• Google Stadia Game Director Leaves to Join Google Cloud

    Posted on September 10, 2021 by Wesley LeBlanc

    Google Stadia director for games Jack Buser has left the company to work for Google Cloud. Buser will head up Cloud's gaming arm as the new Director of Global Gaming Solutions, according to a new report from ZDNet.

    Buser will begin his tenure at Cloud on September 13, where he'll report directly to Google Cloud Vice President of Industry Solutions Lori Mitchell-Keller.

    "Jack's hire illustrates Google Cloud's continued investment into our global, customer-first gaming strategy, and his five years at Google will help open doors for broader strategic partnerships with customers across YouTube, Stadia, and more," Mitchell-Keller said in a statement to ZDNet. "Jack brings 20 years of experience within the industry as well as a unique blend of business and technical knowledge to further expand our ability to serve gaming customers."

    News of Buser's departure from Stadia comes just a few months after Stadia's Head of Product John Justice left the company, which happened just two days before it was revealed that six key Stadia staff members had left the company to join Haven Entertainment Studios.

    Buser's departure follows a string of departures likely spurred on by Stadia shutting down its internal game studios back in February, which reportedly happened in part because of the Microsoft-Bethesda acquisition that happened earlier this year.

    However, other reports cite additional development details and issues, such as "tens of millions" spent on AAA ports, as major reasons for the closure of Stadia's internal studios.

    A Google spokesperson told IGN in a statement, "Gaming is an incredibly important vertical at Google and we’re seeing huge momentum across all products and services. Jack’s new role will allow us to better bring customers the best of Google across our Cloud services, Stadia, YouTube, and more. Stadia continues to be led by its GM Phil Harrison, and Stadia’s business development and partner management teams will continue to be led by Michael Abbattista, who took over the role in 2020."

    Buser's departure points further to Stadia's overall pivot to marketing itself as a platform for third-party companies to use as a cloud gaming platform, rather than an actual house for game development. Buser's Stadia role was likely more aligned to the Stadia of old — the Stadia interested in developing its own games and becoming a platform not unlike PlayStation, Xbox, and the like — so his departure isn't all that surprising, as noted by ZDNet.

    A Cloud spokesperson told the publication that the company "sees incredible momentum across all industries, and gaming is one of the key verticals we are investing in." It seems Buser will help lead Cloud's charge into gaming.

    Google says Buser's hire will help the company develop new relationships with game publishers and developers while also connecting players to Google's wider suite of services. It also says that Buser's departure from Stadia will actually help Stadia because it will give Buser the chance to create more partnerships and product opportunities across Stadia and Cloud.

    For more about Stadia, read about how the service finally has a search bar and then read about how Xbox Series X|S consoles are getting an updated browser that can play games via Google Stadia. Check out this story about how Google, Id, and Bungie are the subjects of a Stadia lawsuit after that.

    Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.

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    How God of War Ragnarok’s World and Combat Are Evolving 2018’s Foundation

    Posted on September 10, 2021 by Jonathon Dornbush

    director2018's God of War marked a major departure for the franchise, and not just because Kratos saw himself journeying from Greek to Norse mythology. Santa Monica Studio's acclaimed adventure fundamentally changed many aspects of the experience of playing God of War, from its cinematic, unbroken camera to Kratos' Leviathan axe to the ever-present Atreus and so much more.

    While God of War Ragnarok certainly looks to be building on what came before, its new director Eric Williams is looking to evolve the fundamentals of that memorable experience, while also providing new variety and intrigue for players.

    IGN spoke to Williams and Studio Creative Director (and airector of GoW 2018) Cory Barlog after the Ragnarok gameplay reveal as part of the PlayStation showcase, and Williams explained some of his philosophy in approaching directing this sequel.

    "God of War 2 and Ghost of Sparta are probably the two favorite games that I worked on," Williams said. "There was a method to both those games, taking the base and then saying, 'You know what, let's go deep on fan service. Let's go big on variety, but not more just to have more. More that was appropriately structured.

    "For me being first time [in the director's chair], I'm going to take the history lessons of the past, and I'm going to use those to try to do that. So in Ragnarok, what we are trying to do specifically with Kratos, we're trying to give a lot more expressiveness to the player."

