During his keynote talk at the annual DICE Summit, Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney argued to keep politics out of gaming and away from developers so that marketers can sell games from a “neutral ground.” In a talk that covered everything from loot boxes to cross-platform play, Sweeney ended his keynote by addressing discourse in gaming, and specifically involving politics. Tim began his talk by discussing the 1960 Harper Lee novel To Kill a Mockingbird and how art, like games, can serve as a discussion piece from politics. "If you think back to To Kill a Mockingbird and the impact that had on people's views in the time, I think that's a genuine outlet for games. It really makes people think about things." Sweeney changed lanes from the idea of games as a political medium and talked about the need for a “separation of church and state” model between politics and gaming companies. Sweeney argued that game companies “should get the marketing departments out of politics.” [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/08/19/epic-games-store-gamescom-trailer-gamescom-2019"] There’s a precedent in the industry to downplay the political nature of games in favor of marketability. For example, how Ubisoft continuously downplays or denies any politics within its games that cover everything from religious cults to paramilitary operations. Though not referencing those or any other cases where news and cultural sentiment has integrated within games directly, Sweeney instead argued for the removal of politics altogether. “The world is really screwed up right now. Right now our political orientations determine which fast-food chicken restaurant you go to [alluding to Chik Fil-A’s political affiliations and the cultural response to it]? And that’s really dumb,” said Sweeney. “There’s no reason to drag divisive topics like that into gaming at all.” He argued that a company or business should be “operating as neutral venues for entertainment and employees, customers — everybody else can hold their own views and not be judged by us for that.” “A company is a group of people who get together to accomplish a mission that is larger than what any one person can do. And a company’s mission is a holy thing to it, right? Epic’s mission is to build great technology and great games. And we can count on every employee at Epic — we can even demand every employee at Epic unite behind that mission. But every other matter we have to respect their personal opinions. And they may differ from management’s or each other’s or whatever.” Sweeney then referenced “controversy around political censorship” from foreign countries on domestic companies — likely referencing the controversy around Hong Kong-based player Blitzchung’s statement speaking in favor of the pro-democracy movement in the region. Sweeney says a solution to preventing similar incidents is to get companies to “divorce themselves from politics.” Although, Blizzard’s attempt to divorce themselves from politics by insisting that its punishment of Blitzchung was apolitical only further flamed criticism of the company. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-blizzard-china-controversy-explained&captions=true"] The climate around politics in games has been charged for some time now, both internally surrounding industry and business associations as well as the content of the games themselves. Even Epic Games has been accused of collaborating with the Chinese government through its business relationship with Tencent Games. Something Sweeney has denied. But this highlights just how politics has become an everyday topic. Sweeney admitted that these are tumultuous times, and there is no one answer to how people, customers, or developers should engage with politics in games. But it’s clear from Sweeney’s keynote that, in the case of Epic’s founder, there shouldn’t be a connection between the two at all. Update:  Tim Sweeney has responded to this story in a tweet embedded below.

Here’s one of the key views I shared at DICE. If a game tackles politics, as To Kill a Mockingbird did as a novel, it should come from the heart of creatives and not from marketing departments seeking to capitalize on division. https://t.co/x4eARz7Yyz

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) February 12, 2020

[poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN. You can reach him on Twitter. (Photo by Rachel Luna/Getty Images)

