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Celebrated TV series composer Mark Snow has died aged 78.
Snow, who grew up in Brooklyn, New York, is best-known for composing the iconic The X-Files theme tune, which became the soundtrack to the conspiracy theory-obsessed Nineties. With its spooky whistle that played alongside a title sequence that contained a number of creepy images, such as a stretchy face series creator Chris Carter specifically requested, Snow’s The X-Files is among the most recognisable in TV theme history.
But Snow also composed the entire series’ initial nine-season run from 1993 to 2001, returning for the revival in 2015. Six of Snow's 15 Emmy nominations were for the The X-Files episodes he scored.
Away from The X-Files, Snow composed for the likes of Smallville, Blue Bloods, The Twilight Zone, and Carter’s The X-Files follow-up Millennium. Snow returned to The X-Files for the revival in 2015. He passed away on Friday, July 4, at his home in Connecticut, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Snow also worked on a number of video games, including 1998’s Urban Assault and The X-Files Game, and Sony Bend’s 2004 PlayStation 2 exclusive Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain. His final project was the 2020 X-Men film The New Mutants.
The instrumental The X Files was a hit single in the United Kingdom and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart in 1996. According to Variety, this amused Snow, who said: "Nothing really big happens in the song. It stays in A-minor, there’s no singing, drums or guitars, and it was a smash hit. That’s pretty wild."
Fellow TV and video game composer Bear McCreary (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, God of War) said Snow’s legacy “will forever be connected to his iconic work on The X-Files, but he also crafted memorable music for many other series.
“I chatted with him at length several times about our approaches to work and life. He was always charming and friendly.”
Mark Snow didn’t just score this scene—he scored the soul of The X-Files. Without his music, there’s no tension, no atmosphere, no catharsis. This near-kiss only works because of him. https://t.co/tzQSBqfZUL pic.twitter.com/CWJRN34KsY
— vaeh 💫 (@nochenev) July 4, 2025
Rest in Peace Mark Snow. He is known for some of the most iconic themes heard on TV, mostly with The X-Files.
— Nate Pester (@nathanpester) July 4, 2025
However, I will always remember him for his theme to Millennium, one of the most haunting pieces of music ever. pic.twitter.com/6Vj60S3dYx
Lance Henriksen, who starred in Millennium, took to social media to say: “I've lost an incredible friend. Rest well Mark and thank you.”
Composer Sean Callery said on Facebook: "Mark Snow, and one of the most wonderful and talented people I’ve ever known, has passed away. 33 years ago he began mentoring me as an artist. Who knew that I was also at the beginning of a deep friendship that would only grow and evolve over three decades along with our graying hair and tighter deadlines.
"I am so grateful to him for his sage counsel and his laugh-out-loud biting wit. My career got started by an act of generosity on his part 33 years ago – period, full stop. I love you my friend. There will never ever be another like you. I send love to Glynnis and all his children and grandchildren during this time."
Photo by Albert L. Ortega/WireImage.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
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We've rounded up the best deals for Saturday, July 5, below, so don't miss out on these limited-time offers.
Woot has two excellent Samsung gaming monitors on sale this weekend, and you can save up to $900! The first monitor we recommend is the 32" Samsung Odyssey G8, which is fitted with a QD-OLED panel and supports a refresh rate of 240Hz. This monitor is best for the richest visuals, as the OLED technology allows for true blacks. On the other hand, the Samsung G9 49" Curved OLED Gaming Monitor is a beast that will instantly transform any setup. While this monitor is normally $1899.99, you can score it for just $999.99 this weekend.
Everyone always needs more storage, whether for PC or PlayStation 5. This Crucial T500 2TB SSD is perfect for either, as it comes equipped with a Heatsink and supports sequential speeds of up to 7,400/7,000MB/s. 2TB of storage is more than enough to hold all the PS5 games you need, especially with the internal storage.
You can take home Assassin's Creed Shadows this weekend for just $49.99. This is still one of the biggest games of the year, and you are guaranteed to keep occupied for hours. In our 8/10 review, we wrote, "By sharpening the edges of its existing systems, Assassin’s Creed Shadows creates one of the best versions of the open-world style it’s been honing for the last decade."
