Category: IGN

BlizzCon, the annual convention held by Blizzard Entertainment as a way for the company to share updates and information on its properties from Diablo to Warcraft, is finally back. For the first time in four years, the event will be held in person in addition to a digital event for those who won’t be venturing down to Anaheim, Calif.

Whether you are watching BlizzCon from home or attending in person, we have all the details below, including the schedule for the entire two-day event and what time each panel starts.

Jump to:

• Where to Stream BlizzCon 2023
• BlizzCon 2023 Schedule
• What to Expect at BlizzCon 2023

Where to Watch BlizzCon 2023

BlizzCon 2023 will be streaming on the BlizzCon website, in addition to the official Blizzard Entertainment Twitch and YouTube channels. If you miss any of the panels or the opening ceremony, don’t worry; Blizzard confirmed fans will be able to watch replays of all the panels.

BlizzCon 2023 Schedule

Here’s a full programming schedule for BlizzCon 2023, which kicks off on Friday, Nov. 3, and will conclude on Saturday, Nov. 4.

Friday, Nov. 3:

• BlizzCon 2023 Opening Ceremony – 11am PT – 12:45pm PT
• World of Warcraft: What’s Next – 1:30pm PT – 2:15pm PT
• Overwatch: Deep Dive – 2:30pm PT – 3:15pm PT
• World of Warcraft Classic: What’s Next – 3:30pm PT – 4:15pm PT
• Hearthstone: What’s Next – 4:30pm PT – 5:15pm PT
• Warcraft Rumblings – 5:30pm PT – 6:30pm PT

Saturday, Nov. 4:

• World of Warcraft: Deep Dive – 12pm PT – 12:45pm PT
• Overwatch: What’s Next – 1:30pm PT – 2:15pm PT
• Diablo IV: Campfire Chat – 2:30pm PT – 3:30pm PT
• Community Night – 4:45pm PT – 6:15pm PT
• Special Performance: LE SSERAFIM – 6:15pm PT – 6:45pm PT

What to Expect at BlizzCon 2023

As with previous BlizzCons, expect plenty of announcements from the company’s major franchises. We know that Bizzard is working on a new survival game set in a brand new universe, but details have been slim since its official announcement over a year ago.

Diablo IV was released this year, so expect some updates to come from Blizzard regarding its plans for post-launch content. Diablo IV Season 3 news is likely, and the company may use BlizzCon as an opportunity to announce the first expansion, as Diablo boss Rod Fergusson previously mentioned the game will get annual expansions.

This upcoming BlizzCon is also noteworthy as it is the first time Blizzard Entertainment is holding the event after Microsoft acquired its parent company, Activision Blizzard. With an opening ceremony kicking off the event, we expect the company to make nod to the historic acquisition in some capacity.

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

Over 21 years ago, Sony released Boku no Natsuyasumi 2, a PlayStation 2 game that puts players in the small shoes of a young boy experiencing a coastal Japanese town’s summer. It sold well and became an instant fan favorite thanks to its relaxing setting, but unfortunately for English-speaking fans, it was never localized — until yesterday.

On Nov. 1, YouTuber and fan translator Hilltop released their long-awaited English translation patch for Boku no Natsuyasumi 2 alongside a short trailer.

The long-awaited English translation patch for Boku no Natsuyasumi 2 is now available. pic.twitter.com/YIR4o9mbiT

— Hilltop 🌻 (@HilltopWorks) November 1, 2023

“After eleven months of work, I am beyond proud to present the long-awaited English patch for one of the most special games ever to grace the PlayStation 2,” they wrote on Patreon. “I would like to thank the rest of the team for helping me in making this localization the absolute highest quality possible, with no expense spared and not a single corner cut.”

Hilltop’s patch seems especially detailed, with a small team working to preserve the original game’s nostalgic art style in everything from Boku’s journal entries to menu buttons while translating thousands of lines of dialogue.

I want to highlight the phenomenal work by @oldgamebox and @blametherobots to translate the game’s graphics, particularly the work to maintain the style of Boku’s crayon writing: pic.twitter.com/PAgk8zptqD

— Hilltop 🌻 (@HilltopWorks) April 16, 2023

The patch can be downloaded for free on Hilltop’s Patreon, and so many people have reportedly downloaded it that Hilltop had to establish a second download link after the first was overloaded. It’s currently compatible with both emulators and PS2s, and instructions for installing are included with the download.

Demand for this patch has been high for years — in 2012, we ranked the Boku no Natsuyasumi series among the best games to never get a worldwide release.

Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN who loves all things indie and Nintendo. Outside of IGN, they’ve contributed to sites like Polygon and Rock Paper Shotgun. Find them on Twitter: @ameliazollner.

Capcom has public expressed concern about the use of mods in its PC games, saying they could potentially lead to “reputational damage,” among other things.

