In hindsight, I feel like I wronged Neva – the upcoming action-platformer from Gris devs Nomada Studio – by allowing my first thoughts on its reveal trailer to be “I bet the dog dies at the end.” A new, obviously gorgeous adventure with serious platforming pedigree and that’s your response? Grow up, me.
Shelley Duvall, the actress best known for playing unique and often eccentric characters, passed away today at age 75.
As The Hollywood Reporter writes, Duvall died in her sleep from complications of diabetes. Her life partner, Dan Gilroy, confirmed Duvall’s passing to the outlet. “My dear, sweet, wonderful life partner and friend left us,” Gilroy told The Hollywood reporter in a statement. “Too much suffering lately; now she’s free. Fly away, beautiful Shelley.”
Duvall had a prolific career dating back to the 1970s, with some of her most notable roles coming in the 1970s and 1980s. Duvall perhaps is best known for her portrayal as Wendy Torrance in Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 horror film The Shining. However, Duvall is also known for her lead role in the 1980 live-action film Popeye, in addition to her roles in 1974’s Thieves Like Us and the 1977 film 3 Women.
According to her IMDb page, Duvall took a break from acting in 2002, with her last appearance at the time being the 2002 independent film Manna from Heaven. During her acting hiatus, Duvall would appeared in an interview on Dr. Phil McGraw’s talk show in 2016, revealing she was suffering from mental illness. Her appearance on the show was was controversial, with Stanley Kubrick’s daughter Vivian Kubrick stating in a post on X/Twitter to Dr. Phil accusing him of exploiting Duvall as a form of “lurid entertainment.” Before her death, Duvall would appear in 2022 in the film The Forest Hills, presumably the actress’s final film.
Blogroll Credit: Reg Innell / Getty Images
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
“It’s going to be a good, good, good, good day,” sings Frontier’s announcement trailer for just-announced theme park simulator Planet Coaster 2. Not for me it isn’t, because now I have to compare my shabby flat, in which there are exactly zero waterslides at the time of publication, with Planet Coaster 2, in which you can expect such aquatic attractions as “meandering lazy rivers”, “adrenaline-pumping wave pools”, “looping flumes” and “exhilarating water coasters”. Please watch the trailer while I yet again revisit the possibility of sneaking into Stoke-On-Trent’s Waterworld and trying to pass myself off as the resident ghost.
The First Descendant developer Nexon has issued a significant update for its popular looter shooter and explained some of its thinking behind the game.
Patch 1.0.2, out now across PC, PlayStation, and Xbox, adds the promised matchmaking for hard mode Infiltration Operations, renames monster patterns, eases the punishing grind ever so slightly, and makes a raft of bug fixes. Other highlights include slowing down the speed at which the Instructor robot talks (which was too fast to keep up with, really).
As part of the patch notes, Nexon insisted it has no plans to nerf meta builds players are currently using to destroy bosses, called Colossi in-game, in just a handful of seconds. These sorts of builds, which revolve around character Gley and rare machine gun Tamer, were expected, Nexon added.
“It has come to our attention that the community is worried about possible nerfs to Tamer and Gley’s infinite magazine builds,” Nexon said. “This meta is very strong, but since it is within the scope of what the dev team has planned, there are no immediate plans to do so.
“In addition, some weapons are more powerful than Tamer and there are a variety of character builds that rival Gley’s infinite magazine, so please enjoy them fully. We’ve been looking forward to seeing Descendants use creative builds to take down powerful Colossi swiftly, so we’re quite delighted to see this in action now.”
There’s also an interesting note addressing community concern that the drop rates of certain much-needed items were not accurately displayed in-game. In short, some players felt that The First Descendant’s displayed drop rates were not the actual drop rates in gameplay, after many struggled to get these particular items as part of the free-to-play looter shooter’s punishing grind.
“We are well aware that as many Descendants begin farming in earnest, various discussions are taking place regarding drop rates,” Nexon acknowledged. “There is no variable drop rate system in The First Descendant. We are using the fixed rates displayed in the game.
