Here's the reason Magik, Wolfsbane, and the rest of the team will arrive in your local multiplex...someday.

Here's the reason Magik, Wolfsbane, and the rest of the team will arrive in your local multiplex...someday.

Mass Effect 2 writer Patrick Weekes took to Twitter late last week to discuss how one of the game’s most infamously awkward romance prompts made it into the game, as first reported by Fanbyte.

Spoilers for Mass Effect 2 below:

In Mass Effect 2, if players opt for the female version of Commander Shepard, they’re eventually presented with the chance to romance Thane, the green-skinned drell assassin. Thane’s a bit of a complicated fellow. He’s an assassin who prefers to kill his targets up close and relatively painlessly, and being intensely spiritual, he prays for his forgiveness after each assassination. Unfortunately, Thane’s line of work eventually caught up to him and his family. His wife, Irikah, was killed by a band of mercenaries whose leader had been assassinated by Thane, and Thane left his son Kolyat in the care of his extended family. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2016/09/10/history-of-awesome-mass-effect"] As the player, we learn a lot of this during our major conversations with Thane, where the duality of Thane’s troubled life and his softspoken nature clash. Literally moments after Thane reveals details about his wife's tragic murder, the player is presented with two dialogue options: “Just focus on your son” and the laughably unsubtle “I want you, Thane.” Weekes took the opportunity to explain how a combination of a tight schedule, bug reports, and the restrictions of 2009-era game development (no major game patches) resulted in one of the franchise’s most awkward dialogue paraphrases.

"Late 2009. I'm on Mass Effect 2," Weekes says. "Given that we're only a few months from ship, Mass Effect 2 is also on me. I'm one of a few writers left on the project, tackling bugs. A bug comes in saying that there's a lack of clarity around the opt-in to Thane's romance -- you only get one chance to choose to romance him, and they're missing it, and therefore missing a bunch of content. And some folks are opting in by accident, too. Thane's writer has left the team, so I look at the conversation. It's a great conversation! But I can also see how you could look at the dialogue options and not realize that one of them is you saying, "Let's start a relationship." So, yes, needs to be fixed.

"2020 Brain: Wouldn't the big heart icon make that clear? Aha, but this is 2009. ME2 (and even ME3) didn't use icons to indicate that you were entering a relationship. No hover text on big choices, either! (See also, "How people accidentally ended up showering with Traynor.")

2020 Brain: Wouldn't the big heart icon make that clear?

Aha, but this is 2009. ME2 (and even ME3) didn't use icons to indicate that you were entering a relationship. No hover text on big choices, either! (See also, "How people accidentally ended up showering with Traynor.") — Patrick Weekes (@PatrickWeekes) May 22, 2020

"2020 Brain: Okay, so let's rewrite the end of the scene, touching the original writer's lines as lightly as possible, to add a clean chance to opt into a romance with Thane. "Aha, but this is LATE 2009. This scene is LOCKED. No dialogue changes possible. Game DONE, yo. Thane is talking about how his wife died. He's never told anyone. A Shepard who wants to romance Thane tells him she's there for Thane to lean on, whatever he needs. "Original paraphase was something like, "I'm here for you." The writer (Chris L'Etoile) did an amazing job. "But players who wanted to romance Thane didn't understand that this dialogue choice was their one and only chance to get onto a romance path with him. "And players who DIDN'T want to romance Thane didn't like stumbling onto it by accident. "2009 Me: So I have no heart icon, I can't change the dialogue at all. Literally I can do is change the paraphrase, and I have to change it so nobody has any doubt about what this line indicates. "2009 Me: Nailed it."

"Did 2009 Me think this was a good paraphrase?" Weekes continued. "WOW NO! Was it the best 2009 Me could come up with to be 100% clear, with no other changes available and paraphrases limited to 30 characters? APPARENTLY YES! Every time I see this play on Twitch, the player makes fun of the paraphrase. "Subtle, Shepard!" And they are totally right! I wish we'd caught this earlier, so I could've changed the lines or done SOMETHING less clunky than this. But this is what last-minute fixes look like."

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/09/9-live-action-game-trailers-better-than-most-video-game-movies"] Weekes finished their Twitter thread saying they're glad that game developers have the tools to include more explicit icons and text that makes it clear what you're character is getting into before committing to a dialogue choice. When asked what they'd do differently using that same 2009 tech, Weekes said they'd change the prompt to you "'You matter to me, Thane.' < 30 characters, about as clear, and much cleaner as a topic transition." Years later, it's still pretty funny. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer for IGN, and he's here for you. Romance him on Twitter.

Mass Effect 2 writer Patrick Weekes took to Twitter late last week to discuss how one of the game’s most infamously awkward romance prompts made it into the game, as first reported by Fanbyte.

Spoilers for Mass Effect 2 below:

In Mass Effect 2, if players opt for the female version of Commander Shepard, they’re eventually presented with the chance to romance Thane, the green-skinned drell assassin. Thane’s a bit of a complicated fellow. He’s an assassin who prefers to kill his targets up close and relatively painlessly, and being intensely spiritual, he prays for his forgiveness after each assassination. Unfortunately, Thane’s line of work eventually caught up to him and his family. His wife, Irikah, was killed by a band of mercenaries whose leader had been assassinated by Thane, and Thane left his son Kolyat in the care of his extended family. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2016/09/10/history-of-awesome-mass-effect"] As the player, we learn a lot of this during our major conversations with Thane, where the duality of Thane’s troubled life and his softspoken nature clash. Literally moments after Thane reveals details about his wife's tragic murder, the player is presented with two dialogue options: “Just focus on your son” and the laughably unsubtle “I want you, Thane.” Weekes took the opportunity to explain how a combination of a tight schedule, bug reports, and the restrictions of 2009-era game development (no major game patches) resulted in one of the franchise’s most awkward dialogue paraphrases.

"Late 2009. I'm on Mass Effect 2," Weekes says. "Given that we're only a few months from ship, Mass Effect 2 is also on me. I'm one of a few writers left on the project, tackling bugs. A bug comes in saying that there's a lack of clarity around the opt-in to Thane's romance -- you only get one chance to choose to romance him, and they're missing it, and therefore missing a bunch of content. And some folks are opting in by accident, too. Thane's writer has left the team, so I look at the conversation. It's a great conversation! But I can also see how you could look at the dialogue options and not realize that one of them is you saying, "Let's start a relationship." So, yes, needs to be fixed.

"2020 Brain: Wouldn't the big heart icon make that clear? Aha, but this is 2009. ME2 (and even ME3) didn't use icons to indicate that you were entering a relationship. No hover text on big choices, either! (See also, "How people accidentally ended up showering with Traynor.")

2020 Brain: Wouldn't the big heart icon make that clear?

Aha, but this is 2009. ME2 (and even ME3) didn't use icons to indicate that you were entering a relationship. No hover text on big choices, either! (See also, "How people accidentally ended up showering with Traynor.") — Patrick Weekes (@PatrickWeekes) May 22, 2020

"2020 Brain: Okay, so let's rewrite the end of the scene, touching the original writer's lines as lightly as possible, to add a clean chance to opt into a romance with Thane. "Aha, but this is LATE 2009. This scene is LOCKED. No dialogue changes possible. Game DONE, yo. Thane is talking about how his wife died. He's never told anyone. A Shepard who wants to romance Thane tells him she's there for Thane to lean on, whatever he needs. "Original paraphase was something like, "I'm here for you." The writer (Chris L'Etoile) did an amazing job. "But players who wanted to romance Thane didn't understand that this dialogue choice was their one and only chance to get onto a romance path with him. "And players who DIDN'T want to romance Thane didn't like stumbling onto it by accident. "2009 Me: So I have no heart icon, I can't change the dialogue at all. Literally I can do is change the paraphrase, and I have to change it so nobody has any doubt about what this line indicates. "2009 Me: Nailed it."