If you're excited for Borderlands 4 later this year, now is the time to catch up on Borderlands 3. This weekend, you can take home Borderlands 3 Ultimate Edition on Switch for just $17.97, which packs in the base game, Moxxi's Heist of the Handsome Jackpot, Guns, Love, and Tentacles: The Marriage of Wainwright & Hammerlock, Bounty of Blood, Psycho Krieg and the Fantastic Fustercluck, Designer's Cut, Director's Cut, and 30+ cosmetic items.
The Metaphor: ReFantazio Official Strategy Guide is the ultimate resource for any player, as it packs in almost 600 pages of tips and guides for you to use while on your journey. This guide includes a perfect walkthrough you can follow to ensure you do not miss anything in the game, and there's even a guide for Archetypes, Bonds, and much more.
The Steam Summer Sale is almost over, and this is easily one of the best times of the year to score deals on PC games. Many of the biggest RPGs to release on PC in 2025 are discounted, including Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, and more. Plus, you can score incredible games like Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy or Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy for under $6.
June's Donkey Kong Bananza Direct was absolutely bananas, and if you weren't interested in the game before, you probably are now. Bananza is set to be DK's biggest adventure yet, and this time, he's joined by a young Pauline. The two are tasked with heading to the very core of the planet, where wishes are supposedly granted. If you are looking for the next big game on Nintendo Switch 2, this right here is sure to be it. Donkey Kong Bananza is the best-selling game on Amazon at the moment, so be sure to lock in your copy to get it day one.
CD Projekt has announced Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2, a new Netflix anime series set in the world of its Cyberpunk 2077 video game.
The developer has reunited with studio Trigger, which created the first Edgerunners anime, for this follow-up, with Kai Ikarashi confirmed as director. Writer Bartosz Sztybor is showrunner, story writer, and producer.
There’s no trailer yet, but we do have a logo and poster art for Edgerunners 2, below. Expect a standalone 10-episode story described as “a raw chronicle of redemption and revenge.”
Here’s the official blurb: “when the world is blinded by spectacle, what extremes do you have to go to make your story matter?”
“David’s story might be over, but there’s plenty more to discover in Night City,” Sztybor said. “And to again have the legendary animation studio Trigger along for the ride makes us at CD Projekt Red so excited to introduce a raw, real chronicle of redemption and revenge, something unlike what we’ve done before.”
Kanno Ichigo (Promare, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners) is lead character designer, and Masahiko Otsuka (Gurren Lagann, Promare) is handling the screenplay adaptation.
Confirmation of Edgerunners 2 comes as little surprise given the success of the first season and last year's announcement from Netflix Animation that it had signed another collaboration with CD Projekt in the Cyberpunk universe with the teaser, below.
Netflix Animation 🤝 Cyberpunk 🤝 CD Projekt Red
— Netflix Geeked (@NetflixGeeked) September 20, 2024
Stay tuned... #GeekedWeek pic.twitter.com/NkZybCa7kt
Edgerunners debuted in September 2022 to acclaim from fans and critics alike. It even helped fuel more interest in Cyberpunk 2077, and fans called for a second season.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 as the title as opposed to Edgerunners Season 2 makes sense, too, given the original didn't exactly leave itself open for a story continuation. IGN’s Cyberpunk: Edgerunners review returned a 9/10. We said: “Cyberpunk: Edgerunners delivers a satisfying return to Night City that does a better job exploring why Mike Pondsmith’s famous location became so iconic in the first place.”
It’s a busy time in the world of Cyberpunk, with Cyberpunk 2 officially in pre-production. 96 of CD Projekt’s 730 developers were working on the sequel as of May. The majority of the staff (422) is working on The Witcher 4, which is in full production.
We know next to nothing about Cyberpunk 2, but Cyberpunk creator Mike Pondsmith has teased some previously unknown details.
Wesley is Director, News at 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 looking for DTI codes, IGN's got you covered! In this article, you'll find a list of all the active and working Dress to Impress codes in July 2025 that you can redeem for free rewards and bonuses in DTI, including outfits and accessories like hats, bags, and jewelry.
