Though we still don't know if Ava DuVernay's New Gods, which is set to feature Darkseid and the Female Furies, will directly connect to the DCEU, we do know that Darkseid was a part of Zack Snyder's Justice League. And now the actor who was cast as Darkseid has officially confirmed he played the role. Ray Porter (Justified, Argo), after being given the "all clear," took to Twitter and introduced himself as the man who was/will be DC supervillain Darkseid.

That said, and because I’ve been given permission... Hi, I’m Ray. I played Darkseid in Zack Snyder’s “Justice League”. There. It’s out now.

— Ray Porter (@Ray__Porter) May 22, 2020

In Snyder's cut, which is set to stream on HBO Max in 2021 (after close to $30 million is spent completing it), Darkseid is said to have appeared at the beginning and end of the film - during the expository "History" part and then in the final scenes following villain Steppenwolf's demise. Porter teased his Darkseid role last summer ahead of Comic-Con by giving fans a sneak peek (listen?) at his Darkseid voice during a quick "Release the Snyder Cut" promotional video...

Justice League's cut Darkseid actor @Ray__Porter teases his Darkseid voice in new #ReleaseTheSnyderCut Comic-Con campaign video. https://t.co/mKNSeJSaYR pic.twitter.com/COWuA6WkGT

— Screen Rant (@screenrant) June 19, 2019

If you're looking for a deep dive into what the Snyder Cut is, or how the "Release the Snyder Cut" movement began, check out our full Snyder Cut explainer. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/20/snyder-cut-of-justice-league-is-actually-coming-to-hbo-max-ign-now"] 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.

Though we still don't know if Ava DuVernay's New Gods, which is set to feature Darkseid and the Female Furies, will directly connect to the DCEU, we do know that Darkseid was a part of Zack Snyder's Justice League. And now the actor who was cast as Darkseid has officially confirmed he played the role. Ray Porter (Justified, Argo), after being given the "all clear," took to Twitter and introduced himself as the man who was/will be DC supervillain Darkseid.

That said, and because I’ve been given permission... Hi, I’m Ray. I played Darkseid in Zack Snyder’s “Justice League”. There. It’s out now.

— Ray Porter (@Ray__Porter) May 22, 2020

In Snyder's cut, which is set to stream on HBO Max in 2021 (after close to $30 million is spent completing it), Darkseid is said to have appeared at the beginning and end of the film - during the expository "History" part and then in the final scenes following villain Steppenwolf's demise. Porter teased his Darkseid role last summer ahead of Comic-Con by giving fans a sneak peek (listen?) at his Darkseid voice during a quick "Release the Snyder Cut" promotional video...

Justice League's cut Darkseid actor @Ray__Porter teases his Darkseid voice in new #ReleaseTheSnyderCut Comic-Con campaign video. https://t.co/mKNSeJSaYR pic.twitter.com/COWuA6WkGT

— Screen Rant (@screenrant) June 19, 2019

If you're looking for a deep dive into what the Snyder Cut is, or how the "Release the Snyder Cut" movement began, check out our full Snyder Cut explainer. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/20/snyder-cut-of-justice-league-is-actually-coming-to-hbo-max-ign-now"] 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.

Update: May 23, 1:50 p.m.

An earlier version of this story reported that former Ubisoft developer Charles Randall stated that side missions in Assassin's Creed were created in the final five days before the game's shipment deadline, and that the changes were a result of comments made by a CEO's child. Additional reporting has since clarified that that was an incorrect interpretation of Randall's remarks. We have updated the story to reflect that Randall specifically meant certain portions of side content (rather than "all side content") and that he is not certain if a CEO's child actually played any role in the process.

Original story as follows:

Looking back at the Assassin’s Creed series, it’s almost funny how one of the biggest franchises in gaming started out by receiving a modest 7.5 out of 10 from IGN. The first Assassin’s Creed game proved to feature interesting exploration of Crusades era cities, different (if wonky) combat, and way too many repetitive side content, which had you either hunting down Templars or collecting countless flags strewn about.

Former Ubisoft fight system AI lead Charles Randall initially explained that Assassin's Creed only had side missions because “the CEO’s kid played it,” and they were implemented only five days before the game was due to ship out to stores. (Randall later clarified that he is not sure if the CEO's child actually played the game, or if the CEO even had a child, but that the development team did receive very sudden feedback that they needed to act on).

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/09/24/every-ign-assassins-creed-review-score"]

In a Twitter thread early Saturday (first reported on by Eurogamer), Randall explained the odd story.

“So we're all ready to ship the game, first submission goes pretty well, and then...the news...the CEO's kid played the game and said it was boring and there was nothing to do in the game,” Randall said. “Oh yeah I forgot the key part. We have to put all these side missions into the game in five days, and they have to be bug-free, because the build is going to be burned directly to disc and released to retail."