With Vikings in its final season, you might be looking for a new drama series to get your Norse fix - luckily, HBO has an offering that should please the gods and genre fans. IGN has an exclusive first look at the trailer for HBO Europe's new sci-fi crime drama Beforeigners, a six-part series that will be released across HBO Now, HBO Go, and HBO's partner streaming platforms in the US on Tuesday, February 18. Check out the trailer below: [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/12/beforeigners-trailer-first-look-at-hbos-new-time-travel-sci-fi-drama"] The premise sounds like an intriguing mash-up of genre mysteries like The 4400 and The Returned with historical dramas like Vikings and The Alienist. Here's how HBO describes Beforeigners: "A new phenomenon starts happening all over the world. Powerful flashes of light occur in the ocean, and people from the past appear from three time periods; the stone age, the Viking age, and the late 1800s. No one understands how this is possible, and the people from the past, called 'beforeigners,' have no memory of what’s transpired. A couple of years later, Alfhildr (Krista Kosonen) – who comes from the Viking Age – is teamed up with burned-out police officer Lars Haaland (Nicolai Cleve Broch) as part of the police department’s integration program. While investigating the murder of a woman with Stone Age tattoos, Lars and Alfhildr make unexpected discoveries." The show joins a number of international shows from HBO's global partners - including the chilling Asian horror anthology series Folklore - which are available in their entirety on HBO's streaming platforms. Beforeigners consists of six 45-minute episodes, which are written by creators Eilif Skodvin and Anne Bjørnstad, and directed by Jens Lien. Check out the poster for the series below, which features some clever nods to how these disparate time-travelers will settle into modern society. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/01/30/folklore-trailer-hbos-new-asian-horror-anthology-will-haunt-you"]

The Prince of Persia series is finally making a return, but as a VR escape room rather than the new video game many were likely hoping for.

Ubisoft announced Prince of Persia: The Dagger of Time on Wednesday, a co-operative escape room that utilizes VR set in the Prince of Persia universe. It’s the developer’s third location-based VR escape room after making two others based on the Assassin’s Creed series.

To be clear, these aren’t VR escape room games you can play on a personal headset at home – they are actual, physical escape rooms that incorporate VR into their puzzles and presentation, only playable in one of the 300+ locations Ubisoft has them setup.

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The Dagger of Time puts between two and four players in a “reimagined Fortress of Time,” a location originally from Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. Unsurprisingly given its theme and location, players will need to use the time control powers of its titular dagger to solve puzzles and stop a sand army from being raised. Also similar to the games, Ubisoft says it has tried to incorporate some amount of the verticality and traps the games are known, but that the focus is on time control.

It’s been 10 years since the last proper Prince of Persia game, 2010’s Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, which was met with a slightly mixed but generally positive reception. Ubisoft told IGN back in 2013 that the Prince of Persia franchise had been “paused.”

And while this probably isn’t the follow-up fans were hoping for, The Dagger of Time is scheduled to launch this spring. Also, it almost certainly doesn’t count as one of the five AAA Ubisoft announced it has coming in the next year. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Tom Marks is IGN's Deputy Reviews Editor and resident pie maker. You can follow him on Twitter.

HBO has unveiled a new unsettling, foreboding poster for Westworld: Season 3, featuring the body of a Delos Incorporated android being metaphorically impaled by a towering skyscraper in the background. Westworld, which returns on March 15, adds Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul to the cast as a construction worker by day and criminal by night - who's life crosses paths with new-to-the-outside world Dolores. Check out the poster below, along with a new image of Evan Rachel Wood's host-with-the-most... [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=westworld-season-3-images&captions=true"] The key art's desolate sandy landscape seems to suggest a ruined world, as if Dolores' proposed A.I. uprising will hold dire consequences for the future. The tagline too, "Free Will is Not Free," is a tweaking of the "Freedom isn't Free" slogan used to express gratitude for the military. So just that sentence alone hints that a war is coming, and that lives will be lost in Dolores' quest to gain supremacy over humanity. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/07/21/how-leaving-westworld-changes-westworld-in-season-3-comic-con-2019"] Returning to the series, along with Wood, are Jeffrey Wright, Tessa Thompson, Emmy-winner Thandie Newton, Ed Harris, and Luke Hemsworth. New cast members include Lena Waithe (Master of None, Ready Player One), Vincent Cassel (Ocean's Twelve, Black Swan), Kid Cudi, the Seattle Seahawks' Marshawn Lynch, John Gallagher Jr. (The Newsroom, 10 Cloverfield Lane), Michael Ealy (Almost Human, Stumptown), and Tommy Flanagan (Sons of Anarchy). Previously, Westworld creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy discussed how this newest season will be a "radical shift" from what came before. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/05/20/westworld-season-3-teaser-trailer"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

