Monthly Archives: April 2020
Hulk Hogan Biopic Star Chris Hemsworth Reveals Fascination With Pro Wresting
Chris Hemsworth is still waiting on some forward momentum around the Hulk Hogan biopic he's been attached to star in since last year, but reveals in a new interview that he remains "fascinated" and "intrigued" by the world of pro wrestling that the movie aims to expose.
When ScreenRant asked about the Hulk Hogan project, Hemsworth admitted, "Look, I haven't read a script yet. I know it's being written now and worked on. I know very little about that. It's sort of in the process now."
Joker's Todd Phillips is attached to direct the Hulk Hogan biopic, which is being scripted by Joker's Scott Silver along with John Pollono. The movie -- which is expected to be made at Netflix and counts Bradley Cooper among its producers -- will explore Hogan's rise to fame in the 1980s and reportedly won't cover his more recent scandals and lawsuits.
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IGN named Hulk Hogan No. 3 on our list of the Top 50 wrestlers of all time.
In the recent interview, promoting his new Netflix action-thriller Extraction, Hemsworth revealed what drew him to the Hulk Hogan project.
"I'm just fascinated by that world, and I think they're pretty keen to show a side of the world that people haven't seen before," Hemsworth said. "I'm as intrigued as you are."
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For more on Chris Hemsworth, watch this vicious knife fight from Extraction and find out the latest on his next MCU film, Thor: Love and Thunder.
Extraction debuts exclusively on Netflix on April 24.
Here’s Where to Visit the Agency, Hayman and Greasy Graves in Fortnite
The Fortnite Week 10 Midas' Mission challenges will task players with visiting the Agency, Hayman, and Greasy Graves in a single match. Here's where to find each location on the map.
GTA Online: Gerald’s Last Play Adds Six New Contact Missions This Week
This week in GTAO, take part in six brand new Contact Missions with Gerald's Last Play, score triple rewards for Open Wheel Races, and much more.
Christopher Nolan’s Tenet Remains on Schedule for July Release
Warner Bros. has confirmed that Tenet is still on target for a theatrical release this summer, so long as theaters are back open for business.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. CEO Ann Sarnoff reaffirmed the studio's commitment to the cinematic experience, as she described Tenet as a "tentpole title" that is pegged for the big screen once it is safe for audiences to return to theaters.
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"We are committed to — and are excited about — releasing Tenet in theaters this summer or whenever theaters reopen. We remain supportive of the theatrical experience and our exhibition partners, and are confident that our tentpole titles, including Tenet and Wonder Woman 1984, are exactly the type of films that will have people eager to return to theaters," she told the outlet.
Over the past few months, Warner Bros. has made some significant changes to its release schedule as a result of the COVID-19 global crisis, but Christopher Nolan's time-bending thriller has managed to hold on to its July 17 release slot, making it potentially one of the first big blockbuster-hopefuls to be released this summer, along with Wonder Woman 1984, the other film mentioned by Sarnoff, which is due out a month later on August 14.
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With so many cinema chains closed around the world, film studios have been forced to reassess their forthcoming slates and make decisions on whether to postpone the release of their upcoming titles or shift some of these releases to VOD (video on demand).
Warner Bros. recently scrapped the release of Scoob! (originally slated for May 15) in favour of a VOD debut while the theatrical release of In the Heights has been delayed a whole year to June 18, 2021, The Batman has been pushed back to October 1, 2021, and the studio has indefinitely postponed the release of Malignant, which was originally scheduled for the August 14 slot now occupied by Wonder Woman 1984.
In addition, Warners has also set new 2022 release dates for two other DC titles. The Flash has moved forward to June 3, 2022 (up a month from July 1), while Shazam 2 has been postponed from April 1, 2022 to November 4, 2022. Plus, David Chase's The Sopranos prequel film, The Many Saints of Newark, has been pushed from September 25, 2020 to March 12, 2021, amongst several other shifts, shake-ups, and delays in the industry.
For a list of recommendations on how best to help, and stay safe, during the coronavirus pandemic, please read our resource guide.
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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.
Xbox Series X Loads Gears 5 Four Times Faster Than Xbox One
Gears 5 loads 4 times quicker on Xbox Series X than on Xbox One - without a single change to the game's code.
Speaking to Windows Central about the benefits of the new hardware, The Coalition's technical director Mike Rayner quantified just how much the studio is already getting out of the upcoming console: "With the Xbox Series X, out of the gate, we reduced our load-times by more than 4x without any code changes."
