jam as much bulls**t vaporware into the build as we can in the next three months because we have to have a huge showing at E3, because it’s our one opportunity to talk to our audience before we launch the game.”

“I would have to wager that some hugely significant percentage of those E3 efforts ended up on the cutting room floor because they were half-baked and caused people to crunch and really make huge sacrifices to get it in,” Tung added. “That’s my favorite example of hugely impactful decisions that were not about what is best for the player.”

Live service, on the other hand, allows developers to continue working on games after launch, communicate with their audience to see what players actually want, and so on. Tung therefore believes “the games as a service model is so much better for developers and players.”

The topic has proved controversial amongst gamers, with many frustrated that even single player games now have microtransactions, preorder bonuses, early access periods, and so on, and as a result the $60 purchase, which is more commonly $70 in 2024, no longer grants everything a game has to offer.

Ubisoft titles Star Wars: Outlaws and Assassin’s Creed Shadows have both faced criticism for this recently, as both have missions locked behind more expensive editions and can’t be played on their true launch date unless players spend upwards of $100.

Some developers have seemingly managed to thread the needle between one-off purchase and live service, however, with PlayStation and PC hit Helldivers 2 being the best recent example of a successful game balancing both models.

It launched for a lesser $40 and still features microtransactions, but its live service components feature incredible depth as the game’s story is weaved around them and changes depending on what players can and can’t accomplish in timed events.

This combination appears to have worked as Helldivers 2 wasn’t just received well by critics but had sold more than 12 million copies by May 14, 2024.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Helldivers 2 developers have big, opaque plans for Galactic War and that black hole you made

Game development studio and intergalactic war ministry Arrowhead have launched a new series of written update posts for players of Helldivers 2 to help keep the war record straight. Mostly, this is the usual case of somebody on the team gathering quotes as the developers batter their fingertips against keyboards to bring you, the video gamer, fresh cannons and what-have-you. But there is some insight into what the conflict-pushers at Arrowhead have enjoyed most about player actions over the last month, including bringing an entire planet to the liberated state of post-existence.

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Elden Ring Shadow Of The Erdtree patch makes Blessings stronger and the game easier

When I finished my review for Soulslike Lies Of P, the devs released a patch not long after that nerfed bosses and made things for ol’ Pinnochio easier overall. Sod’s Law struck that day… and it’s returned with a smirk. Shadow Of The Erdtree has just been patched, making its Shadow Realm Blessings stronger from the off, and in turn, things a little easier for everybody. Such is the life of a reviewer, eh.

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