Here are all the active Dress to Impress codes in July 2025 and the free rewards you get for redeeming them:
Below, you'll find a list of expired DTI codes that no longer work and can't be redeemed as of July 2025:
Follow the steps below to redeem Dress to Impress codes and claim free rewards in DTI:
If the code you're trying to redeem in DTI isn't working, it's likely because of one of two reasons:
When inputting a DTI code in Roblox, make sure it's spelled correctly (for example, a capital I isn't a lowercase l, 0 and not O, and vice versa) and that there are no spaces before or after the code. We'd recommend copying and pasting codes straight from our article to ensure they're correct as we've tested and verified that the codes on this page are working ourselves.
If your DTI code still isn't working after checking for typos, it's more than likely expired and can no longer be redeemed in Dress to Impress.
To get more Dress to Impress codes, the best way is to join the official DTI Discord server. While we check for new codes daily, the quickest way to know about new Dress to Impress codes is to follow the Roblox experience's official Discord server where updates are posted in real time.
You can also check the Dress to Impress X account and the official DTI Roblox Group page.
Part two of the Dress to Impress Summer Update is set for July 5, 2025, so it's possible we'll see new DTI codes then. As always, we'll keep you updated as soon as any new codes drop, so bookmark this page!
Dress to Impress is a popular dress-up Roblox Experience available on PC, console, and iOS and Android mobile devices. In it, you put on your best outfit to complete a specific theme and walk the runway in a bid to earn votes from other players and become a top model. As you gain votes, you gain ranks and can access more clothing and accessories, so make sure you're truly dressed to impress! Also, for toy lovers and collectors, you can now pre-order a mystery pack of 2 Dress to Impress minifigures right now for $30 at Walmart.
Meg Koepp is a Guides Editor on the IGN Guides team, with a focus on trends. When she's not working, you can find her playing an RPG or making miniatures.
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Oblivion and Skyrim fans, here is something for you today. Modder JobiWanUK has made a new mod for Skyrim that adds cool features from Oblivion. This includes things like radiant dialogue and NPCs that act more like they did in Oblivion. With this mod, NPCs will engage in conversations when they get close to each … Continue reading This mod brings several features from Oblivion into Skyrim, including radiant dialogue, NPCs, and more →
The post This mod brings several features from Oblivion into Skyrim, including radiant dialogue, NPCs, and more appeared first on DSOGaming.
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Tripwire Interactive revealed the official PC requirements for Killing Floor 3. The game will come out on PC on July 24th, and you can apply for its latest Playtest. So, let’s see what PC system you’ll need to run it. Killing Floor 3 takes place 70 years after the events of Killing Floor 2. It’s … Continue reading Killing Floor 3 Gets Official PC System Requirements →
The post Killing Floor 3 Gets Official PC System Requirements appeared first on DSOGaming.
At Anime Expo 2025, Konami showed a new trailer for Silent Hill f. And although the team hasn’t officially released it yet, that trailer has been leaked online. So, if you are a fan of SH, you may want to check it out. From what I can see, this is a cinematic trailer. It’s not … Continue reading Off-screen Anime Expo 2025 trailer for Silent Hill f leaks online →
The post Off-screen Anime Expo 2025 trailer for Silent Hill f leaks online appeared first on DSOGaming.
Yesterday, the Stop Killing Games movement reached 1 million supporters. And in just a few hours, the European Gaming Industry Lobby responded to it. So, let’s take a look at what they had to say. Video Games Europe is a group that speaks for the video game industry in Europe. It works on things like … Continue reading European Gaming Industry Lobby Responds to Stop Killing Games →
The post European Gaming Industry Lobby Responds to Stop Killing Games appeared first on DSOGaming.
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Australian-born actor Julian McMahon – best known for his roles in Nip/Tuck and the 2000s Fantastic Four movies – died in Clearwater, Florida, on July 2nd at age 56 from cancer.
“With an open heart, I wish to share with the world that my beloved husband, Julian McMahon, died peacefully this week after a valiant effort to overcome cancer,” McMahon’s wife, Kelly McMahon, informed Deadline.
