Monthly Archives: January 2021

Tomb Raider Anime Series in Development at Netflix

A Tomb Raider anime series is in development at Netflix, and will be set after the events of Crystal Dynamics' most recent trilogy of games. The streaming service announced the news in a press release on Wednesday. Tasha Huo, who is working with Netflix on The Witcher: Blood Origin, will write and executive produce. Legendary Entertainment is working with Netflix on Tomb Raider after previously working with the streamer on the Lost in Space remake. It was also announced on Wednesday that Legendary is working on a Skull Island anime series at Netflix. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/01/shadow-of-the-tomb-raider-developers-react-to-48-minute-speedrun"] dj2 Entertainment is also working on the Tomb Raider anime. It's the latest in a long line of video game adaptations for the company following the Sonic the Hedgehog movie. They have a movie based on Sleeping Dogs in development along with TV shows based on My Friend Pedro, Disco Elysium, Life is Strange, and more. There's no word yet if Camilla Luddington, who played Lara Croft in the reboot trilogy, is part of this project. The actress is currently starring on Grey's Anatomy and recently played Zatanna in the animated Justice League: Dark movie from 2017 and its 2020 sequel, Apokolips War. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-best-anime-series-on-netflix-right-now&captions=true"] Shadow of the Tomb Raider was the last game released in the series. It came out in 2018 and earned mostly positive reviews from critics. IGN's Shadow of the Tomb Raider review praised the game and said, it "convincingly leaves her in a place resembling where she was when we were first introduced to her more than 20 years ago." The Tomb Raider movie franchise is also still in full swing. The sequel will be written and directed by the creator of Lovecraft Country with Alicia Vikander once again playing Lara Croft. Anybody looking for some current anime recommendations on Netflix can check out IGN's updated list of the best anime on Netflix. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Petey Oneto is a freelance writer for IGN.

Kevin Feige Says The Marvel’s Eternals Pitch Was the Best He’s Ever Heard

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has packed on the praise for Eternals filmmaker Chloé Zhao and, more specifically, the pitch that she delivered for her upcoming MCU Phase 4 movie. Rolling Stone magazine recently published a profile piece on Zhao, featuring insight from Feige and others in the industry about the process of bringing her visions to life on the big screen. Feige commended the Eternals helmer for catching his attention with her ideas for the upcoming MCU entry, as he apparently referred to "Zhao's pitch for the movie the best he'd ever heard." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/08/03/marvels-eternals-movie-explained"] "Not only does Chloe make remarkable, small, personal movies in a remarkable, small, personal way, but she thinks in grand, cosmic, gigantic terms, which fit perfectly with what we wanted to do," Feige explained, speaking about Zhao's journey to the MCU. "Eternals is a very big, sweeping, multimillennial-spanning story. And she just got it." During last year's D23 Marvel panel, Disney officially revealed the celestial costumes for Thena, Ikaris, Ajak, Phastos, Kingo, and the rest of the Eternals. Despite being a clan of god-like beings, Rolling Stone says Zhao wanted to keep the story grounded and experimental, "like you're right there in this space with these characters," so she shot the movie with the same rig she used for her indie film Nomadland. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-actor-and-character-confirmed-for-marvels-eternals-movie&captions=true"] Marvel's Eternals, the third film in the MCU's Phase 4, features a stellar cast consisting of Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, Kit Harington. Kumail Nanjiani, Lauren Ridloff, Brian Tyree Henry, and Salma Hayek. Reportedly the most "sci-fi" movie of the MCU, Eternals follows the exploits of an immortal alien race created by the Celestials as they reunite to protect humanity from their evil counterparts, the Deviants. Sadly, Eternals was part of the huge slate of Disney movies that were delayed towards the end of last year, with the movie now scheduled to arrive on November 5, 2021. For more on Marvel Studios' future slate of projects and releases, read our breakdown of the biggest and most noteworthy developments in the MCU, on Disney+, and in Marvel's comics this year. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