    And, no, by "expressiveness," Williams doesn't mean giving Kratos more goofy photo mode faces (though I personally wouldn't be opposed to them). Instead, he was referring to some of the choices around Kratos' gear, which players had a much greater control over in the 2018 entry as opposed to previous games. He also teased that Atreus, who often served as an aid in combat who had a limited number of follow-up and combo moves he could pull off while players controlled Kratos.
    "The way [he and Kratos] link up, he's grown up a little bit, so he's got a lot more follow-ups and setups for Kratos," he continued, though he noted the team is equally making sure the suite of enemies players face can match up to these new moves.

    "Creatures then obviously need to have tools to go against that, otherwise you're going to destroy them. So creatures have new things that you're going to need to think, 'Oh, I might need to break them down with Atreus first, or do this with Kratos," Williams noted.

    "There's going to be a little bit more conversation with the enemies with all the new tools. But because you can have different tools, then you have different conversations, so you can kind of push them one way or that way," he continued [conversation of course not meaning literal discussions but combat strategies], noting that in the way armor had depth in the first of these Norse-based games, other elements should similarly allow for player variety.

    Williams also explained that this thought, of evolving and deepening what players experienced before, is also being applied to Ragnarok's actual world, which will let players visit all Nine Realms whereas God of War 2018 omitted some. And even though Fimbulwinter has begun, players shouldn't expect to only encounter snowy realms.

    "Going to all the Nine Realms, that was big for me making the old new again. Any realm you've been to before, because Fimbulwinter has struck, they're changed in some way. It doesn't mean that every realm is effected by snow, by the way. I think that's a misnomer…Fimbulwinter is an event that changes the realms in different ways. Midgard is the cataclysmic epicenter, so it got permafrost, almost if you will."

    But all of the additions the team is making are very methodically intentioned – while the gameplay teases hint at a greater variety than even 2018's God of War offered, Williams wants to make sure all of these new additions mean something to the experience, using an example from combat that indicates how these additions have wider effects.

    "Variety for variety's sake is not a thing at all [for us]."

    "Variety for variety's sake is not a thing at all [for us]. It's there to serve what we're trying to do," Williams said. "Kratos grappling up the ledge with a chain and then colliding with the enemy and going off [in the new gameplay footage], you couldn't do things like that [in 2018]. Most of the gameplay last time took place on a plane. Now there's some verticality to it, but it wasn't [a thought like], 'Oh, let's have him flinging up walls just because.' [That's included] because there's gameplay oriented around it, almost king of the hill-type encounters. So it changes how a player expresses themselves on the battlefield.

    "Enemies also, can take advantage of that. So if you're not paying attention, they're going to take advantage as well. So it helps again with that conversation that goes through combat."

    Though the gameplay trailer only gives us a tease of what's to come, it begins to establish how Santa Monica Studio is building on the new combat of 2018 and deepening it further for players. For now, that gameplay will have to suffice as we wait for God of War Ragnarok's release on PS4 and PS5 in 2022.

    Stay tuned to IGN for more from Williams and Barlog.

    Jonathon Dornbush is IGN's Senior Features Editor, PlayStation Lead, and host of Podcast Beyond! He's the proud dog father of a BOY named Loki. Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush.

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    NBA 2K22 Review

    Posted on September 10, 2021 by null

    When a basketball player gets into “the zone,” people say it can feel like time slows to crawl. They can see things before they happen, every little detail about their opponent stands out, and the rim seems to get bigger and more inviting. NBA 2K22 never quite managed to get me all the way into the zone, but the improved gameplay and breadth of content of this iteration get it closer than it’s been for the past few years. From important changes to how stamina impacts shooting to a City filled with diverse ways to improve your MyPlayer character, 2K22 feels like a breath of fresh air compared to 2K21.

    NBA 2K22 has made some important tweaks to the on-court action that help make it play like a more realistic game, most noticeably how it handles stamina loss while dribbling. In 2K21, it was easy to run at a defender on the perimeter, hit a Curry slide, and drain a three without breaking a sweat. Against the CPU, that tactic was almost undefendable, especially in MyTeam where player cards were quickly made ridiculously overpowered. With 2K22, you can still employ tactics like that, but the stamina loss you suffer from sprinting and doing dribble moves is made much more significant to balance out its effectiveness.