“Julian loved life. He loved his family. He loved his friends. He loved his work, and he loved his fans. His deepest wish was to bring joy into as many lives as possible. We ask for support during this time to allow our family to grieve in privacy. And we wish for all of those to whom Julian brought joy, to continue to find joy in life. We are grateful for the memories.”
A Sydney native, McMahon was born on July 27, 1968 and was the son of former Australian Prime Minister Billy McMahon. (Ironically, McMahon’s final role was as the Australian Prime Minister on the Netflix series The Residence.)
Julian McMahon started his acting career in Aussie soap operas such as Home Away before moving to Hollywood where his early TV roles included Another World, Profiler, and a three-season stint on Charmed as the half-human/half-demon Cole Turner.
McMahon earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Television Drama Series for his role as Dr. Christian Troy on Ryan Murphy’s series Nip/Tuck, which ran for six seasons on FX. He later starred in the CBS procedural FBI: Most Wanted.
IGN readers will perhaps know Julian McMahon best for his role as Doctor Doom in director Tim Story’s Fantastic Four and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. His other comic book projects include RED and Marvel’s Runaways.
Last year, McMahon starred opposite Nicolas Cage in the thriller The Surfer, which our reviewer Lex Briscuso praised for being “an exciting yet crushing look at how brutality, pride, and confidence can threaten to poison everything we work for.”
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If you're seeking the absolute best of the best in PC gaming performance, look no further. For 4th of July (and as part of its greater Black Friday in July Sale), Dell has just dropped the price of its flagship Alienware Area-51 prebuilt gaming PC, equipped with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card starting at $4,449.99 with free shipping. This is an outstanding price for a prebuilt RTX 5090 gaming PC compared to the similar off-the-shelf prebuilts on Amazon, especially since the Alienware brand normally has a high markup. The RTX 5090 is undisputedly the most powerful graphics card on the market and is pretty much impossible to find for under $3,000 by itself.
This least expensive Alienware Area-51 RTX 5090 gaming PC configuration is equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 7 265K processor with 240mm liquid cooling, 32GB of DDR5-6400MHz RAM, and 2TB SSD storage. For an extra $250, you can upgrade to the Core Ultra 9 285K with 360mm liquid cooling. The Core Ultra 7 is already an excellent gaming CPU and you won't see any uplift in performance going with the Core Ultra 9. However, if you're a professional in need of the extra cores that the Core Ultra 9 offers (for example with AI generation), then the upgrade is worth it.
The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 has emerged as the most powerful consumer GPU on the market. Although Nvidia has prioritized software updates, AI features, and DLSS 4 technology to improve gameplay performance, the 5090 still boasts an impressive 25%-30% uplift over the RTX 4090 in terms of pure hardware-based raster performance. The 5090 also has more (32GB vs. 24GB) and faster (GDDR7 vs. GDDR6) VRAM compared to the 4090. This GPU is extremely difficult to find at retail price and is currently selling for $3,500-$4,000 on eBay.
Check out our Best Alienware Deals article with all of Dell's currently ongoing deals on gaming laptops and desktop PCs. Not everyone is the DIY type. If you're in the market for a prebuilt gaming PC, Dell is one of the best brands we'd recommend. Alienware desktops and laptops feature solid build quality, top-of-the-line gaming performance, excellent cooling (further improved on the newer models), aggressive styling, and pricing that is very competitive with other pre-built options. Best of all, there are plenty of sales that happen throughout the year, so it's not difficult to grab one of these computers at considerably less than their retail price.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
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In January 2023, Bandai Namco released a Next-Gen Update for the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot. And now, after over two years, the PC version will finally get those visual upgrades. As Bandai Namco noted, the Next-Gen Update will become available for PC on July 17th. This will be … Continue reading After 2 Years, the PC Version of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot Finally Gets the Next-Gen Update →
The post After 2 Years, the PC Version of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot Finally Gets the Next-Gen Update appeared first on DSOGaming.