“The dev team has reviewed the acquisition rates across all servers and confirmed that they are dropping according to the rates displayed. We are currently working on various measures to ensure the community can trust the dev team such as disclosing item drop amounts for each content. And we also prepare ways to improve the farming experience. The First Descendant will continue to communicate transparently and honestly.”
However, the patch does not address the The First Descendant’s ultra aggressive monetization, nor has Nexon explained the remarkable similarities between icons used in The First Descendant and Bungie’s rival looter shooter, Destiny.
Still, The First Descendant is pulling in players, with a peak Steam concurrent player count of 264,860 so far — enough to break into the top five most-played games on Valve’s platform. Microsoft and Sony do not provide player numbers for PlayStation and Xbox.
Content Improvements
– Added the ‘Start Public Operation’ function (matchmaking) to Infiltration Operations (Hard). ‘Start Public Operation’ is available even if you change the selected reward, but if you select an additional option, only ‘Start Private Operation’ will be available.
– Removed the sequential type Immunity Spheres from Named Monsters. They have been changed to either the default or extermination types.
# Director’s Comment The Dev Team acknowledges the community’s concern about the monotonous patterns of Named Monsters and strives to enhance them. In particular, we’ve noted that the pattern involving breaking spheres in a specific order isn’t appropriate for public matching and have decided to remove it immediately. As new patterns are developed, we will soon update the patterns of existing Named Monsters one by one. As Named Monsters frequently appear in Hard difficulty and Special Operations, we will continue working towards diversifying their patterns. |
– Increased the quantity of rare basic materials dropped from Encrypted Vaults three-fold. The Elite Vulgus that appear in Field Missions and Infiltration Operations will now drop them too.
# Director’s Comment The most efficient way to farm rare basic materials is still through Encrypted Vaults, but for those who prefer hunting monsters, we have updated Field Missions and Infiltration Operations to drop these materials too. The Dev Team will closely monitor the overall farming status and do our best to create a joyful environment for all our Descendants. |
– Reduced the time from two 90-second to two 60-second occupations for the Kingston ‘Vulgus Data Transmitter’ Hacking Mission.
– Improved the Battle Pass Battle Supply Shop button’s visibility by redesigning it in the format of the Bonus Shop banner.
# Director’s Comment You can get season-limited skins for free from the Battle Supply Shop. Complete pre-season challenges to claim your special skins! |
– Updated the Library window from closing when the map is opened and closed through the Acquisition Information pop-up.
– Improved the duration of party invitation messages to make them easier to confirm and accept.
– Improved the duration of the Descendant Instructor’s lines.
# Director’s Comment Many Descendants have commented that the Descendant Instructor’s dialogue contains many useful game tips. Currently, it’s not possible to revisit previous dialogues, but we are planning to fix this. We will continue to make improvements so that Descendants can easily access the information they require. |
– Moved the guide NPC you meet after first arriving in Albion closer.
Optimization Improvements
– [PC] Improved the stability of the shader preparation process by reducing the CPU load during shader generation.
Currently, we are actively monitoring this issue, and if you encounter issues with a 13th or 14th gen Intel, please refer to Intel’s official guide.
– [PC] Lowered GPU memory usage when set at High or higher quality.
– [PC] Fixed an issue where character skins were displayed abnormally in low graphics settings intermittently during extended play.
– [PC] Fixed a bug that allowed frame limits to be set when using Nvidia and AMD’s Frame Generation.
– [Common] Fixed an issue where shadows were intermittently displayed abnormally depending on the view.
– [Common] Made various other fixes for optimization purposes, and we will continuously monitor them.
Bug Fixes
(1) UI/UX
– Fixed an issue displaying unused items in the Library.
(2) Descendants
– Fixed an issue where Descendants could not get out of DBNO when their HP was below -100% from module settings.
– Fixed an issue where Kyle would occasionally go up into the air when using ‘Superconductivity Thrusters’ during ‘Repulsion Dash’.
– Fixed an issue where Esiemo could not get back up while using ‘Arche Explosion’ and being inflicted with Knockback.
(3) Modules
– Fixed an issue where the increase in Firearm ATK per stack in the ‘Sharp Precision Shot’ module was summed instead of multiplied.
(4) Equipment
– Fixed an issue where a weapon’s attribute damage did not apply damage over 100,000.
– Fixed an issue where higher values were displayed as the Ultimate (Gold) option despite the Reactor’s Skill Cooldown and Skill Cost stats being preferable with lower values.
– Fixed an issue where lower values were displayed as the Ultimate (Gold) option despite the Weapon Change Speed stat being preferable with higher values.
(5) Field
– Fixed an issue where ‘Amorphous Material Pattern: 118’ and ‘Shape Stabilizer Form 8’ were not dropped at ‘Frozen Valley: Vulgus Strategic Outpost’ in Fortress (Hard).
– Fixed an issue where Elite Vulgus in the White-night Gulch ‘Upper Hatchery’ Battlefield Missions did not drop rewards.
– Fixed an issue where monster spawning was interrupted at some Vulgus Strategic Outposts.
(6) Instance Dungeon
– Fixed an issue where Vespers resource box materials were dropped from Echo Swamp, Agna Desert, White-night Gulch, Hagios, and Fortress Infiltration Operation resource boxes.
(7) Research
– Fixed an issue where the core materials of Ultimate Descendants were incorrectly displayed as Rare instead of Ultimate Tier.
(8) Miscellaneous
– [French] Fixed an issue where the ‘Go to title screen’ menu was displayed with the same phrase as ‘Exit Game’.
– [French] Fixed an issue in the story where ‘Ultimate Chimera’ was used for ‘Dreadful Abomination’.
– [French] Added missing words in the probability display for Executioner Tier 3 Set 4.
# Director’s Additional Comment It has come to our attention that the community is worried about possible nerfs to Tamer and Gley’s infinite magazine builds. This meta is very strong, but since it is within the scope of what the Dev Team has planned, there are no immediate plans to do so. In addition, some weapons are more powerful than Tamer and there are a variety of character builds that rival Gley’s infinite magazine, so please enjoy them fully. We’ve been looking forward to seeing Descendants use creative builds to take down powerful Colossi swiftly, so we’re quite delighted to see this in action now. We are well aware that as many Descendants begin farming in earnest, various discussions are taking place regarding drop rates. There is no variable drop rate system in The First Descendant. We are using the fixed rates displayed in the game. The Dev Team has reviewed the acquisition rates across all servers and confirmed that they are dropping according to the rates displayed. We are currently working on various measures to ensure the community can trust the dev team such as disclosing item drop amounts for each content. And we also prepare ways to improve the farming experience. The First Descendant will continue to communicate transparently and honestly. |
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Plus, Square Enix reveals new character art.
Just when we thought we couldn’t be any more excited for Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, Square Enix comes along and pushes our hype levels into overdrive. The remake’s official Japanese site has today been updated with new information and screenshots and several Japanese outlets have published extended gameplay footage showcasing the adventure in action.
Let’s start with the biggie and take a look at some of the new footage. Six different Japanese outlets have been permitted to share up to half an hour of gameplay and each showcases different elements ‚ so yes, there’s a lot to catch up on. Dengeki Online’s capture drops us into the game’s random encounters from the get-go, Famitsu’s contains a good deal of environmental exploration and 4Gamer’s shorter clip gives a whistle-stop tour of several locations in bite-sized chunks.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Grab your goggles, Planet Coaster 2 has been announced and is set to arrive on Xbox Series X|S in the fall. In this highly anticipated sequel to Planet Coaster, you’ll now have the option to craft your dream waterpark, complete with flumes, waterslides, and a huge, sprawling pools to delight your guests. This can be a standalone park, or a section of a wider park with more traditional coasters and rides – the choice is yours! We got a brief first look at the game in a recent preview event, but before we take a dip into what’s new, check out the reveal trailer below for a small look at what’s to come.
Planet Coaster 2 promises a suite of amazing tools to craft an incredible waterpark for your guests. This all starts with the pool tool, which’ll allow you to place pools of all shapes and sizes for your park guests to enjoy. Once the water is down, the real fun begins. An extensive suite of funky flumes and slides can be placed in any way you want –whether they’re up in the air, full of twists and turns, or just offer a sharp plummet into the pool. What is a waterslide if not a wet rollercoaster?