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/07/heres-what-ubisofts-5-promised-aaa-games-in-2020-2021-could-be"]

Randall says he and a handful of others spent five days in the main conference building of Montreal’s Peck Building, a former textile factory where Ubisoft Montreal was located, all trying to implement the seemingly impossible task of adding the side content.

“Anyway, the rest of it is a blur, but I know that it went super well, because we did it,” Randall said. “We managed to implement all of it in 5 days. And it was bug-free... almost.”

“But I know it's a miracle that the game didn't just melt your console or whatever,” he added.

One major bug did manage to slip through. One Templar assassination side mission featured a target that could fall through the world and effectively die, but the player wouldn’t get the credit for the kill. This meant that if players wanted the perfect 1,000 Gamerscore, they’d have to start the game over. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=assassins-creed-valhalla-first-screenshots&captions=true"]

“So it turns out one of the Templar were parented to the wrong sector,” Randall said. “If you approached the Templar from the wrong direction, he fell through the world and was despawned. Which didn't give you credit for the kill, but stored him into the savegame as dead. No more spawning.”

Randall also admits that a bug where two assassins would spawn if you had two controllers plugged in was “probably my fault. You’re welcome.”

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/07/assassins-creed-valhalla-game-engine-reveal"]

These days, the Assassin’s Creed series has so much in-game content that some fans have criticized it for being too bloated, leading to conflicting messaging from Ubisoft on whether or not Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will be bigger or smaller than the absolutely immense Odyssey.

Don’t forget to check out the rest of our Assassin’s Creed Valhalla previews. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/saxon man for IGN.

Looking back at the Assassin’s Creed series, it’s almost funny how one of the biggest franchises in gaming started out by receiving a modest 7.5 out of 10 from IGN. The first Assassin’s Creed game proved to feature interesting exploration of Crusades era cities, different (if wonky) combat, and way too many repetitive side missions, which had you either hunting down Templars or collecting countless flags strewn about.

According to Charles Randall, who served as Ubisoft’s fight system AI lead on Assassin’s Creed, the game only had side missions because “the CEO’s kid played it,” and they were implemented only five days before the game was due to ship out to stores.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/09/24/every-ign-assassins-creed-review-score"]

In a Twitter thread early Saturday (first reported on by Eurogamer), Randall explained the odd story.

By Randall’s account, Assassin’s Creed was pretty much ready to ship without any side missions. This apparently changed when the CEO’s children took the game for a spin.

“So we're all ready to ship the game, first submission goes pretty well, and then...the news...the CEO's kid played the game and said it was boring and there was nothing to do in the game,” Randall said. “Oh yeah I forgot the key part. We have to put all these side missions into the game in five days, and they have to be bug-free, because the build is going to be burned directly to disc and released to retail."

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/07/heres-what-ubisofts-5-promised-aaa-games-in-2020-2021-could-be"]

Randall says he and a handful of others spent five days in the main conference building of Montreal’s Peck Building, a former textile factory where Ubisoft Montreal was located, all trying to implement the seemingly impossible task of adding the side missions.

“Anyway, the rest of it is a blur, but I know that it went super well, because we did it,” Randall said. “We managed to implement all of it in 5 days. And it was bug-free... almost.”

“But I know it's a miracle that the game didn't just melt your console or whatever,” he added.

One major bug did manage to slip through. One Templar assassination side mission featured a target that could fall through the world and effectively die, but the player wouldn’t get the credit for the kill. This meant that if players wanted the perfect 1,000 Gamerscore, they’d have to start the game over. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=assassins-creed-valhalla-first-screenshots&captions=true"]

“So it turns out one of the Templar were parented to the wrong sector,” Randall said. “If you approached the Templar from the wrong direction, he fell through the world and was despawned. Which didn't give you credit for the kill, but stored him into the savegame as dead. No more spawning.”

Randall also admits that a bug where two assassins would spawn if you had two controllers plugged in was “probably my fault. You’re welcome.”

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/07/assassins-creed-valhalla-game-engine-reveal"]

These days, the Assassin’s Creed series has so much in-game content that some fans have criticized it for being too bloated, leading to conflicting messaging from Ubisoft on whether or not Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will be bigger or smaller than the absolutely immense Odyssey.

Don’t forget to check out the rest of our Assassin’s Creed Valhalla previews. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/saxon man for IGN.