Kevin Feige Says The Marvel’s Eternals Pitch Was the Best He’s Ever Heard

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has packed on the praise for Eternals filmmaker Chloé Zhao and, more specifically, the pitch that she delivered for her upcoming MCU Phase 4 movie. Rolling Stone magazine recently published a profile piece on Zhao, featuring insight from Feige and others in the industry about the process of bringing her visions to life on the big screen. Feige commended the Eternals helmer for catching his attention with her ideas for the upcoming MCU entry, as he apparently referred to "Zhao's pitch for the movie the best he'd ever heard." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/08/03/marvels-eternals-movie-explained"] "Not only does Chloe make remarkable, small, personal movies in a remarkable, small, personal way, but she thinks in grand, cosmic, gigantic terms, which fit perfectly with what we wanted to do," Feige explained, speaking about Zhao's journey to the MCU. "Eternals is a very big, sweeping, multimillennial-spanning story. And she just got it." During last year's D23 Marvel panel, Disney officially revealed the celestial costumes for Thena, Ikaris, Ajak, Phastos, Kingo, and the rest of the Eternals. Despite being a clan of god-like beings, Rolling Stone says Zhao wanted to keep the story grounded and experimental, "like you're right there in this space with these characters," so she shot the movie with the same rig she used for her indie film Nomadland. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-actor-and-character-confirmed-for-marvels-eternals-movie&captions=true"] Marvel's Eternals, the third film in the MCU's Phase 4, features a stellar cast consisting of Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, Kit Harington. Kumail Nanjiani, Lauren Ridloff, Brian Tyree Henry, and Salma Hayek. Reportedly the most "sci-fi" movie of the MCU, Eternals follows the exploits of an immortal alien race created by the Celestials as they reunite to protect humanity from their evil counterparts, the Deviants. Sadly, Eternals was part of the huge slate of Disney movies that were delayed towards the end of last year, with the movie now scheduled to arrive on November 5, 2021. For more on Marvel Studios' future slate of projects and releases, read our breakdown of the biggest and most noteworthy developments in the MCU, on Disney+, and in Marvel's comics this year. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

PlayStation Plus Games for February 2021 Announced

Sony has revealed that Destruction AllStars, Control: Ultimate Edition (PS4 and PS5!), and Concrete Genie are the PlayStation Plus games for February 2021. Announced on PlayStation.Blog, all three games will be available on February 2, 2021. While Control: Ultimate Edition and Concrete Genie will only be available until March 1, Destruction AllStars will stay until April 5. Alongside this news, PlayStation also shared its newest State of Play, and it is focused entirely on Destruction AllStars. It lasts nearly eight minutes, and gives an in-depth look at the "car-smashing, heart-pounding, thrill-seeking world of Destruction AllStars." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/27/destruction-allstars-state-of-play-video"] Control: Ultimate Edition is a welcome one, as there was a bit of controversy over the fact that this version was the only one that would get the next-gen upgrades. Those who purchased the base game would have to buy Control again to get these improvements. Control was our game of the year in 2019, and in our review, we said "thanks to a strong supporting cast, a well-written script, and plenty of intriguing breadcrumb trails, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my adventure through the shifting rooms of Oldest House. Jesse’s personal story feels like an afterthought next to that, but there’s enough to Control’s world that I remain invested in uncovering every secret, even though the story’s over." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/10/why-control-is-igns-game-of-the-year-for-2019"] Concrete Genie was released on PS4 in 2019, and in our review, we said "Short and very sweet, Concrete Genie is a spellbinding experiment in player creativity." Concrete Genie also includes two additional modes that were designed for PS VR. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/10/08/concrete-genie-review"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] 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.