Researchers predict that the Sun will destroy our Solar System's asteroid belt in six billion years. A new study from the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (via Sci-News) predicts that when the Sun becomes a white dwarf, radiation from the star will be powerful enough to cause the asteroids in our Solar System to spin. Eventually, the spin rate will become overwhelming, causing the asteroids to break into smaller pieces. Sci-News explained that the asteroids will continuously break apart into smaller pieces until the rocks become too small to be affected. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-25-best-sci-fi-movies&captions=true"] The Sun will become a white dwarf after entering what scientists call the "branch phase," which happens after a star has burned all of its hydrogen fuel. During the branch phase, stars become hundreds of times bigger, and thousands of times brighter. The radiation the star gives off during this time is what kicks off this process. Scientists call this the YORP effect, and it is named after four of the scientists who helped develop this concept. For more news in the world of science, read about how scientists have detected a strange radio signal coming from outer space. Or, read a new study that shows that salty, mineral-filled water could once be found on Mars. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/07/25/did-scientists-find-liquid-water-on-mars"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Logan Plant is a news writer for IGN, and the Production Assistant for Nintendo Voice Chat, IGN's weekly Nintendo show. You can find him on Twitter at @LoganJPlant.

Geoff Keighley has announced that he is skipping E3 2020, and will not be producing E3 Coliseum this year. This will be the first time in 25 years that Keighley will not be participating in the famous video game trade show. In a tweet from his personal Twitter account, Keighley announced that he will not be attending this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo. "I have made the difficult decision to decline to produce E3 Coliseum. For the first time in 25 years, I will not be participating in E3." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/01/13/playstation-will-not-be-at-e3-2020-ign-now"] It appears the decision has not come easy for Keighley. "I've debated what to say about E3 2020," he said. "While I want to support the developers who will showcase their work, I also need to be open and honest with you, the fans, about precisely what to expect from me." "I look forward to supporting the industry in other ways and at other events in the future," he concluded. Keighley answered further questions people posed on Twitter. When asked what elements factored into his decision, he replied "A ton of factors, I just don't really feel comfortable participating given what I know about the show as of today."

A ton of factors, I just don't really feel comfortable participating given what I know about the show as of today.

— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) February 12, 2020

Another user asked if E3 was still viable, considering both Keighley and companies such as Sony are distancing themselves from the event. "I think E3 needs to become more digital and global....it's a brand that means a lot to people, but it shouldn't just be a show floor," he replied. E3 Coliseum is the official show arranged by the company behind the larger E3 event. Keighley has hosted the show for the last three years. The show, much like IGN's own E3 livestreams, involves numerous developer guests being interviewed and streamed online. In the years prior, he has attended and worked at E3 in a variety of different forms. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=igns-top-25-playstation-4-games&captions=true"] Keighley is not the only E3 stalwart to skip this year's show; Sony has once again decided to not attend E3. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter. 