Spotted by Eurogamer, Capcom’s R&D team uploaded a video presentation as part of an Open Conference the Resident Evil maker hosted late last month. The presentation, titled “Anti-cheat and Anti-Piracy Measures in PC Games Recommendations for In-House Production,” emphasizes how to curb cheating and piracy in any games the company releases on PC. At one point during the presentation, it focuses on PC mods, which the presenter insists are cheating.

“Mods are popular with users because they allow them to add or change various features to an existing game,” Capcom programmer Taro Yahagi explains in the presentation. “However, for the purposes of anti-cheat and anti-piracy, all mods are defined as cheats.”

Yahagi explained that unless mods are officially supported by the game, any unofficial support or mods created by users and uploaded to places like NexusMods constitute as cheating by the publisher.

While Yahagi did admit a “majority of mods” can have a positive impact on a game, he also explained how they are a double-edged sword, with some mods posing a threat to the company’s image and causing “reputational damage.”

“There are a number of mods that are offensive to public order and morals. When these are disseminated, the image of the product is tarnished and branding is affected,” Yahagi explained. “Also, these offensive mods may be mistaken for legitimate implementations and can cause reputational damage.”

At first glance, you could infer the presenter is mentioning mods that provide nudity or sexually suggestive outfits to playable characters and NPCs. But Yahagi explained that malicious mods could cause an additional workload for the development team, as some mods cause performance issues or result in a player losing saved data. Time and resources spent dealing with such mods could cause potential delays in the production of a game or delays to support for players who never modded their game to begin with.

While some cheats can be used to make games easier, such as perfect accuracy or max ammo in Resident Evil 4 Remake, a majority of mods in the game are completely harmless, such as the Resident Evil Village mod that replaces Chris Redfield’s face with baby Rose’s. Or another for Resident Evil 2 Remake where every time Mr. X walks you hear a squeaking sound.

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

The highly anticipated and controversial post-apocalyptic open world MMO The Day Before has once again been accused of copying other games, this time including Cyberpunk 2077, Grand Theft Auto 5, and Red Dead Redemption 2.

YouTube user Randomly uploaded a video comparing The Day Before’s Official Gameplay Overview and Release Date Trailer (released just yesterday, November 1, 2023) with the official gameplay trailers for the aforementioned open-world games.

While the visuals of the trailer aren’t the subject of the comparisons — unlike previous copycat accusations that saw The Day Before compared to The Last of Us, The Division, and Call of Duty — the voiceover bears resemblance to that of the other trailers, sometimes featuring the same phrases word for word.

For example, The Day Before trailer, above, uses the phrase: “Welcome to the next generation of post-apocalyptic MMO open-world survival games like never before. Immerse yourself in The Day Before.” Cyberpunk 2077’s Official Gameplay Trailer, published November 19, 2020, uses the phrase: “Welcome to the next-generation of open-world adventure. Immerse yourself in Cyberpunk 2077.”

Red Dead Redemption 2’s Official Gameplay Video, published August 9, 2018, uses the phrases “…to make combat deep and engaging at all times. Each weapon has unique characteristics, with realistic reload and recoil.”

The Day Before’s latest trailer uses: “…to ensure that combat remains deep and engaging at all times. Each weapon boasts unique characteristics, as well as realistic reload and recoil mechanics.”

IGN has contacted The Day Before developer Fntastic and Grand Theft Auto 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 developer Rockstar Games for comment. Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red declined to comment.

As mentioned, this isn’t the first time The Day Before has been accused of copying other games. Certain scenes in a gameplay trailer released February 2, 2023 looked familiar to some fans, and Reddit user PatFury lined up its opening shots with a Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War trailer from September 30, 2020.

Starting at around 38 seconds in, the Call of Duty trailer has a shot looking down at people through bars, followed by a hooded soldier illuminated in red light, then a first-person shot of someone walking through a dark room with another person in front of them, and then another shot of a soldier in red light.

The opening few seconds of The Day Before trailer has a shot looking down at people through bars, followed by an armed person illuminated in red light, then a first-person shot of someone walking through a dark room with another person in front of them, then another shot of someone in red light. The video then moves into other shots akin to what Fntastic has shown before and then quickly into brand new gameplay.

PatFury’s comparison also highlights comparable features between The Day Before and other games, which are highlighted in the slideshow above. These include its font’s similarities to The Last of Us’, a screenshot similar to The Division, and more. Following these accusations, which were picked up by various media outlets and YouTube channels, Fntastic released a statement on X/Twitter about the dangers of disinformation.

“We all live in a time of disinformation and lack of fact-checking,” it said. “Anyone can say anything for views, and everyone will believe it. Disinformation needs to be dealt with as it can harm not only us but also other indies and small/medium studios. It also has a mental impact on the members of such teams.”