New Mortal Kombat and The Suicide Squad Clips Released in Warner Bros. Sizzle Reel

Warner Bros. has released a sizzle reel of its upcoming movie releases, which includes new snippets of Mortal Kombat and The Suicide Squad, among others. The reel, showing off the movies that will arrive in theaters and on HBO Max on the same day, includes several shots of Mortal Kombat, including new looks at an unmasked Scorpion sword fighting with masked attackers, and Sonya Blade pointing to the words "Motal Kombat" on a picture and saying, "It's an invitation to Mortal Kombat" (just in case you didn't understand what the movie was called, I guess). As for The Suicide Squad, we see a familiar rainy long shot of the titular squad, set to the words, "So this is the famous Suicide Squad" (also just in case you didn't guess), as well as Idris Elba's Bloodsport saying, "no one likes a show-off", to which John Cena's Peacemaker replies, "Unless what they're showing off is dope as f-", before being cut off. We also see a split-second of Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn escaping a collapsing building. The reel comprises a huge list of movies coming from Warner Bros. and HBO Max: The Little Things, Judas and the Black Messiah, Tom & Jerry the Movie, Godzilla vs. Kong, Mortal Kombat, Those Who Wish Me Dead, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, In the Heights, The Suicide Squad, Reminiscence, Cry Macho, King Richard, Space Jam: A New Legacy, Malignant, The Many Saints of Newark, Dune, and the untitled Matrix 4 (no footage of that one, I'm afraid). [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-suicide-squad-whos-who-full-cast-and-character-reveals&captions=true"] Mortal Kombat will arrive on April 16, and we recently got new images and details, including a mention of the fatalities. The reboot includes Mehcad Brooks as Jackson "Jax" Briggs, Chin Han as Shang Tsung, Hiroyuki Sanada as Scorpion, Joe Taslim as Sub-Zero, Tadanobu Asano as Raiden, Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Sisi Stringer as Mileena, Josh Lawson as Kano, Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Max Huang as Lung Lao Max, and Lewis Tan as an all-new character. The Suicide Squad, from director James Gunn, is described as a gritty war movie, and has a truly bonkers cast, from Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, to John Cena as Peacemaker, to Idris Elba as Bloodsport, to Sylvester Stallone and Taika Waititi. It will arrive on August 6. Warner Bros.' decision to release its movies in theaters and streaming has been highly controversial, with director Christopher Nolan saying "they don't understand what they're losing". [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Skull Island Anime Series Announced By Netflix

Netflix has announced Skull Island, a new anime series set in the Legendary MonsterVerse. It will be produced by Powerhouse Animation, the studio behind Castlevania. As detailed by the tweet, the series will involve a shipwrecked crew landing on an island full of monsters, where one king rules them all. That 'king' is likely to be King Kong himself, considering Skull Island is the giant gorilla's home. Skull Island has been featured in numerous films, starting in the 1933 movie King Kong. Most recently, it was the setting of Kong: Skull Island, and modern film fans will also recall it being a large part of Peter Jackson's King Kong. The Kong: Skull Island version of the setting is officially part of the Legendary MonsterVerse, and so may well be the starting point for this show, which is also an official part of the universe. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/24/godzilla-vs-kong-official-trailer"] No images or artwork has yet been shown, but Powerhouse Animation has produced a variety of well-liked shows, including Netflix's Castlevania adaptation and Blood of Zeus. The studio is based in Austin, Texas, but has produced animation in a similar style to Japanese anime studios. For more, check out our look at every monster in the MonsterVerse, why Kong is so big in the upcoming Godzilla vs. Kong movie, and vote in our survey on who you think will win the epic monster battle [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. 