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Rayner explained that, "With the new DirectStorage APIs and new hardware decompression, we can further improve I/O performance and reduce CPU overhead, both of which are essential to achieve fast loading."
The gist of Rayner's comments - and the article as a whole - is that Microsoft's work on improved I/O performance, and how it affects loading times, is among the most important additions.
"We have come to expect generational leaps in CPU, GPU, and memory performance with each generation", says Rayner. "Xbox Series X more than delivers against these expectations. As a game developer, one of the most exciting improvements that far exceeds expectations is the massive I/O improvements on Xbox Series X. "
The next-gen version of Gears 5 Rayner mentions isn't just a tech test - it will be a launch game for Series X, and will be available as a free upgrade to those that already own it.
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We've already seen a demonstration of the base improvement on loading times from Xbox Series X (above), and that's one of several tech upgrades that Microsoft is touting for its next machine.
Xbox Series X is scheduled to be released during Holiday 2020. Right now we know the Xbox Series X specs, we have an educated guess on its price based on those specs, and a full comparison with PS5. What we know far less about is Xbox Series X games, but we have a list of confirmed and rumoured titles for the next-gen console.
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Xbox Game Pass to Gain Red Dead Redemption 2, Loses GTA 5
Red Dead Redemption 2 will be arriving on Xbox Game Pass for console on May 7, 2020, the same day Rockstar will be removing Grand Theft Auto V from Xbox's subscription service.
Revealed on Xbox Wire, if you miss your chance to download and play GTA V in time, you will be able to get a 20% discount on the purchase of the game.
Red Dead Redemption 2 was released in 2018 and was our Game of the Year Runner-Up behind PlayStation 4's God of War.
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Even though it didn't win our game of the year, it did earn one of our rare 10/10 scores. In our review of Red Dead Redemption 2, we said it "stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Grand Theft Auto V as one of the greatest games of the modern age. It’s a gorgeous depiction of an ugly period that’s patient, polished, and a huge amount of fun to play, and it’s combined with Rockstar’s best storytelling to date."
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As for Grand Theft Auto V, it was added to Xbox Game Pass in January 2020 and will be replaced by Red Dead Redemption 2 next month.
Grand Theft Auto V, according to the NPD, was the best selling game of the decade from 2010-2019, a number that has been bolstered by the continuous support of Grand Theft Auto Online.
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This news follows the report that Rockstar is making changes to fix its crunch culture and is currently developing a new Grand Theft Auto.
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Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
Fallout 76: Bethesda Investigating Bug Where NPCs Permanently Steal Your Stuff
Bethesda is investigating a bug reported by players where Fallout 76's new NPCs are looting items from their corpses and keeping them.
The strange glitch has been noted by several users on the Fallout 76 Reddit, with posters claiming that they've lost hordes of ammo and expensive weapons. Upon death, players are waking up to find the guns they were using and the ammo attached missing from their inventory. Later, they've noticed that the same gun they were using in combat is now in the hands of a nearby NPC, suggesting that it had been looted from the player's corpse upon death. Those NPCs can't be looted back.
This is a major problem, as it means expensive and rare weapons that players have worked hard to purchase or unlock are being lost, with no clear means to recover them. One particular post mentions that a player lost an explosive machine gun that they spent "15k caps" on. A few posters have singled out the event missions Radiation Rumble and Riding Shotgun as being a particular source for the bug, so you may want to avoid them for the time being. This video from Dani Garcia gives us our best glimpse at the glitch in action (thanks, PC Gamer!)
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A Bethesda Community Manager has responded to the strange phenomenon, writing that they will "investigate this immediately" under one of the offending Reddit posts. NPCs arrived in Fallout 76 as part of the Wastelanders update, a free overhaul anticipated by the fans who stuck with Fallout 76 after its troublesome launch. Wastelanders adds new questlines and infrastructure, as well as an improved reputation system.
If you're thinking of jumping back into the apocalyptic fray, check out our article on whether you should return to Fallout 76 for Wastelanders.
And if you've already made the leap, you may want to check out our walkthrough which will guide you through the new quests in Wastelanders. Just watch out for those event missions if you're fixing to keep your hard-earned loot!
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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.
Crash Bandicoot Mobile Game Gets Surprise Soft Launch
A Crash Bandicoot mobile game has unexpectedly soft launched on Android in select regions.