There’s also a vast suite of customization options for your pools and attractions; change them to any colour you like and choose from a range of nautical themed décor – which is just one of several new themes – to jazz up the place. Planet Coaster 2 takes customisation even further than the original with the ability to add set pieces directly to rides, scaling them up or down for a perfect fit. We saw a little of this in action with a pre-built waterpark, and it looks fantastic. If you can dream it, you can absolutely build it with these tools, alongside the ability to share your creations with the community.
While waterparks are an exciting new part of the experience, they come in addition to all the traditional theme park rides and attractions featured in Planet Coaster, with more rides, more management options and more customization tools than ever before.
You’ll be able to mix and match within the boundaries of your park – go all out on the watery attractions or simply designate specific areas to pool activities and aquatic-themed rides. In the preview, we watched guests move between the main theme park area and the waterpark area with ease – the latter helps to offer more variety in what your parkgoers can do while they’re visiting.
There are also more fun tweaks to the management side of Planet Coaster 2. Guests will also need changing facilities so they can switch from their park outfits into their swimming garb. You’ll also need to ensure your pools are kept clean and safe for your parkgoers – if the water is suspiciously yellow, guests could be in for a bad time.
To fuel your park’s economy, you’ll also be able to sell pool passes that allow guests access to the waterpark areas, as well as inflatable pool toys from the Splash Emporium that’ll dramatically up the fun factor of your watery wonderland. This is just a small glance of what Planet Coaster 2 will offer, but for those looking for a more traditional coaster-crafting experience back on land, the sequel is not forgoing those traditional park-building elements.
There’s a newly enhanced suite of tools for all your main park needs – including a new path system that allows for wider walkways and sprawling plazas that make your park look lovely, while filtering guests more efficiently – a touch of authenticity that mirrors real world amusement parks. An enhanced track builder for rollercoasters will give you even more freedom over how and where to place your tracks for the ultimate thrill ride.
Customizing rides is a breeze with the blueprints, which allow you to make custom objects – anything from a small decoration to a fully-functioning rollercoaster – and share them with other players via the community workshop. You’ll be able to give anything you build a personal touch with the ability to add blueprint or scenery pieces to rides, and the new symmetry tool lets you make easy adjustments to those tiny details. For example, if you add or move a light or a small decoration on the side of one rollercoaster car, it’ll update the placement on all the cars at once – a blessing for the meticulous crafters out there.
And of course, looking after your guests is a prime responsibility. Parkgoers have been rebuilt to showcase more diversity and variety. Just like Planet Coaster, guests’ satisfaction will be measured via Excitement, Fear, and Nausea, and you’ll be able to see how they’re feeling about your park with greater ease thanks to an update in how they express their wants and needs.
Even with just a small peek at the game, Planet Coaster 2 looks to be an exciting iteration of the series with plenty of promising new features. The best news is there’s not too long to wait – Planet Coaster 2 is set to soar on Xbox Series X|S in fall 2024.
The post Makes A Splash with the Waterpark Of Your Dreams in Planet Coaster 2 appeared first on Xbox Wire.
Hello everyone, this is Simon Dasan, A44’s creative director on Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn. Today we shed some light on one of the most mysterious aspects of our upcoming game, set for release on July 18 – the gods that have taken over the world of Kian. To do so we’ve released a brand new story trailer and are giving more information below!
Before the Door to the Great Below was abruptly torn open, the people of Kian saw the ancient stories of gods and magic as nothing but myths. A new age fueled by black powder technology brought previously bickering nations closer together. Even the most conservative of places such as Three Peaks began to abandon the old ways in pursuit of the riches both trade and technology had to offer.
The Door to the Great Below itself remained as the one, grim reminder of the old world. Once upon a time, the city of Dawn had been built around it by those who struggled to let go of the dead. In modern times the Door had become an unexplainable curiosity, a landmark for a city that was forgetting its past.
Ten years before the events of the game an unprecedented disaster struck Kian; the Door opened and the Dead themselves marched into the world of the living, overrunning the unsuspecting city of Dawn. By the time there was any understanding of what had transpired the city was lost entirely, those lucky enough to escape the massacre having abandoned the city by the thousands.