Skate Sequel to Be Developed by New EA Studio, Full Circle

EA has announced the newest studio in its stable, Full Circle, and the Vancouver-based, but also globally focused, studio will be the team behind the recently announced new Skate game. While it remains unclear whether the newest entry in the Skate franchise will be Skate 4, or reboot of the franchise, or something else, EA confirmed the Full Circle team will be led by Daniel McCulloch, the former Head of Box Live at Microsoft. Returning Skate producers Deran Chung and Cuz Parry remain on board, having appeared in the Skate sequel's announcement video at EA Play 2020. [caption id="attachment_2465615" align="alignnone" width="720"]Full Circle's Studio Logo Full Circle's Studio Logo[/caption] “The fans wished Skate back into existence and we want them to feel involved in the process from development to game launch and beyond. We want them to feel like they are a part of Full Circle,” McCulloch said in a statement accompanying the announcement. “We’re all about having fun and making great games that people want to play with their friends. And, we’re looking for more developers to help us build compelling worlds for players to explore.” The new studio is currently hiring for various positions including artists, designers, and engineers, and while it's based in Vancouver, is "embracing a geo-diverse team" with members involved in development "around the globe." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/untitled-skate-game-announcement-trailer-ea-play-2020"] Full Circle joins EA Sports and Respawn Entertainment as the third EA Studio in the Canadian city. Unfortunately, there's no new word on development on the next Skate thus far, or any additional details about the vision for the upcoming game, but late last year we learned the new Skate may have a focus on user-generated content. At the time, EA's Andrew Wilson discussed how the new Skate was in "very early development" but that trends within the skateboarding world could fit into the scope of the new game. "You take a game like Skate, and while skateboarding in and of itself has tremendous appeal to a huge, global audience, there’s another secular trend that’s happening inside our industry around user-generated content, open-world, and interaction,” Wilson said last June. “So for many people, you think about skating as a starting point that has appeal, but you start to build in user-generated content, exploration, and community on top of that and that expands the opportunity exponentially." [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jonathon Dornbush is IGN's Senior News Editor, host of Podcast Beyond!, and PlayStation lead. Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush.

European Commission Could Take Action Against Nintendo for Joy-Con Drift

Update 01/29/2021: The European Commission has confirmed that it will consider complaints into Nintendo Switch Joy-Con Drift, potentially launching further investigation and "coordinated action". Speaking to IGN, a European Commission (EC) spokesperson explained: "The European Commission will carefully consider all the elements brought forward by BEUC together with the national consumer authorities in the coming weeks to assess the need for further investigation into the matter and a possible coordinated action as foreseen under the Consumer protection cooperation (CPC) regulation." Asked what that coordinated action could involve, the EC spokesperson pointed to previous cases, in which companies were compelled to change their practices after being deemed to have broken EU consumer law. The original complaint called for Nintendo to offer free repairs to existing Joy-Cons, and to change the design in future models to prevent drift – the EC has made no mention of what it could enforce. Didier Reynders, Commissioner for Justice provided a statement on the investigation centring on the idea of early obsolescence, in which companies are seen to create products that begin failing early, necessitating replacement or repair: “Early obsolescence is a growing concern for all consumers. The Commission is determined to act against such trends and to empower consumers in the green transition. We are preparing a new legislative initiative aiming to provide consumers with better information on products’ sustainability, including durability, and better protection against certain practices, such as early obsolescence.” It's not the first time Nintendo's fallen under EC scrutiny. In 2002, the Commission imposed a €149 million fine against the company for price-fixing, which was later reduced to €119 million on appeal. The EC has also recently levied fines on a number of game companies, including Valve, for geo-blocking games on digital services. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/07/23/nintendos-non-response-to-joy-con-drift-ign-now"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] The European Consumer Organization has submitted a complaint to the European Commission about Nintendo Switch Joy-Con Drift, and is calling for a "Europe-wide investigation" into the issue. The European Consumer Organization (BEUC) revealed the news on the organization's website, noting that "nearly 25,000" complaints have been filed from Switch-owning consumers across Europe. If you're unfamiliar with Joy-Con drift, it's when the analog sticks on the console's controllers register movements without input from the player. The article reports that, according to testimonies from consumers, "in 88% of cases, the game controllers broke within the first two years of use." This has led the BEUC to submit a complaint to the European Commission and national consumer protection authorities "for premature obsolescence and misleading omissions of key consumer information." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/14/joy-con-drift-is-still-a-huge-issue-nvc-508"] The BEUC is further calling for a "Europe-wide investigation" into the Joy-Con Drift issue, asking Nintendo to "urgently address the premature failures of its product." The article also suggests that the faulty controllers should be repaired for free by Nintendo. Per the complaint letter submitted, the BEUC is asking the European Commission to "call on the national authorities to investigate Nintendo’s practices in their countries, launch a coordinated enforcement action and issue a joint position, which should request the company to change the design of their product, to effectively prevent its early obsolescence, and until then, to repair this product for free and properly inform consumers about the limited lifespan of the Joy-Con controllers." "Consumers assume the products they buy to last an appropriate amount of time according to justified expectations, not to have to pay for expensive replacements due to a technical defect," said Monique Goyens, Director of the BEUC. "Nintendo must now come up with proper solutions for the thousands of consumers affected by this problem." Nintendo has been facing legal trouble over the issue in Europe, Canada and the US recently, with Canadian law firm lambert Avocat filing an application to bring a class-action suit against Nintendo in January of this year. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Batora: Lost Haven Announced by Remothered Developers