The Day Before has otherwise been wrought with controversy over its development period, with some even calling the game a scam amid its multiple delays, use of unpaid workers, miscommunication, and more.

The latest trailer came with the announcement that The Day Before had been delayed for a third time to December 7, 2023, but only an Early Access version would be available on that date. This was the first mention of it only launching in Early Access and not on consoles at the same time (and after a promise of no more delays).

You can read about the entire strange saga of The Day Before here.

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

Mortal Kombat 1’s first DLC character, Omni-Man, is available to download from November 9, Warner Bros. Games and developer NetherRealm have announced.

The announcement comes alongside a gameplay trailer for Omni-Man, who is lifted from the Invincible franchise complete with voice work from J. K. Simmons, who plays the character in the Amazon Prime show.

The gameplay shows off a number of Omni-Man’s moves, which are as hard-hitting as you’d expect for such a powerful supervillain. One highlight is Omni-Man’s dodge ability, which sees Nolan Grayson move to avoid multiple attacks from his opponent. We also get to see Omni-Man’s Fatal Blow, which is lifted from Invincible, as well as his train Fatality, which is also lifted from an infamous Invincible scene.

Allowing a Viltrumite into the Realms? Think, Liu Kang! Think! Omni-Man joins #MK1 starting November 9. pic.twitter.com/NfqYRqRkAs

— Mortal Kombat 1 (@MortalKombat) November 2, 2023

Onni-Man is joined in the gameplay trailer by new Kameo fighter Tremor, who we assume launches alongside Omni-Man himself.

Omni-Man is the first playable character in Mortal Kombat’s Kombat Pack 1 and will be available as a standalone fighter or as part of the Mortal Kombat 1 Premium Edition. Other DLC characters set to come out as part of Kombat 1 are Quan Chi, Peacemaker, Ermac, Homelander, and Takeda.

In August, Mortal Kombat development chief Ed Boon told IGN Omni-Man and Homelander from The Boys won’t just be clones of each other, despite striking similarities in power and abilities.

Mortal Kombat 1 has proven to be a somewhat controversial release, with its Nintendo Switch version accused of poor visuals and performance issues. Mortal Kombat 1 recently horrified fans by charging around $10 for a Halloween-themed Fatality.

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.

The beta for highly anticipated and controversial post-apocalyptic open world MMO The Day Before will only be available to those who “volunteer” for developer Fntastic.

The Day Before received a new trailer yesterday, November 1, alongside an information drop confirming a third delay to December 7, word it would only launch in PC Early Access and not on console on that date, and a celebration from Fntastic over winning its trademark dispute over the game’s name.

The developer failed to mention the beta it announced in April, however, and when asked about it by IGN, confirmed that only Fntastic “volunteers” would be granted access.

“Volunteers” are what Fntastic calls its staff, broken into two categories: employee-volunteers (actual employees) and external volunteers. The latter are essentially unpaid workers helping develop The Day Before, a practice that was criticised by onlookers but defended by Fntastic in June 2022.

Per Fntastic’s website: “External volunteering is an opportunity for those who are willing to offer their skills and talents to improve the Fntastic community. External volunteering includes various activities, from translation to community moderation.”

Fntastic announced the beta in April, but didn’t mention that it would only be available to its “volunteers” and not general fans of the game. “As we get closer to the release date, we will be conducting a beta test for the game,” it said. “This will give players the opportunity to try out the game before it is released and provide valuable feedback that we can use to improve the final product.

“We will provide more details on the beta test as we approach the release date, so be sure to stay tuned for updates. We look forward to sharing game with you and you will enjoy playing it as much as we have enjoyed creating it.”

Fntastic hadn’t said anything about the beta officially since — outside of confirming to IGN that only “volunteers” would be able to access it — despite the game previously being intended to launch on November 10 and now December 7, and after it promised to improve communication.

The Day Before has otherwise been wrought with controversy over its development period, with once-fans even calling the game a scam amid its multiple delays, copycat accusations, miscommunication, and more. You can read about the entire strange saga of The Day Before here.

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

Activision has confirmed the global release times for Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3’s campaign early access, available to those who have digitally preordered the game.

The campaign goes live across all platforms (PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, and PC via Battle.net and Steam) at the same time: 10am PT today, November 2, Activision said in a blog post.

Here are the launch times per timezone:

• U.S. West Coast: 10am PT
• U.S. East Coast: 1pm ET
• UK: 5pm GMT
• Europe: 6pm CET
• Japan: 2am JST November 3

The Modern Warfare 3 campaign is available now to preload across all platforms.

The Modern Warfare 3 campaign was developed by Sledgehammer Games in partnership with Infinity Ward, and is the direct sequel to last year’s Modern Warfare 2. It includes 15 missions, each of which rewards players with items upon completion. These rewards can be used across Multiplayer, Zombies, and Warzone.