NetEase Games has shared a new cinematic trailer and the PC requirements for its upcoming game, Where Winds Meet. This game is a Wuxia-style open-world action RPG. The trailer doesn’t show any gameplay, but it does give a look at the story. In Where Winds Meet, you play as a young sword master trying to … Continue reading Where Winds Meet Gets New Trailer & PC Requirements →
The post Where Winds Meet Gets New Trailer & PC Requirements appeared first on DSOGaming.
Baseus recently released a new line of Enercore wall chargers that is designed to be the ultimate travel friendly accessory while delivering enough power output to quickly charge your portable electronics. Even better, you can take advantage of some early Amazon Prime Day discounts. Currently the 67W model is on sale for Amazon Prime members for just $36.99 after you apply an additional 5% off coupon code "GOHTHZJQ". The most unique feature of this charger is the built-in retractable USB-C cable, which saves you from bringing along yet another travel accessory.
The Baseus Enercore wall charger features a handy 32-inch USB Type-C cable that retracts neatly inside the unit when it isn't being used. The plug sits in a recessed nook so that it won't get snagged. The prong is also foldable to prevent premature breakage. There are two additional USB Type-C ports for charging multiple devices simultaneously.
The 65W output model is more than enough to fast charge a Nintendo Switch (or Switch 2), Steam Deck, Asus ROG Ally, and Apple iPhone 16 at their maximum rate. Although the Legion Go and Rog Ally X can support up to 100W of charging, the wall adapter that comes with these gaming handhelds has a 65W max output, so this charger is just as competent.
Looking for a power bank for extended battery life? Check out our favorite portable power banks.
It's a more complicated question then you might think. For now, I'd say this power bank deal is a good deal and similar to what we'll see for 2025 Prime Day sales at Amazon, and worth snapping up while it's still on sale.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
With the upcoming release of Pokémon TCG: Mega Evolution in September, following Japan’s Mega Brave and Mega Symphonia on August 1, the return of Mega Evolution is now in sight.
This new era not only closes the book on the Scarlet and Violet era, but also sets the stage for a full-blown revival of X-Y-era Mega cards, many of which are already seeing price surges.
With Pokémon Legends: Z-A on the horizon and new Mega cards like Mega Lucario ex and Mega Gardevoir ex already revealed, it’s clear the TCG is about to re-enter one of its most collectible formats ever.
Collectors who were around during the XY era already know the visual firepower and competitive edge Mega cards brought to the game. But for new players or investors entering the space, now is the time to act.
Pre-release allocations for the new sets are expected to be limited, premium boxes are already creating hype in Japan, and classic Mega cards from Flashfire, Ancient Origins, and Phantom Forces are being swept off the market. Here's the top 10 I have my eye on right now:
This non-shiny full art from Primal Clash features Groudon’s Omega form with red fractal energy around its body. At $30.82, it’s one of the cheapest Primal cards left from this era.
Part of the XY Black Star Promo series, this version has a bold, horizontal layout and is less frequently listed in near-mint condition. It’s currently priced at $129.35, often underlooked compared to its Phantom Forces siblings.
The matching pair to Groudon, with a deep blue palette and shiny finish. Despite similar rarity, it's lagging slightly in value at $73.54, which makes it a likely candidate for a spike.
The alternate Secret Rare Mega Charizard, featuring the Y form. It's less expensive than 108/106, now valued at $164.73, but has been climbing steadily over the past six months.
This is Rayquaza’s most accessible Mega full art. It's dipped in price over the last year, now landing at just $41.21, making it an easy hold for collectors expecting a surge post-Symphonia.
We're half way through the round up, so here's a few other picks are worth grabbing before they trend up. M Mewtwo EX (Full Art) 160/162 – BREAKthrough is another to watch at $61.70 for a full-art legendary Mega in a mainline expansion.
Primal Kyogre EX (Alpha Full Art) 149/160 – Primal Clash is a key visual pairing to the Groudon Omega from earlier and still holds around $120.12, which feels low considering its set position and full-art finish.
More affordable plays include M Gyarados EX (Full Art) 115/122 – BREAKpoint and M Tyranitar EX (Full Art) – Ancient Origins, both hovering below $90.