"Did 2009 Me think this was a good paraphrase?" Weekes continued. "WOW NO! Was it the best 2009 Me could come up with to be 100% clear, with no other changes available and paraphrases limited to 30 characters? APPARENTLY YES! Every time I see this play on Twitch, the player makes fun of the paraphrase. "Subtle, Shepard!" And they are totally right! I wish we'd caught this earlier, so I could've changed the lines or done SOMETHING less clunky than this. But this is what last-minute fixes look like."

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/09/9-live-action-game-trailers-better-than-most-video-game-movies"] Weekes finished their Twitter thread saying they're glad that game developers have the tools to include more explicit icons and text that makes it clear what you're character is getting into before committing to a dialogue choice. When asked what they'd do differently using that same 2009 tech, Weekes said they'd change the prompt to you "'You matter to me, Thane.' < 30 characters, about as clear, and much cleaner as a topic transition." Years later, it's still pretty funny. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer for IGN, and he's here for you. Romance him on Twitter.

With the new trailer for Christopher Nolan's Tenet raising way more questions than answers -- as the release date still stands at July 17, 2020 -- star John David Washington recently revealed that he and the other actors were often just as confused about the movie's plot as fans watching the teaser. Speaking to Geoff Keighley during the trailer launch on Fortnite (via Comicbook.com), Washington said, "Every day I had questions for [Nolan]. But he was very gracious, and he answered them very calmly and patiently." "It was important that the actors could track the story correctly," Washington laughed, "so we could tell it the best way we could, and he was very patient with us. I say that very politely." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/22/tenet-official-trailer-2"] "Really, it's interesting, because there are just little nuggets of information and just breadcrumbs of information about the movie that I'm surprised [Nolan] was willing to reveal," he continued. "And I love that he did." As Christopher Nolan advocates for Tenet to only be shown in theaters, AMC Theaters, a month ago, released a statement indicating they won't be reopening movie theaters until closer to the release of major summer blockbusters like Tenet. A month previous to this, Nolan wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post about the importance of saving and supporting movie theaters. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=tenet-cast&captions=true"] [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.

With the new trailer for Christopher Nolan's Tenet raising way more questions than answers -- as the release date still stands at July 17, 2020 -- star John David Washington recently revealed that he and the other actors were often just as confused about the movie's plot as fans watching the teaser. Speaking to Geoff Keighley during the trailer launch on Fortnite (via Comicbook.com), Washington said, "Every day I had questions for [Nolan]. But he was very gracious, and he answered them very calmly and patiently." "It was important that the actors could track the story correctly," Washington laughed, "so we could tell it the best way we could, and he was very patient with us. I say that very politely." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/22/tenet-official-trailer-2"] "Really, it's interesting, because there are just little nuggets of information and just breadcrumbs of information about the movie that I'm surprised [Nolan] was willing to reveal," he continued. "And I love that he did." As Christopher Nolan advocates for Tenet to only be shown in theaters, AMC Theaters, a month ago, released a statement indicating they won't be reopening movie theaters until closer to the release of major summer blockbusters like Tenet. A month previous to this, Nolan wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post about the importance of saving and supporting movie theaters. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=tenet-cast&captions=true"] [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.

John Wick franchise creator Derek Kolstad says he’s interested in adapting two peculiar video game IPs for television: The popular survival-horror/Disney parody Bendy and the Ink Machine and the shoot-em-up about a talking banana, My Friend Pedro.

Kolstad made the remark in an interview with Comicbook.com, revealing that he’s working on pitches for both shows in between his many other current projects.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/06/20/my-friend-pedro-review"]

"Well, I am doing A Company Man for David Leitch. I'm doing A Map From Nowhere for Chad Stahelski over at New Line. Both of them are remakes of movies that I fucking love. I've got A Darker Shade Of Magic, over at Sony, which has been a joy, with Victoria Schwab," Kolstad told Comicbook. "I'm going out with a pitch for a television series based on the My Friend Pedro video game, as well as for Bendy and the Ink Machine. I am playing any... It's funny, the reason I'm answering it this way, literally, I have these Post-It notes on my computer of, 'This is what I'm working on today.'"