    As your player gets more tired their shot meter will shrink, making it tougher to hit shots. That leads to a game that initially seems slow compared to 2K21 – but if you play under more control and don’t just hold that sprint button, you’ll actually have an easier time putting the ball into the bucket because of your larger shot meter. It may not seem like an important change at first, but it leads to a playstyle that feels closer to real life than 2K21 ever did.

    Fatigue leads to a playstyle that feels closer to real life than 2K21 ever did.

    Without three hunting and rim running, you’re forced to play team basketball. The pick and roll is your best friend, especially offline. Learning how and when to use your dribble skills and speed to get past defenders off of a pick will make all the difference. Or, if you’d rather do damage as a big man in the paint, use the pick and roll to force a switch and go to work against the smaller defender. These tactics are a little overpowered at times, but they’re countered by improvements on the defensive side of the ball.

    Additionally, Visual Concepts has completely redone its systems for contesting shots and blocking. Not only does this mean snazzy new snatch blocks and volleyball spikes, but I felt like a true rim protector when roaming the paint. Like the pick and roll, it can start to feel like you have too much power; however, the offense is much more likely to drain open jumpers, meaning you can’t just sag off and rely on a late contest. Steals have also been improved with new animations based on your player’s steal rating, so trying to swipe the ball with a low-rated player is sluggish, while guys like Jimmy Butler and Matisse Thybulle will rip the ball with authority.

    On top of that, I’ve noticed some of the more notorious legacy issues not popping up as much. Things like bump steals aren’t gone completely, but I certainly haven’t seen them happening as much as last year. The tweaks on the defensive side of the ball have also seemingly gotten rid of the speed-boosting that plagued 2K21. That could, of course, all change as people get more familiar with 2K22, but for now, I’m happy to see Visual Concepts taking steps to iron out some of those more annoying tactics. And while there are still quite a few instances of weird animations that took me out of the experience, those too are lessened from previous years.

    I’m happy to see Visual Concepts taking steps to iron out some of those more annoying tactics.

    Improved gameplay doesn’t mean much if you don’t have good places to take advantage of it, but fortunately, so far Visual Concepts seems to have provided plenty of things to do throughout its selection of modes. Whether you want to build your own baller from scratch in MyCareer, assemble a dream team of past and present NBA stars in MyTeam, run your own team in MyNBA, or dominate the womens’ game in The W, NBA 2K22 has you covered.

    MyCareer takes us back to the vast world of The City. Here, you’ll step into the shoes of a budding NBA superstar and help lead him into the Hall of Fame. Or, you can forget all of that fame and fortune and take your game to the streets to play against other players in modes like the Rec Room and Pro-Am. Either way, you’ll have to contend with the confusing teammate rating AI.

    This rating helps dictate how much Virtual Currency (VC) you earn at the end of each game, making it very important if you’re not looking to spend real-world money to improve your player (which, of course, 2K would very much like us to do). Unfortunately, the AI too often decides that something that isn’t your fault is something it should penalize you for. For example, if I correctly switched on a pick and roll to pick up the ball handler, the AI would sometimes decide that I should’ve stuck with my man and docked me points if he scored when my teammate didn’t switch to cover him. It also switched me from one man to the other at random several times, forcing me to sprint across the court to stop losing points for “leaving my assignment.” It’s a frustrating experience – one that you’re probably familiar with if you’ve played any NBA 2K game in recent years.

    The second you step into multiplayer matches on the street or gym, microtransactions begin to rear their ugly head.

    If you stick to your NBA career, you probably won’t notice the monetization problems that The City is full of. The second you step into multiplayer matches on the street or gym, however, they’ll begin to rear their ugly head. It’s nearly impossible to hop in without either spending money or going through a massive grind to raise your player’s overall level. I routinely matched up with other people whose players’ overall rating was in the low 90s, and my 65 OVR small forward simply couldn’t hang. It may not be “pay to win” by the strictest definition because you can grind it out, but it’s aggravatingly close.

    Meanwhile, Visual Concepts has put a major focus on off-the-court activities in MyCareer. Early on in my playthrough, I was picking up coffee for my pal, The Game, to help kickstart my rap career. Later, I hooked up with Jake from State Farm for some absolutely shameless brand promotion. The City is full of product placement, to the point where I could only laugh at how ridiculous it became. However, the core of building up your personal brand is an adequate diversion when you want a break from the grind of an NBA season.