The Dead threatened to overrun the entire world. The Coalition was thrown together to answer them, volunteers from many nations gathering themselves into a makeshift army. At tremendous cost, they pushed their enemy back, but ultimately failed to progress further than containing the Dead within the city walls. The Door to the Great Below remained open – and The Siege of Dawn had just begun.
Ten years later, black powder technology has finally advanced far enough to convince Sama, Field Marshal of the Coalition, to sign off on a mission behind enemy lines. Sama entrusts her unit of Sappers with the task of blowing the Door shut and ending a decade of suffering. However, the mission has overlooked a crucial detail; even after all these years, the Coalition remains in the dark concerning exactly how the Door opened… and who opened it.
The Sappers make it deeper into Dawn than any before them, only to walk straight into the lair of a god. Face to face with a creature straight from the pages of legend, the truth descends on them all at once. It was not only the Dead that walked through the Door on that fateful day 10 years ago, but the gods themselves, intent on claiming a world that had forgotten them.
The Sappers’ interference has drastic consequences. The gods are now truly loose on the world – each of them intent on shaping it into their own understanding of perfection.
Accustomed to independent domains in the Great Below, the gods have carved up the living world in the same fashion. Each god dominates their own part of Kian.
Dukmar controls Wanderer’s Rest, an ancient region that was once Kian’s cradle of civilization and is now the center of learning.
A self-proclaimed God of Knowledge, Dukmar’s understanding of the world is skewed by larger-than-life stories passed onto him by the souls of the Great Below. Unfortunately, the characters from these stories tend to be conquerors and tyrants, inspiring him to seek the same kind of dominance.
Freedom to wreak havoc on the Great Above is exactly the kind of opportunity Dukmar has always wished for. Arrogant and ambitious, he wastes no time seizing an entire city and taking its population hostage to build monuments to himself.
Rammuha controls Three Peaks, taking advantage of the conservative beliefs of its people to rule over the region without needing to reveal herself directly.
A Goddess of Order, her understanding of the world is fueled by flawed mortal ideas of rules and justice. Rammuha has always existed in the shadow of more powerful gods in the Great Below, forging her into a cunning and resourceful adversary.
Lacking brute force, she has become adept at manipulating others to get what she wants. She knows exactly how to turn the piety of the Knights of Three Peaks against them to turn a once faithful order into her personal army.
Inaya, The Goddess of Life, works tirelessly in her role to keep the natural order of the world intact. Unlike the other gods, she is devoted to her duties and has no interest in the invasion of the Above.
Of all the gods, Inaya shares the closest relationship with Enki. Outside the natural order, he may be the only thing that matters to her.
Uru controls Dawn itself, never letting the Door to the Great Below out of his sight.
Uru the Ravager is the most powerful of the gods, burdened with controlling the Door between life and death itself.
All the other gods, even Enki, fear Uru’s power. The only force capable of restraining him is the Door itself, which he cannot venture far from.
That’s it for a look at the gods of Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn! We hope this sneak peek at their history and motivations leaves you wanting to see and discover more… And thankfully you don’t have to wait too long! You can pre-order Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn on PlayStation 5 now (with a 10% discount for PlayStation Plus members), ahead of its launch on July 18. A Deluxe Edition, including additional cosmetics for Nor, is also available.
Sony has opened up the Concord early access beta to all PlayStation Plus members.
In a post on the PlayStation Blog, Alice Labrecque, communications manager at developer Firewalk, revealed details on the pre-download, when the servers go live, as well as PC system requirements for the team-based multiplayer shooter.
The Concord early access beta runs from tomorrow, July 12 to July 14, with the open beta running from July 18 to July 21. PlayStation Plus members need only look for the option to download and play the early access beta when they boot up their PS5.
July 12
July 13
If you are playing on a PS5 you can pre-download the Concord beta starting today, Thursday, July 11 from 10am PDT.
Pre-ordering any edition of Concord grants you access to the beta early access weekend, as well as four extra codes you can share with friends so you can squad up with your own crew and take on rival crews together. Extra codes will be for the same platform you pre-ordered on.