Remothered developers Stormind Games have announced Batora: Lost Haven, a new action-RPG in development for current-gen consoles (including Nintendo Switch) and next-gen consoles as well as PC. Batora puts you in control of Avril, a regular teenage girl who finds herself traveling to many planets to try and save a dying Earth from being destroyed. As the Stormind team describes it, "Batora is based on the duality between mind and body, introducing a new game mechanic that challenges players to find the perfect balance between the two - losing sight of one could mean that their journey is over. Batora doesn’t present the hero’s journey in black or white, good or evil: there are decisions and there are their consequences. Every single decision Avril makes will turn out to be important, often even life-changing, for the characters she meets or the places she visits." In gameplay terms, this means mastering when to alternate between physical-based and mental-based attacks within the same battles, which you can get a hint of in the announcement trailer above. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=batora-lost-haven-announcement-screenshots&captions=true"] The art direction is described as a 1950's sci-fi aesthetic inspired by the work of Paul Lehr. “Bridging the gap between the physical and mental calls for a particular visual representation and we’ve really tried to distinguish between the two with a hand-painted approach inspired by Sci-Fi art of the 1950s versus the photo-realistic approach of many of today’s AAA titles," said art director Gaetano Caltabiano. "We’ve really drawn a lot of inspiration from the likes of Alphonse Mucha and the intense sci-fi environments of Paul Lehr.” Batora will also have help from talent that's helped create games like the Batman: Arkham series and Assassin's Creed, as well as award-winning writer Anne Toole (The Witcher, Horizon: Zero Dawn). We'll have more on Batora: Lost Haven as development progresses. In the meantime check out IGN's review of Remothered: Broken Porcelain. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s Executive Editor of Previews. Follow him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan, catch him on Unlocked, and drop-ship him Taylor Ham sandwiches from New Jersey whenever possible.

The Medium Review: Well-Done

The world of The Medium begs to be closely examined, to be parsed for small details that begin to paint monsters as something not too dissimilar to humans. Recognizing these similarities, at times, can be even more terrifying than facing an actual grotesque creature. There's something disturbing about being forced to confront the evils that humans can inflict on one another, and recognize how horrific acts of sexual abuse, ethnoreligious discrimination, and physical violence rarely, if ever, result in a singular trauma. The aftereffects of such actions can fester in the heart and mind of victims for years, an unsettling truth that is often glossed over. It's here that The Medium finds the basis for its story, one that leaves a lasting impression

In The Medium, you play as Marianne (voiced by Kelly Burke, who does a fabulous job), a powerful clairvoyant who travels to the Niwa Resort. She goes there in search of Thomas, a man who leaves her a strange message telling her to find and help him, promising that he'll give her the answers she seeks about her past in return. As a medium, Marianne is able to commune with spirits and help them pass on to the afterlife, a skill she's developed working in her foster father's funeral home. To that end, The Medium plays out on two planes of existence: the normal world and the spirit world, the latter of which acts as a twisted reflection of the former.

The spirit world--inspired by the surreal dystopia portrayed in the paintings of Zdzisław Beksiński--is a nightmarish hellscape, one where the doors are made of human skin that you have to slowly carve open with a rusty knife, and the inhabitants are either monstrous creatures or creepy mask-wearing spirits. Even Marianne takes on a new appearance when navigating the spirit world, the sleeve of her kickass jacket (she's so stylishly put together, I'm jealous as hell) and pant leg becoming frayed, as if this version of her is an incomplete, less-human being. But these two depictions of the world are not black and white opposites. Instead, the game posits that they exist as mirrors of one another--one manifesting literally what the other only hints at figuratively. And via this shared window into both perspectives, The Medium is able to explore the trauma of its characters through puzzle-solving and riddles.

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