    Over in MyTeam, 2K22 is home to similar highs and lows. The good news is that it provides more than enough content to keep you busy, which means you don’t need to open your pocketbook for pesky microtransactions if you don’t want to. If you want the best of the best players right away, you can, of course, spend money for the chance to get them. However, in my experience, there are plenty of free options that make you competitive – you just have to put the time in to unlock them.

    NBA 2K22 has also added a few new features like the Shoe Builder and a Card Grading system. However, these feel mostly tacked on and don’t add much to the gameplay. The real problem for MyTeam is its lackluster multiplayer options.

    There are free options that make you competitive – you just have to put the time in to unlock them.

    Unlimited and Limited modes are back with basically no changes. That means most people will probably never sniff the top tiers of Unlimited rewards, and Limited continues to be a luck fest in terms of rewards. Visual Concepts has also changed Triple Threat Online to something it’s calling “The 100,” but as far as I’m concerned it’s a significant step down. The idea is that you start a round with 100 points, and after each game your opponent’s score will be subtracted from that total as you work your way up the prize board until you hit zero points. That could’ve been a great casual option since you’re guaranteed to at least make it to the second tier on the prize board, but in practice, it’s unrewarding compared to the single-player modes for casual players and more annoying for the more dedicated players who will now have to struggle to get to the top tier of the board much more than in previous years.

    The new Draft mode is definitely the star of the multiplayer show. At least, it should’ve been, had real-world money not become part of the equation. Visual Concepts made the decision to ask us to pay to enter once you use up the limited tickets you can earn. Adding that cost to entry really puts a damper on what could be a fun, casual mode. I would really like to see them switch to in-game currency for entry, even if it means a slightly steeper time cost.

    Finally, MyNBA has spent the offseason making improvements to how you build your coaching staff and train players. These are neat additions for those who want to really dig into running a franchise, but are hardly game-changers. And The W feels like an afterthought of MyCareer. Sure, you don’t have to go through a ridiculous grind to build up your player, but Visual Concepts essentially took all of its ideas from MyCareer and turned them into basic menus. It certainly isn’t the treatment that fans of the WNBA would want.

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    New Warriors Series Featuring Squirrel Girl Was Killed Because It Was ‘Too Gay,’ Showrunner Says

    Posted on September 10, 2021 by Wesley LeBlanc

    Marvel's live-action New Warriors comedy series featuring Squirrel Girl was cancelled because it was "too gay," according to the series' showrunner.

    As reported by Gizmodo, former New Warriors showrunner, Kevil Biegel, tweeted out three behind-the-scenes images of Milana Vayntrub's Doreen Green, aka Squirrel Girl. Naturally, that tweet was quickly deleted, but Gizmodo was able to take a screenshot of the photos before Biegel took them down.

    Biegel also tweeted a brief explanation as to why the show was cancelled, citing that it was "too gay."

    "A SINGULAR power that be killed the show," Biegel reportedly wrote in a now-deleted tweet chain, according to Gizmodo. "Because it was too gay. A rich, straight, Brentwood turd. He got fired for being vile at his company. We, on the other hand, live."

    Other tweets made by Biegel, which also have been deleted, allege that New Warriors was cancelled by a homophobic executive that took aim at the show for being "very, very proudly gay." Biegel did not reveal who that executive was, but the former showrunner did clarify that it was not Jeph Loeb, who left Marvel when the studio closed its Marvel Television arm.

    The three photos posted by Biegel overnight show Vayntrub (who you might recognize from those AT&T commercials) standing in what appears to be a studio space wearing a Doreen Green outfit with a large squirrel tail prosthetic attached to her backside. Another photo shows Vayntrub with a puppet of Tippy-Toe, who is Squirrel Girls' real-life squirrel sidekick, on her shoulder.

    The third photo was artwork from the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl comic run helmed by Erica Henderson, Rico Renzi, and Ryan North, according to Gizmodo.

    Details of this now-cancelled New Warriors comedy TV series first came out way back in 2017, when it was revealed that Freeform had ordered the series from Marvel. It was then revealed in 2018 that the series would focus on Squirrel Girl.

    New Warriors was quietly cancelled in 2019 alongside the shuttering of Marvel Television and it was revealed a couple of months later that the show would have featured a live-action M.O.D.O.K.

    Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.

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    Malignant Review

    Posted on September 10, 2021 by Alex Stedman

    Malignant is now showing in theaters and streaming on HBO Max.

    After five years away from directing in the genre that put him on the map, James Wan returns to horror with Malignant. Wan has long-since established his technical skill as a filmmaker, a key factor of how he’s been able to stretch low budgets into focused, effective scarefests like The Conjuring, Insidious, and Saw. That’s why it’s surprising that, despite Wan working in a format he usually excels in, Malignant is an overstuffed mess more concerned with sound and fury than tension and dread.

    Malignant follows Maddie Mitchell (Annabelle Wallis), a mother-to-be who begins to experience in real time the murders of a supernatural shade named Gabriel as he tears his way through enemies who wronged him early in life. Maddie soon realizes that Gabriel is a figure from her own mysterious past and that their connection may be the only thing that can stop his killing spree. Gabriel is a frustratingly inconsistent antagonist, whose physical and supernatural abilities shift from scene to scene, such that you never quite know what he’s capable of. He does, however, cut an imposing figure. The rage-filled murderer is brought to life with a nice blend of different practical effects (with subtle CG touches) which become more prevalent as the movie progresses and result in some great body horror during the climax.

    But Malignant is at its best early on, when the unclear nature of Gabriel’s existence and abilities make each attack an opportunity to learn something new about him. An early success in that department comes when Maddie’s abusive husband, Derek (Jake Abel), encounters Gabriel, first noticing signs of his presence through electrical malfunctions throughout the house. Gabriel’s command of (or effect on) electricity is passingly mentioned here and there, but its utility is almost exclusively reserved for turning the lights off when it’s time to get spooky or giving him an excuse to make threats and laugh maniacally through nearby speakers.

    After a first act which functions well enough as straight horror, Malignant morphs into more of a supernatural action flick, becoming preoccupied with Gabriel’s brutal acumen for snappin’ arms and doin’ harm. Wan knows how to stage action beats and fight scenes, but here, they tend to feel excessive and out of place. By the end, Malignant feels more like a supervillain origin story, with Gabriel balletically flipping and spin-slashing his way through armed opponent after armed opponent. Lost in all of this chaos is Maddie, whose journey to overcome her trauma reads like an afterthought. Aside from the numerous tragedies in her life presented to generate sympathy for her, there’s very little about the milquetoast Maddie that makes her a hero worth rooting for. That makes the increasing presence of Maddie’s sister, Sydney (Maddie Hasson), an aloof actress, a welcome change of pace as the film goes on, bringing much-needed energy and levity to Malignant’s frequent exposition dumps.

    For a movie that’s built around Maddie being psychically linked to the killer, the majority of Malignant’s revelations about Gabriel come from diving through old boxes, research files, and archival tapes which build out the pair’s history in uninteresting fashion. Wan further muddies Malignant’s sense of self by spending an outsized stretch of time with the detectives investigating Gabriel’s crimes. Shaw (George Young) and Moss (Michole Briana White) are a boilerplate, “been there, done that” pair and incidents of them pushing the plot forward with new information feel like wasted opportunities to give Wallis more of an active role.

    While Malignant suffers from numerous problems on a script level, the movie works much better on the visual front. Whether it’s a dusty old house, an apartment awash in red neon, or a derelict tunnel beneath Seattle, Wan is an expert of establishing space, orienting us to all the nooks and crannies that they’re going to have to watch out for when the lights go out. For as many supernatural stories he’s set in a big, airy house, Wan still finds new ways to move the camera through halls, up and down stairs, even into appliances in ways that draw us in. Did that long shot of Maddie contemplating her situation need to be shot from the inside of the open dryer she’s unloading? No, but it’s a more interesting shot, and that’s an ethos Wan carries through all of his compositions. Wan even finds novel ways to illustrate Maddie’s experiential view of Gabriel’s killings, with her reality melting around her and reconstituting as the crime scenes.

    Malignant’s score, by longtime Wan collaborator Joseph Bishara, doesn’t fare as well, often undercutting dramatic moments with discordant electronic strings. One crucial revelation about Maddie’s past is transitioned out of with a pulsing orchestration of Nada Surf’s “Where Is My Mind?,” which distractingly recurs numerous times throughout the movie.

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