These have strong set representation and solid collector appeal. The same goes for M Rayquaza EX 61/108 – Roaring Skies at $72.85, which offers a great backup to its full-art counterpart at a lower entry cost.
A Shiny Full Art Groudon EX with red lava-tone texture and black background. Ancient Origins’ last Groudon card, and now valued at $290.97 with upward movement expected.
Not a Secret Rare, but still iconic. This standard EX version shows Mega Charizard in attack stance. Its current value is $78.37, offering solid entry-level access to Flashfire's chase cards.
This Secret Rare captures Mega Gengar with a dark purple swirl design, unique to Phantom Forces. It's among the most traded Mega cards lately, climbing to $227.92.
The final card in Ancient Origins and one of the few shiny Mega full arts in the XY era. The black and gold design alongside the hectic artwork makes this an amazing card for anyones collection, and prices reflect that, currently sitting at $254.85.
The highest-value Mega card on the market right now. A Secret Rare from Flashfire, this card features the X form of Mega Charizard in gold-bordered art. It’s currently priced at $493.69, making it an epic collector’s item and one of the most consistently appreciating Mega cards in the TCG.
Looking for more TCG discussion and market watch? Check out the full MTG release schedule for 2025, this week's MTG price movers and shakers, and the Pokemon side of things, Japan's most expensive Black Bolt and White Flare cards going right now, and the latest price rises and drops for the biggest cards right now.
Christian Wait is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything collectable and deals. Christian has over 7 years of experience in the Gaming and Tech industry with bylines at Mashable and Pocket-Tactics. Christian also makes hand-painted collectibles for Saber Miniatures. Christian is also the author of "Pokemon Ultimate Unofficial Gaming Guide by GamesWarrior". Find Christian on X @ChrisReggieWait.
Free-to-play open-world RPG NTE recently launched its Containment Test, a closed beta that showcases the upgrades developer Hotta Studio has made since the game’s last technical test. There are improvements across the board, including better visuals, new mechanics, racing content, reworked combat, and more.
NTE takes place in Hethereau, a sprawling metropolis that’s really more like two cities in one. On the surface, it’s a pristine urban center filled with people going about their daily lives. But the underworld is constantly warped by reality-defying anomalies, and you’re an unlicensed Anomaly Hunter tasked with investigating these strange occurrences and putting a stop to them.
Hethereau itself has always been one of the game’s focal points, a city built in Unreal Engine 5 to allow seamless travel across its massive size. But the latest updates have taken things to another level, giving the city a comprehensive visual overhaul. There’s richer detail, updated aesthetics, and improvements to lighting and environmental effects.
Light and shadows now show more contrast, which is especially apparent as you progress through the natural day/night cycle. You also can experience dynamic weather conditions — from fog to rain to snow — as you travel across the city, and snow effects in particular have been enhanced. Thanks to physically based rendering, snowflakes now look translucent and lifelike.
Characters have also gotten a graphical makeover. The materials of their clothes and strands of their hair are now much more detailed, making each character pop even more in the anime-inspired art style.
You’ll form a party of four characters during your anomaly-hunting missions, and each character has their own skills called Esper Abilities. You control one character at a time, but can switch between the four in your party on the fly to chain their Esper Abilities together and form combos that synergize well together.
That experience has also been refined in the latest update, with actions, skills, and the overall feel of combat reworked for smoother gameplay. There are also new mechanics, like parry attacks and critical dodge counterattacks, that have been introduced to add more variety to combat.
No matter which characters are in your party, you can make use of their Esper Abilities inside and outside of combat. Some help with traversal of the city, like allowing you to run up the sides of buildings and parkour to get around quickly. But that’s not the only way to travel through Hethereau. There are also ziplines that can help you find hidden corners of the city, and with the help of the character Mint from the Bureau of Anomaly Control, you can “requisition” cars.
Buying and modding cars has always been part of NTE. There are lots of customization options — including colors, tires, bumpers, and engines — and you can mix and match until you have your ride just how you want it. There are dozens of different custom cars, and you can drive in first-person or third-person.