After months of teasing a followup to 2017's Dark Nights: Metal, DC Comics is finally peeling back the curtain on the next Justice League epic from writer Scott Snyder and artist Greg Capullo. It's called Dark Nights: Death Metal, and the DC Universe is about to get its collective face melted off. Death Metal is a new six-issue series reuniting the entire Metal creative team, including Snyder, Capullo, inker Jonathon Glapion and colorist FCO Plascencia. Check out the slideshow gallery below for a closer look at the covers and uncolored interior art from the first issue: [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-justice-league-face-the-ultimate-evil-in-dark-nights-death-metal&captions=true"] While Death Metal is a sequel to Dark Nights: Metal, it also builds directly on the fallout of Snyder's Justice League run and the miniseries Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen. The Batman Who Laughs has triumphed in his war against Lex Luthor, and now he and his corrupted minions - Shazam, Supergirl, Donna Troy, Blue Beetle, James Gordon and Hawkman - rule over a world swallowed up by the Dark Multiverse. And pulling the strings of The Batman Who Laughs is none other than Perpetua, the self-proclaimed mother of the multiverse and perhaps the most powerful villain the Justice League have ever faced. As Snyder recently teased on Twitter, Death Metal is meant to be a Wonder Woman-driven story in the same way the original Metal was mostly Batman-focused. In this twisted version of the DCU, Wonder Woman and Flash have struck a Faustian bargain to preserve what remains of humanity, while Batman leads an underground resistance movement and Superman is trapped inside the heart of the sun. Only when a mysterious ally emerges with crucial new information is Wonder Woman able to rally the Justice League and take the fight to Perpetua herself. And, naturally, she's bringing her new Chainsaw of Truth along for the ride. “I’ve been waiting to do this story since we finished Dark Nights: Metal,” said Snyder in a statement. “As much as it was a complete event, we left some threads hanging there for sure. I’d hoped that if people liked the first series enough, we’d have a chance to set up something bigger, and that’s our plan for Death Metal.” “For all of us, Dark Nights: Death Metal is about the fun factor,” said Capullo. “Comics should be fun, bombastic, and over-the-top. This series is going to be exciting and jam-packed with great ‘metal-esque’ moments that will make fans lose their minds when they see them.” [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/08/wonder-woman-1984-official-trailer-1"] Dark Nights: Death Metal #1 will be released on Wednesday, May 13. The series will continue to ship monthly through November 2020, though it'll take a brief hiatus in August. DC is also teasing a series of "Metalverse" spinoff issues shipping this summer that expand on Snyder and Capullo's story. In addition to introducing The Batman Who Laughs and other nightmarish versions of Batman, Dark Nights: Metal is notable for featuring a rare crossover between the DCU and characters from The Sandman. We'll be eager to see what Snyder and Capullo have planned for a followup. Let us know what you want to see from Death Metal in the comments below. Death Metal isn't the only major DC superhero epic in the works for this summer. A new Batman storyline called Joker War will chronicle what could well be the final battle between Batman and his greatest nemesis. Meanwhile, DC is celebrating Free Comic Book Day with the release of Generation Zero, a game-changing new comic that transforms Wally West into the new Doctor Manhattan. Check out all of IGN's most anticipated comics of 2020 here. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

EA has announced that lead development of the Need for Speed games is moving back to UK studio Criterion.

EA told GI.biz the reason for this is because it's struggled to find the right talent for the series in Gothenburg, where current Need for Speed developer Ghost Games is situated. Criterion is based in Guildford, one of the UK's hot spots for game developers, so EA is hoping to have more luck there.

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"With a strong history and passion for racing games and vision for what we can create, the Criterion team is going to take Need for Speed into the next-generation," EA said.

Criterion is known for the Burnout games and for making 2010's Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit and 2012's Need for Speed: Most Wanted. However, Criterion was downsized in 2013, and the development of Need for Speed games was moved to Swedish studio Ghost Games.

Now the reverse is happening. After making the past four Need for Speed games on console, Ghost Games will see its engineering team dispersed to support other EA projects and especially help out on matters regarding the Frostbite Engine. Some of the studio's creative team will move to the UK to continue their work at Criterion.

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However, EA says there are about 30 roles at Ghost Games that are at risk. "Outside of the engineers and those that we plan to transfer to other positions, there would be 30 additional staff in Gothenburg, and we would hope to place as many of them as possible into other roles in the company," EA said.

Ghost Games made Need for Speed: Rivals, No Limits, the 2015 reboot, and most recently Need for Speed Heat, which got an 8 in our review. Meanwhile, Criterion has been providing support on EA games including Star Wars: Battlefront II and Battlefield V.