"To be honest, I love it all," Kolstad continued. "Those are at the forefront, but at any given moment, people are jumping on the horn and we're talking The Janson Directive or we're talking Death Machine, we're talking actors with IP, sound men. I got to tell you, man, I'm still a little kid at this and I f****** love it. If I can emulate and replicate any success I've had with John Wick elsewhere, I'm going to be that 11-year-old that snuck into an R-rated movie, giggling." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/11/21/bendy-and-the-ink-machine-launch-trailer-pegi"]

Bendy and the Ink Machine debuted in 2017, releasing episodically until a complete and updated version was released. The game told the story of a retired animator named Henry Stein, who visits his old studio after receiving a mysterious invitation from his former boss Joey Drew. Upon arriving at the studio (designed to look eerily similar to Steamboat Willy-era Mickey Mouse cartoons), Henry discovers that some malevolent force has warped the facility and spawned monstrous versions of classic cartoon creations. The game proved massively popular fodder for Youtubers, with its unique visual style and survival horror scares, and spawned a merchandise line, a mobile spin-off, a short prequel installment, and an upcoming sequel.

My Friend Pedro is, somehow, even sillier than a horror game about a Mickey Mouse parody. It follows an unnamed protagonist as he violently murders enemies at the behest of a sentient talking banana named Pedro. It, uh...goes places. The gameplay itself would put even John Wick to shame, with the player character performing dazzling feats of ballet to pull off increasingly crazy trick shots throughout each level. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-delayed-movie-due-to-coronavirus-so-far&captions=true"] Given that Kolstad is just in the pitching process, it’s unclear if we’ll ever see either adaptation hit the big or little screen. Kolstad certainly already has plenty of upcoming projects on his plate, including the now delayed release of John Wick Chapter 4, which was pushed back to May 27, 2022.

John Wick franchise creator Derek Kolstad says he’s interested in adapting two peculiar video game IPs for television: The popular survival-horror/Disney parody Bendy and the Ink Machine and the shoot-em-up about a talking banana, My Friend Pedro.

Kolstad made the remark in an interview with Comicbook.com, revealing that he’s working on pitches for both shows in between his many other current projects.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/06/20/my-friend-pedro-review"]

"Well, I am doing A Company Man for David Leitch. I'm doing A Map From Nowhere for Chad Stahelski over at New Line. Both of them are remakes of movies that I fucking love. I've got A Darker Shade Of Magic, over at Sony, which has been a joy, with Victoria Schwab," Kolstad told Comicbook. "I'm going out with a pitch for a television series based on the My Friend Pedro video game, as well as for Bendy and the Ink Machine. I am playing any... It's funny, the reason I'm answering it this way, literally, I have these Post-It notes on my computer of, 'This is what I'm working on today.'"

"To be honest, I love it all," Kolstad continued. "Those are at the forefront, but at any given moment, people are jumping on the horn and we're talking The Janson Directive or we're talking Death Machine, we're talking actors with IP, sound men. I got to tell you, man, I'm still a little kid at this and I f****** love it. If I can emulate and replicate any success I've had with John Wick elsewhere, I'm going to be that 11-year-old that snuck into an R-rated movie, giggling." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/11/21/bendy-and-the-ink-machine-launch-trailer-pegi"]

Bendy and the Ink Machine debuted in 2017, releasing episodically until a complete and updated version was released. The game told the story of a retired animator named Henry Stein, who visits his old studio after receiving a mysterious invitation from his former boss Joey Drew. Upon arriving at the studio (designed to look eerily similar to Steamboat Willy-era Mickey Mouse cartoons), Henry discovers that some malevolent force has warped the facility and spawned monstrous versions of classic cartoon creations. The game proved massively popular fodder for Youtubers, with its unique visual style and survival horror scares, and spawned a merchandise line, a mobile spin-off, a short prequel installment, and an upcoming sequel.