As the cast of Justice League express their happiness over the announcement of Zack Snyder's Justice League landing on HBO Max, word's come in that none of them will be called back into the fray for the $20-30 million worth of work still needed to complete the project. On this week's episode of The Wrap's "Wrap-Up" podcast, Wrap reporter guest Umberto Gonzalez mentioned how Warner Bros. is apparently drawing the line at more scenes being added featuring the stars of the film. "There’s not going to be any reshoots of any kind with any actors," Gonzalez stated. "It’s just additional dialogue. Here’s something that hasn’t been reported yet - [Zack Snyder] did want to shoot and he wanted to do additional photography but HBO Max said no, that’s not happening." "We’ll give you money for post-production," Gonzalez added, "for special effects, for scoring, and even ADR but no reshoots of any kind on this movie." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-major-justice-league-roster&captions=true"] Naturally, renegotiating with, and assembling, that cast once more would be quite the expensive and logistical feat, so it makes sense why HBO Max would nix the idea. And if the film is still to have the Martian Manhunter scene Snyder's said was in the original cut, then it could be done with CGI if needed. Back at the end of 2019, Zack Snyder himself confirmed the "Snyder Cut" existed, further increasing curiosity by posting photos of Cavill's Superman in a black suit that didn't appear in the film. If you're looking for a deep dive into what the Snyder Cut is, or how the "Release the Snyder Cut" movement began, check out our full Snyder Cut explainer. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/20/snyder-cut-of-justice-league-is-actually-coming-to-hbo-max-ign-now"] [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.

As the cast of Justice League express their happiness over the announcement of Zack Snyder's Justice League landing on HBO Max, word's come in that none of them will be called back into the fray for the $20-30 million worth of work still needed to complete the project. On this week's episode of The Wrap's "Wrap-Up" podcast, Wrap reporter guest Umberto Gonzalez mentioned how Warner Bros. is apparently drawing the line at more scenes being added featuring the stars of the film. "There’s not going to be any reshoots of any kind with any actors," Gonzalez stated. "It’s just additional dialogue. Here’s something that hasn’t been reported yet - [Zack Snyder] did want to shoot and he wanted to do additional photography but HBO Max said no, that’s not happening." "We’ll give you money for post-production," Gonzalez added, "for special effects, for scoring, and even ADR but no reshoots of any kind on this movie." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-major-justice-league-roster&captions=true"] Naturally, renegotiating with, and assembling, that cast once more would be quite the expensive and logistical feat, so it makes sense why HBO Max would nix the idea. And if the film is still to have the Martian Manhunter scene Snyder's said was in the original cut, then it could be done with CGI if needed. Back at the end of 2019, Zack Snyder himself confirmed the "Snyder Cut" existed, further increasing curiosity by posting photos of Cavill's Superman in a black suit that didn't appear in the film. If you're looking for a deep dive into what the Snyder Cut is, or how the "Release the Snyder Cut" movement began, check out our full Snyder Cut explainer. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/20/snyder-cut-of-justice-league-is-actually-coming-to-hbo-max-ign-now"] [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 news of Zack Snyder's cut of Justice League being slated for HBO Max in 2021, some fans have rekindled their interest in David Ayer's original take on 2016's Suicide Squad, which was originality supposed to end with a different villain and a much larger Justice League connection. Director David Ayer, who recently revealed that his "heart breaks" for Joker actor Jered Leto because of the work he did on the movie that went unseen due to cuts, recently responded to a question on Twitter regarding the scene in Suicide Squad between Leto's Joker and Common's Monster T.

It’s a long scene and Joker intimidated him into killing himself. https://t.co/JCDAumApv2

— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) May 22, 2020

Yes. https://t.co/HLgPNaBbQ2

— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) May 22, 2020

As you can see, the original question comes with the hashtag "#ReleaseTheAyerCut," which might now gain momentum in the wake of the Snyder Cut finally seeing the light of day. Many fans have always wanted to see the Joker scenes that got left out of the finished product. Even Leto himself told IGN, back in 2016, that "there’s so much that we shot that’s not in the film." With Justice League so much in the news now, we recently tracked the history of the Snyder Cut. Could it be that we wind up, at some point, if fan fervor persists, tracking the history of the Ayer Cut? [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-dceu-movie-review-score&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 news of Zack Snyder's cut of Justice League being slated for HBO Max in 2021, some fans have rekindled their interest in David Ayer's original take on 2016's Suicide Squad, which was originality supposed to end with a different villain and a much larger Justice League connection. Director David Ayer, who recently revealed that his "heart breaks" for Joker actor Jered Leto because of the work he did on the movie that went unseen due to cuts, recently responded to a question on Twitter regarding the scene in Suicide Squad between Leto's Joker and Common's Monster T.

It’s a long scene and Joker intimidated him into killing himself. https://t.co/JCDAumApv2

— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) May 22, 2020

Yes. https://t.co/HLgPNaBbQ2

— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) May 22, 2020

As you can see, the original question comes with the hashtag "#ReleaseTheAyerCut," which might now gain momentum in the wake of the Snyder Cut finally seeing the light of day. Many fans have always wanted to see the Joker scenes that got left out of the finished product. Even Leto himself told IGN, back in 2016, that "there’s so much that we shot that’s not in the film." With Justice League so much in the news now, we recently tracked the history of the Snyder Cut. Could it be that we wind up, at some point, if fan fervor persists, tracking the history of the Ayer Cut? [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-dceu-movie-review-score&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.

Celebrating Pac-Man’s 40th anniversary this Friday, Bandai Namco has announced that the iconic yellow gobbler will come to Minecraft as a new DLC. Bandai Namco also announced Pac-Man Live Studio, a free version of the game that you can play literally on a Twitch stream.

Bandai Namco worked with Amazon Games to bring Pac-Man Live Studio to life. The game allows up to four players to compete in one maze to eat the most pellets while surviving. Pretty standard Pac-Man stuff, but Live Studio will also let players create and share their own mazes, or just play the original Pac-Man map if they choose.

Every public maze will go into a leaderboard which can be used to discover popular mazes from other streamers and creators.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/22/pac-man-40th-anniversary-join-the-pac-trailer"]

The Pac-Man Minecraft DLC shifts things to a more modern perspective, with ten 3D mazes to explore, and some seriously oversized ghosts hunting you down. Players can compete for high scores, or create their own maps, too.

Some of Minecraft’s familiar items will also be usable in these new Pac-Man mazes, like a stick of TNT, which blows ghosts and the surrounding maze walls to smithereens. That’ll show Blinky. Check out the trailer at the top of the page.

As if all that weren’t enough, GPU company Nvidia has developed something called GameGAN, a “generative adversarial network trained on 50,000 PAC-MAN episodes.” Basically, Nvidia used AI to develop a playable version of the classic Pac-Man game without using an actual game engine. The AI watched 50,000 playthroughs of Pac-Man and was able to replicate it in a fully playable form without actually understanding the rules of the game, generating new visuals for every bit of player input. “We were blown away when we saw the results, in disbelief that AI could recreate the iconic PAC-MAN experience without a game engine,” said Koichiro Tsutsumi from BANDAI NAMCO Research Inc., the research development company of the game’s publisher BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc., which provided the PAC-MAN data to train GameGAN. “This research presents exciting possibilities to help game developers accelerate the creative process of developing new level layouts, characters, and even games.”

You can check out a video of the GameGAN version of Pac-Man here.

Bandai Namco has plenty of other stuff in store for Pac-Man fans, and you can find details on their official Pac-Man site. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joseph Knoop is a wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka.

Celebrating Pac-Man’s 40th anniversary this Friday, Bandai Namco has announced that the iconic yellow gobbler will come to Minecraft as a new DLC. Bandai Namco also announced Pac-Man Live Studio, a free version of the game that you can play literally on a Twitch stream.

Bandai Namco worked with Amazon Games to bring Pac-Man Live Studio to life. The game allows up to four players to compete in one maze to eat the most pellets while surviving. Pretty standard Pac-Man stuff, but Live Studio will also let players create and share their own mazes, or just play the original Pac-Man map if they choose.

Every public maze will go into a leaderboard which can be used to discover popular mazes from other streamers and creators.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/22/pac-man-40th-anniversary-join-the-pac-trailer"]

The Pac-Man Minecraft DLC shifts things to a more modern perspective, with ten 3D mazes to explore, and some seriously oversized ghosts hunting you down. Players can compete for high scores, or create their own maps, too.

Some of Minecraft’s familiar items will also be usable in these new Pac-Man mazes, like a stick of TNT, which blows ghosts and the surrounding maze walls to smithereens. That’ll show Blinky. Check out the trailer at the top of the page.

As if all that weren’t enough, GPU company Nvidia has developed something called GameGAN, a “generative adversarial network trained on 50,000 PAC-MAN episodes.” Basically, Nvidia used AI to develop a playable version of the classic Pac-Man game without using an actual game engine. The AI watched 50,000 playthroughs of Pac-Man and was able to replicate it in a fully playable form without actually understanding the rules of the game, generating new visuals for every bit of player input. “We were blown away when we saw the results, in disbelief that AI could recreate the iconic PAC-MAN experience without a game engine,” said Koichiro Tsutsumi from BANDAI NAMCO Research Inc., the research development company of the game’s publisher BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc., which provided the PAC-MAN data to train GameGAN. “This research presents exciting possibilities to help game developers accelerate the creative process of developing new level layouts, characters, and even games.”

You can check out a video of the GameGAN version of Pac-Man here.

Bandai Namco has plenty of other stuff in store for Pac-Man fans, and you can find details on their official Pac-Man site. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joseph Knoop is a wokka-wokka-wokka-wokka.