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Chris Priestman is a freelancer who writes news for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Thanks to the ever-increasing mainstream popularity of Dungeons and Dragons, tabletop role-playing games are cooler than ever - and so are TV shows about them. Following in the footsteps of series like Critical Role and HarmonQuest, IGN can exclusively reveal that DC Universe has greenlit a new unscripted anthology gaming miniseries, DC Universe All Star Games, which will feature famous DC fans playing a variety of different games (and inevitably making you wish you could ditch your friends and join their party instead). Executive produced by Freddie Prinze Jr. (most recently heard reprising his Star Wars Rebels role of Kanan Jarrus in The Rise of Skywalker) and Sam Witwer (soon to be heard reprising his role as Darth Maul in the final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars), and directed by by Jon Lee Broady, Season 1 will also feature Clare Grant, Vanessa Marshall, and WWE’s Xavier Woods as they embark on a retro adventure blending two distinct genres. Watch these famous D&D fans (including the Russo brothers, Joe Manganiello, and Deborah Ann Woll) explain why the game has become so popular again: [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/10/02/why-is-dd-so-popular-again"] Utilizing the classic '80s role-playing game DC Heroes, the story featured in Season 1 of All Star Games is described as a "nostalgic role-playing adventure, The Breakfast League ... Set in the same '80s era as when the game was first published, the five participants role-play as a group of high schoolers stuck in Saturday detention. As they improv their way through a variety of situations familiar to fans of beloved movies from that time period, they soon discover their destinies as the world’s greatest super-heroes." A mash-up of classic '80s teen comedies and DC heroes? That's our kind of crossover. Episode 1 of the five-part freshman season will hit DC Universe on February 28, with new episodes debuting exclusively on the digital platform every Friday. “DC Heroes was the first RPG I ever played as a kid. It was also my introduction to the DC Universe, its heroes and, most importantly, its rich pool of villains,” said Prinze in a statement “I had a blast making this series and I hope all of you love it as much as I do.” Check out the official logo for DCU All Star Games below. For more from DC, check out our review of the animated Harley Quinn series and watch the trailer for the upcoming animated movie Superman: Red Son below. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/16/superman-red-son-exclusive-trailer"]

Researchers in Canada have identified a new species of tyrannosaur that roamed North America around 80 million years ago. Palaeontologists from the University of Calgary and the Royal Tyrell Museum in Canada recently dusted off some fossilised skull fragments, found by John De Groot, a farmer and palaeontology enthusiast, who stumbled upon the relics while hiking near Hays, Alberta.

Introducing the first new species of tyrannosaur discovered in Canada in 50 years. Meet Thanatotheristes degrootorum, the ‘reaper of death’! Read all about it on our blog: https://t.co/hIQZkxdACk #Thanatotheristes #ReaperOfDeath #RTMPResearch pic.twitter.com/WYNmsMuUFY

— Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology (@RoyalTyrrell) February 10, 2020

Scientists analyzed the unique features of the fossil skull fragments from the toothy tyrant to identify the new tyrannosaur species, which is thought to be 2.5 million years older than its closest relative. "Thanatotheristes can be distinguished from all other tyrannosaurs by numerous characteristics of the skull, but the most prominent are vertical ridges that run the length of the upper jaw," said Jared Voris, a University of Calgary PhD student, and lead author of the study. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/05/10/jurassic-world-fallen-kingdom-a-look-inside-featurette"] The predator has been officially named Thanatotheristes degrootorum; the first word is inspired by the Greek god of Death and "theristes", which translates to reaper, awarding the dino the fearsome "Reaper of Death" nickname. The second part of the name honours the De Groot family. "This discovery is significant because it fills in a gap in our understanding of tyrannosaur evolution," concluded Dr. François Therrien, Curator of Dinosaur Palaeoecology at the Royal Tyrrell Museum. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/06/07/jurassic-world-fallen-kingdom-ending-explained"] This new research comes shortly after a study found that Earth may have been contaminated with high levels of mercury long before a giant asteroid struck the planet, spelling the end of dinosaurs. In this case, researchers examined fossilized marine mollusk shells across the globe to discover what appeared to be "a global signal of both abrupt ocean warming and distinctly elevated mercury concentrations" associated with the massive volcanic eruptions of the Deccan Traps in western India. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-best-deaths-in-the-jurassic-park-movies&captions=true"] Dinosaur extinction was just one of the many topics covered in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, which has a sequel coming in June, 2021. While there has been no official word on the plot for Jurassic World 3, an all-new short film, titled Battle at Big Rock, was released online in September to help to bridge the story between Fallen Kingdom and the next instalment in the franchise. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.