Meanwhile, the Concord open beta runs from Thursday, July 18, at 10am PDT to Sunday, July 21. You can pre-download on PS5 starting Wednesday, July 17 at 10am PDT.
Labrecque said during the early access beta and open beta, all 16 of the launch Freegunners (player characters) will be unlocked and available to play and customize. “Whether you want to snipe from afar, lock down an area, provide support for your teammates, or… just dive head-first into the fight, our roster of Freegunners has something for everyone,” Labrecque said.
Here’s what you can play in the Concord early access weekend:
The open beta weekend includes all early access content plus new map Bone Mines and mode Area Control.
It’s worth noting early access and open beta progress carries over between the weekends, but progress from either beta will not carry over to the official launch on August 23. There’s full crossplay across PS5 and PC.
As for rewards, you get the Frog Weapon Charm (Frog stands for “From Orbit to Ground” and is the name of the Northstar’s drop ship), a Star Flare Icon, and Business Card for taking part.
And finally, here are the Concord beta PC specs:
The Concord beta will also support:
Last month, Sony said Concord’s $39.99 price point “provides the full experience.” Following Concord’s divisive reveal during Sony’s State of Play showcase in May, some had wondered whether the live service hero shooter would release in free-to-play form. Confirming Concord launches in both physical and digital standard editions for $39.99 / £34.99 / €39.99, Pam Piscitello, director of marketing and operations at developer Firewalk, said in a post on the PlayStation Blog that this full experience includes all 16 playable characters (called Freegunners in-game), 12 maps set on various worlds, and six team-based modes. This will expand shortly after launch with regular, post-launch updates for all players at no additional cost, Piscitello added.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
BioWare games feature implied nudity and sex scenes, as fans of the likes of Mass Effect and Dragon Age know well, but it sounds like upcoming action role-playing game Dragon Age: The Veilguard will take BioWare romance to a whole new level.
Game Informer confirmed topless nudity in the Dragon Age: The Veilguard character creator, which lets players customize their version of protagonist Rook. Veilguard game director Corrine Busche wouldn’t go as far as to confirm that this also means topless nudity features elsewhere in the game, but it very much sounds like that’s what players can expect. “This is a mature RPG,” Busche teased.
BioWare remained tight-lipped when asked if Dragon Age: The Veilguard also features “bottom nudity”, insisting it wants fans to find out for themselves, no doubt in romance scenes with the various party members.
There are obvious parallels to be made between The Veilguard and last year’s critical darling Baldur’s Gate 3. The latter became known not only for its deep romances (like in The Veilguard, Baldur’s Gate 3 player characters can romance any companion regardless of gender or race), but also for its sex scenes, including one involving a Wild-Shaping Druid that went viral.
Speaking to IGN last month, Busche said how sexually explicit the scenes are varies between characters. “Some of them are more spicy than others,” she said. “Just like real life, our companions have such diverse personalities. Some of them are more physical, more aggressive, and some of them are more… we have a gentleman necromancer, for instance, that is more intimate and sensual.”
BioWare has confirmed that The Veilguard will let you play as a human, elf, dwarf, or qunari. There are seven companions:
Veilguard launches 10 years after the third game in the series, Inquisition, came out, and 15 years after the first game, Origins. Last month BioWare fully revealed Veilguard alongside its new name, with new info on the character creator and an extended look at gameplay. As part of our Summer Game Fest coverage, we were able to learn a lot about how The Veilguard will handle romance and player choice.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is currently slated to release on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC in fall 2024.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
If you’re a strategy game aficionado who has yet to cast a monocled eye over Hooded Horse’s catalogue, 1) which map hexagon have you been skulking under? And 2) you’re in for a treat. Founded in 2019 with the signing of Terra Invicta, and led by Dallas, Texas-based chief executive officer Tim Bender and chief financial officer Snow Rui, Hooded Horse have spent the past five years grabbing up original strategy games and strategy RPGs like a smaller civ quietly steamrolling bandit fiefdoms, while larger empires like Creative Assembly and Paradox Interactive bleed each other white in the centre.