My Friend Pedro is, somehow, even sillier than a horror game about a Mickey Mouse parody. It follows an unnamed protagonist as he violently murders enemies at the behest of a sentient talking banana named Pedro. It, uh...goes places. The gameplay itself would put even John Wick to shame, with the player character performing dazzling feats of ballet to pull off increasingly crazy trick shots throughout each level. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-delayed-movie-due-to-coronavirus-so-far&captions=true"] Given that Kolstad is just in the pitching process, it’s unclear if we’ll ever see either adaptation hit the big or little screen. Kolstad certainly already has plenty of upcoming projects on his plate, including the now delayed release of John Wick Chapter 4, which was pushed back to May 27, 2022.

Minecraft Dungeons, out on May 26, is often compared to the Diablo franchise for featuring top-down dungeon-crawling combat and exploration. Heck, we made the comparison in our mostly favorable review. It looks like the developers behind Minecraft Dungeons are all too familiar with the franchise, since they evidently planted a hilarious easter egg that dedicated Diablo 2 fans will probably appreciate.

Minor spoilers for Minecraft Dungeons content below: Noticed by Lords of Gaming, Minecraft Dungeons players can access a secret area that’s a direct reference to a similarly secret area in Diablo 2. According to Lords of Gaming, it requires players to beat the game once on each game difficulty. Near the player’s camp, there’s a drawbridge that’s raised during the main game. Once you’re able to cross it, players will find a church with pixel portraits of the Minecraft Dungeons developer team and a dog, plus a button with ten runes. Once players find those runes across the game’s levels, they can return to the button, press it, and you’ll be transported to a secret level. What’s in that secret level? Cows. Lots and lots of angry cows to fight. [caption id="attachment_12576" align="aligncenter" width="890"] Source: Lords of Gaming[/caption] The secret Minecraft Dungeons room is a pretty clear reference to a secret area in Diablo 2 that featured countless cows standing upright and wielding axes. Those Diablo cows would also say “moo” constantly with an oddly human inflection while they chased you around in massive groups. For a time, Diablo 2’s secret cow level was a popular place to level up until a patch was implemented not long after.

Not bad for a funny reference, although I shudder to think what a newcomer to the genre will think of that many bovine barreling down on them.

[poilib element="accentDivider"]

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer for IGN, and he's mooooooving to the bay area soon.

Minecraft Dungeons, out on May 26, is often compared to the Diablo franchise for featuring top-down dungeon-crawling combat and exploration. Heck, we made the comparison in our mostly favorable review. It looks like the developers behind Minecraft Dungeons are all too familiar with the franchise, since they evidently planted a hilarious easter egg that dedicated Diablo 2 fans will probably appreciate.

Minor spoilers for Minecraft Dungeons content below: Noticed by Lords of Gaming, Minecraft Dungeons players can access a secret area that’s a direct reference to a similarly secret area in Diablo 2. According to Lords of Gaming, it requires players to beat the game once on each game difficulty. Near the player’s camp, there’s a drawbridge that’s raised during the main game. Once you’re able to cross it, players will find a church with pixel portraits of the Minecraft Dungeons developer team and a dog, plus a button with ten runes. Once players find those runes across the game’s levels, they can return to the button, press it, and you’ll be transported to a secret level. What’s in that secret level? Cows. Lots and lots of angry cows to fight. [caption id="attachment_12576" align="aligncenter" width="890"] Source: Lords of Gaming[/caption] The secret Minecraft Dungeons room is a pretty clear reference to a secret area in Diablo 2 that featured countless cows standing upright and wielding axes. Those Diablo cows would also say “moo” constantly with an oddly human inflection while they chased you around in massive groups. For a time, Diablo 2’s secret cow level was a popular place to level up until a patch was implemented not long after.

Not bad for a funny reference, although I shudder to think what a newcomer to the genre will think of that many bovine barreling down on them.

[poilib element="accentDivider"]

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer for IGN, and he's mooooooving to the bay area soon.