Requisitioning cars is new in the latest update and can bring some consequences with it if you’re reckless. With Mint's help, you can commandeer vehicles at any time across the city, which can help quickly get you from mission to mission if you don’t have an owned car easily at hand. However, be aware that if you damage the vehicle or disturb public safety, things can get out of hand fast. There’s a new multi-level wanted system with escalating consequences — police officers and bots will you pursue you and get increasingly aggressive the higher your wanted level rises. You can see this system in action in the video below.
However you end up with your car, you can take it online and team up with friends to take on street racing crews across different districts in multiplayer races, another new addition in the latest update. Racing also includes drifting, but be careful when it’s raining or snowing — the roads will be slippery and handling will be worse.
The Containment Test is running from now until July 16, after which Hotta Studio will take player feedback and address it in future updates. The full release of NTE will be available on PC, console, iOS, and Android, and it will be free-to-play with cross-progression across all platforms. Pre-registration is open now, and for the latest news and info, you can follow them on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or Discord.
An "unexpected life form" that has the look of a pitch black, tar-like substance was found on a boat docking in Cleveland, Ohio — and needless to say, fans of both the Alien and X-Files franchises are having a field day online wondering if this is the start of a new black goo-themed film or episode.
So, you’re definitely wondering three things right now: where, when, and how? So here we go! A research vessel called the Blue Heron started having mechanical difficulties while observing harmful algae in Lake Erie last autumn, which led the ship to dock in Cleveland. When it did, it was removed from the water to be examined for issues — and that’s when Captain Rual Lee noticed the unknown substance oozing from the ship’s rudder, which is something he would not have seen had he not taken the ship for dry maintenance.
He asked scientists at University of Minnesota Duluth to investigate after he found the substance left no sheen in water, nor did it burn when set aflame. When the staff ran tests on the substance, they found “about 20 DNA sequences, or genomes, and ran them through a worldwide computer database” and “most of the sequences matched known genomes found elsewhere in the world... but a few were less identifiable, including one that was completely novel,” according to Cleveland.com.
The substance, which is thought to be a single-celled organism, is now being temporarily called ShipGoo1. "The biggest surprise was that the ship goo had life in it at all," lead researcher Cody Sheik, a biologist at UMD and LLO, explained. "We thought we'd find nothing. But surprisingly, we found DNA and it wasn’t too destroyed, nor was the biomass too low."
Naturally, fans of both beloved science fiction franchises had their curiosity piqued. After all, with the Alien series, there’s a clear connection; the black goo is the key ingredient in the birth of the Xenomorph — the series’ central creature — as a species many years prior to the start of the franchise. Ridley Scott's 2012 prequel Prometheus set the ball rolling on the Alien black goo, and fans have debated exactly how it works ever since. Additionally, we come to find out down the line that Weyland-Yutani, the antagonistic corporation at the heart of the franchise, extracts black goo from the Xenomorphs to use for their own ends.
In the X-Files world, fans were probably reminded of the show’s alien virus called Purity, or Black Oil, which lived in petroleum deposits underground and was sentient. It infected humans via their eyes, mouth, nose, and ears, and could take full control of the body with the intent to further their species. The substance is first referenced in the franchise in the very first season of the show in the episode titled “The Erlenmeyer Flask,” but makes its first real appearance in Season 3, in the episode titled “Piper Maru.”
On Reddit, diehards for both franchises flooded the comments with funny quips on posts made about the mystery, proposing it might be the start of something worthy of either or both series. “Is it LV-426 goo, or like X-Files black alien goo?” one Redditor asked in a post on r/LV426 about the discovery, while another wrote, “Scully and Mulder we need you.”
A third user made a hilarious observation that touches on the latest expansion of the Alien franchise, due to hit Hulu in August. “Hell yeah they are marketing the f—k out of Alien: Earth!” they wrote.
But ultimately, one fan really summed the whole thing up: “Do you want Xenomorphs? Because this is how you get Xenomorphs.”
Of course, we don't have much to worry about. Speaking to GreatLakesNow, University of Michigan professor Gregory Dick said scientists are nowhere near discovering all forms of life on earth. “We don’t study those environments very well, so I think that’s fascinating that they’re finding novel microbes in there but I’m not too surprised.” he said.
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
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