Here are the Modern Warfare 3 campaign rewards:

• “Breather” Calling Card
• 30 mins Double Player XP Token & 30 mins Double Weapon XP Token
• “Corso” Operator
• “Ghillie Guy” Calling Card
• 30 mins XP Token and 30m Weapon XP Token
• “Pathfinder” Operator
• “Toxic Drip” Calling Card
• 1 hour Double Player XP Token and 1 hour Double Weapon XP Token
• “Doc” Operator
• “Skull Rhapsody” Calling Card
• 1 hour Double Player XP Token and 1 hour Double Weapon XP Token
• “Jabber” Operator
• Campaign Completion Emblem
• Campaign Completion Weapon Blueprint

Modern Warfare 3 launches proper November 10. It’s the first Call of Duty game to launch following Microsoft’s $69 billion buyout of Activision Blizzard, but don’t expect it to hit Game Pass until 2024. Check out IGN’s Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer review in progress to find out what we thought of the recent open beta.

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.

Remedy has released an update for recently launched Alan Wake 2 that makes over 200 individual improvements and fixes to the game.

Update 08, which brings Alan Wake 2 on PlayStation 5 up to version 1.000.008, on Xbox Series X and S to version 1.0.0.8, and on PC to version 1.0.8, tackles everything from graphical issues to mission specific bugs. Of note: the patch makes various audio-related improvements.

Players had encountered audio problems, especially on Xbox, so hopefully this update sorts those out. Remedy apologised for one bug in particular, which caused the Oceanview Hotel Lobby Echo in Room 665 not to align correctly (“this one was really annoying; we apologize”).

Here are the Alan Wake 2 08 update patch notes in full:

Global

• Various localization fixes, such as improved subtitle timings for all languages
• Improved localized audio for live-action cinematics
• Various audio-related improvements and additional polish
• Improved lip sync in some instances
• Fixed various graphical issues in the environments
• Fixed various minor issues in cinematics
• Minor improvements to image aliasing in Performance mode and Xbox Series S
• Improved lighting
• Fixed lighting bugs in multiple locations
• Various UI-related fixes and additional polish
• Various gameplay fixes and improvements
• Minor gameplay finetuning
• Improved auto-aim for specific circumstances
• Fixed rare player character animation issues
• Fixed various issues in the Case Board
• Fixed various map issues
• Several conversations failing to trigger and thus blocking progress later have been fixed
• Fixed Rose’s dialogue choices, sometimes not being selectable, blocking progress
• Fixed a rare issue with Saga’s lines not playing when going to the Sheriff’s Station, blocking progress
• Resolved a potential problem in the player getting stuck in a Case Board Tutorial
• Fixed exploration rewards for Lighthouse

Mission specific

INVITATION:

• Fixed a bug where Saga could get stuck in the environment (“Crazy forest”)

CASEY:

• Fixed potential issue with players able to get stuck when falling from ladders
• Fixed potential issues with Dark Presence (it remains a threat)
• Fixed a rare crash

ZANE’S FILM:

• Fixed a bug where Alan could fall through the environment

SCRATCH:

• Fixed a bug where Saga could fall through the world
• Fixed a bug in where a gate could get locked after reloading a save game, causing the player to get blocked from progressing
• Fixed an issue where, in rare circumstances, the player could end up outside of the game world when opening the map
• Fixed an issue where, in rare cases, the Lighthouse key could not be picked up

WE SING:

• Fixed a bug where Alan could get stuck in the environment

ROOM 665:

• Fixed an issue that caused the Oceanview Hotel Lobby Echo not to align correctly (this one was really annoying; we apologize)

MASKS:

• Fixed an issue where if the player performed specific tasks in an unpredictable order, the mission progress could get blocked

DEERFEST:

• Fixed an issue (much to Rose’s chagrin) with physics-related props that could block the player in and halt progress

COME HOME:

• Fixed an issue where the player, in rare instances, could not exit the radio, TV, or manuscript interact modules.

PC specific

• Fixed a bug that could cause graphics settings to reset when launching the game
• Improvements to PC Window handling logic
• Fixed mouse cursor sometimes not appearing in menus

Alan Wake 2 is a smash hit with critics. In our 9/10 review, IGN said: “Alan Wake 2 is a superb survival horror sequel that makes the cult-classic original seem like little more than a rough first draft by comparison.”

This week, Remedy said it was too early to say whether Alan Wake 2 had been a commercial success, although its critical acclaim gives the game “a strong basis for good long-term sales”. Remedy boss CEO Tero Virtala said all four of the studio’s other projects (Max Payne 1 and 2 remakes, Control 2, Condor, and Codename Vanguard) will benefit from staff moving on from Alan Wake 2. Two expansions are due for release next year.

Players can also check out IGN’s Alan Wake 2 Guide and essential tips and tricks to get the most out of playing the long-awaited survival horror sequel.

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.