An endless runner, Crash Bandicoot Mobile comes from Candy Crush creators King and was teased earlier this week via a set of leaked Facebook ads. Soft launches allow developers to release the game in certain areas, allowing them to fix bugs and test server capacity before a full rollout.
As of right now, there hasn't been any official word from King or the Crash Bandicoot Twitter account about the game, which means we don't have a full set of regions the game can be downloaded in, but you can see if the game's available in your area on the Google Play Store right now.
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The listing describes the gameplay, which will see Crash complete "awesome battle runs" to defeat Dr. Cortex's minions, a series of "mutagen henchmen" who are trying to "enslave all dimensions." It's set on Wumpa Island and will feature a number of fan-favourite characters like Coco Bandicoot, Uka Uka and Dingodile.
There's also a persistent metagame beyond the endless runner gameplay where Crash can perform "collection runs" to scavenge for ingredients. These items allow the player to upgrade and expand Coco's base by unlocking buildings to "create an arsenal of weapons: serums, bombs and even rayguns!"
In other Crash Bandicoot news, Activision noted in their Q4 2019 investor call that they plan to release "several remastered and reimagined experiences" in 2020, suggesting Crash could make another appearance following the popularity of Activision's remaster of the original trilogy. We reviewed another Crash spin-off, Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled back in 2019, which we called a "kart racer worth playing."
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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.
Back to the Future Screenwriter’s Answer to Infamous Plot Hole
Spoilers ahead for Back to the Future, which you really should have seen by now since it turns 35 this year.
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An old fan debate about Back to the Future and one of its perceived plot holes was resuscitated via Twitter this week, a viral sensation which drew BTTF screenwriter Bob Gale into the debate to settle the question himself.
The debate -- reignited by the trending list "5 Perfect Movies" -- was about why Marty McFly's parents didn't recognize him as Calvin Klein, the teen who engineered their romance back in the '50s, when he returned home to the 1980s. Surely, George and Lorraine McFly would recognize their son Marty as their high school acquaintance Calvin?
Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn joined the debate to tweet: "Back to the Future SEEMINGLY could be imperfect (why don't Mom and Dad remember Marty?), but I would still argue it's a perfect film because there are reasons why this could conceivably be the case (time protects itself from unraveling, etc). Or maybe I'm in denial. Who knows."
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Gunn's tweet spurred his Guardians star Chris Pratt to suggest, "Maybe they do remember him tho, not as Marty, as Calvin. When Marty returns to present day 1985, it could have been years since his parents would have perhaps originally noted the uncanny resemblance between their son and that kid from high school 20 years previous."
Pratt's suggestion turned out to be in line with the reasoning then offered by BTTF screenwriter Bob Gale, who addressed the matter to The Hollywood Reporter.
"Bear in mind that George and Lorraine only knew Marty/Calvin for six days when they were 17, and they did not even see him every one of those six days. So, many years later, they still might remember that interesting kid who got them together on their first date," Gale explained.
"But I would ask anyone to think back on their own high school days and ask themselves how well they remember a kid who might have been at their school for even a semester. Or someone you went out with just one time," Gale said. "If you had no photo reference, after 25 years, you'd probably have just a hazy recollection."
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Gale added that most parents could scroll their high school yearbooks and see kids back then who look like their own kids do now.
So does Gale's explanation settle this BTTF debate for you? Let us know in the comments!
Will PS5’s Be Tough to Get This Holiday?
On this week's episode of IGN's weekly PlayStation show, Podcast Beyond!, host Jonathon Dornbush is joined by Brian Altano, Max Scoville, and Lucy O'Brien to discuss the biggest news in the world of PlayStation.
And with a recent report suggesting PS5's price point, and a limited supply of PS5 at its holiday launch date, the cast dives into what it might look like if it's tough to get a PS5 this holiday season, as well as how PS5 launch games could factor into sales, and much more. We also address more of the latest PS5 news and rumors, including a strange new PlayStation patent, and much more.
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Have a That One Thing or Memory Card story to share? Write in to beyond@ign.com!
Download or listen to the show on these platforms:
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Podcast Beyond! is live every Wednesday at 3 p.m. PT. For the latest on PS5, check out the PS5 full specs list, why we're excited about PS5's 3D audio focus, an analysis of what teraflops really mean for the PS5 and Xbox Series X, and check out images of the allegedly PS5 dev kit and controller.
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Jonathon Dornbush is IGN's Senior News Editor, host of Podcast Beyond!, and PlayStation lead. Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush.