Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's newest DLC character is Pyra from Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Revealed during the February 2021 Nintendo Direct, Pyra a character from Monolith's Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is coming to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Pyra will be coming to the fighter sometime in March. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is Monolith's last RPG. A sequel to Xenoblade on the Wii, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 takes place in a fantastical world where Blades are summoned from "Core Crystals." Pyra is a blade and partner of the hero, Rex. A prequel DLC called Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna - The Golden Country was released in 2018. Read IGN's Xenoblade Chronicles 2 review here. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/17/super-smash-bros-ultimate-pyra-and-mythra-dlc-character-announcement-trailer"] Pyra is the latest character added to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate through the new Fighters Pass. Nintendo says a full breakdown of Pyra's moves will be revealed at a later date. But from the trailer, Pyra appears to be primarily a blade user with a heavy, fire-based attack. Pyra can also seemingly work with Mythra, another character from Xenoblade Chronicles 2. The two characters can swap between each other, potentially similar to how Zelda could formally swap with Sheik. As with all characters added through the Fighters Pass, a new stage and music will also be included with the new release. Last December, Nintendo revealed Final Fantasy's Sephiroth and then later released the character as the latest in Ultimate's growing roster of fighters. And Smash Bros. fans have more to look forward to, as Banjo-Kazooie, Byleth, and Terry amiibo are on the way in March. Other fighter editions for the most recent Fighters Pass have included Steve from Minecraft and Arms' Min Min.

Microsoft has announced FPS Boost, an enhancement system for backwards-compatible games on Xbox Series X and Series S that can double - or sometimes even quadruple - frame rates. FPS Boost will be applied to select games, and the first five to be enhanced are Far Cry 4, New Super Lucky’s Tale, Sniper Elite 4, UFC 4, and Watch Dogs 2. As the name suggests, FPS Boost improves the frames-per-second performance of each of these games on the newer, more powerful Xbox Series X/S consoles. Microsoft notes that it chose these first five games as they are both popular and show the range of improvement available. New Super Lucky's Tale has been pushed to 120fps, while UFC 4 has been specifically tailored to run at 60fps on Xbox Series S. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/11/05/xbox-series-x-review"] For players who'd rather experience these games in their original format with lower frame rates, FPS Boost can be toggled on and off. This is similar to how Xbox's other back-compat technology, Auto HDR, works. A new Compatibility Options menu will be added to allow you to toggle both of these technologies. These FPS Boost performance enhancements come via Microsoft’s Xbox team rather than the games’ original dev teams, and so there’s no additional development needed from studios. They are applied via patches just like a developer title update, though, so if you wish to play any of these five games with FPS Boost, just make sure your Xbox Series X/S has updated them to their latest version. Last year, Phil Spencer said that frame rate is more important than resolution. Since these are backwards compatible games from the Xbox One generation, this will be the chance to get both frame rate and resolution. For more on backwards compatibility, check out our list of all the previous generation Xbox games playable on Xbox Series X/S. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. 

Zack Snyder has discussed Warner Bros. hazy plans for international distribution of his Justice League cut, calling the studio's roll out of the eagerly-anticipated movie "not amazing." Snyder spoke to the SnyderCutBR YouTube channel about his upcoming four-hour superhero cut, and the director expressed his disappointment at how Warner Bros. was handling the movie's launch outside of the US. For example, Justice League's UK trailer didn't reveal when the film would make its way to British shores, which is a far cry from the March 18 release date seen in the US HBO Max trailer. When asked for his thoughts on Justice League's international rollout, Snyder expressed his dissatisfaction over when non-US audiences would be able to watch his original vision for the DC flick. “There has been, you know, not amazing work done with the distribution of the movie. I don’t know why that is, I honestly couldn’t put my finger on it." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/14/zack-snyders-justice-league-official-trailer"] Snyder did, however, state his belief that the usual practice regarding international movie distribution might have impacted on Warner Bros.' decision over when to bring Justice League to international audiences. HBO Max won't launch in Latin America until June, while a European release is expected to come later this year. "I don’t want to make it seem like there’s some sort of conspiracy out there," he said. "I think part of the problem is no one saw the movie coming. I think that the normal window, or the normal way people in Hollywood distribute movies, is they understand when the movie gets made that it’s going to have to be distributed. Normally, they have like a two-year window to figure that all out. The problem is this happened in six months and came to life. It’s caught everyone off guard.” [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/14/zack-snyders-justice-league-trailer-breakdown-will-batman-and-joker-be-allies"] Snyder's comments make him the latest director to pick holes in Warner Bros.' distribution decisions, with Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve also criticising the studio over its choice to release its biggest movies in theaters and on HBO Max simultaneously. In other movie news, Warner Bros. recently dropped a series of Mortal Kombat posters ahead of the official trailer's release on February 18. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Tom Power is a UK-based freelance writer. Follow him on Twitter.

Experts in the fighting games community have been given early access to Guilty Gear Strive, and many seem to be impressed with the game's rollback netcode. As originally reported by EventHubs, many members of the fighting game community are reporting smooth games between players in the USA, Japan and Korea, which will be music to the ears of those anticipating Arc System Works' upcoming fighting game. Eight-time Evo champion Justin Wong said on Twitter that the "game feels amazing and NETCODE is so good!!!." "I was able to play against people from Japan and Korea with no LAG," he adds.

Going to sleep so I can work in the morning and then play more strive later....

Overall game feels amazing and NETCODE is so good!!! I was able to play against people from Japan and Korea with no LAG. GGs to everyone and Potemkin needs Damage BUFF — Justin Wong (@JWonggg) February 16, 2021

Dogura, a professional player signed to Cyclops Gaming Osaka played against Wong in the beta, reporting on Twittter that there "was no delay, no lag." "Is this really a match against the United States?," Dogura added. "I can't help but be surprised. incrediblllllllle." Jiyuna, a streamer and event organizer based in Tokyo called it "the best [fighting game] netplay I've ever played." Jiyuna added that they don't know whether it's better than Good Game Peace Out, a middleware used to create a "near-lagless" online experience in-game, but that the netcode and input buffer make the game "feel better than an older game with strict timing like (Guilty Gear XX Accent Core) +R."

Played for 5 hours and this was the best FG netplay I've ever played. I don't know if it's technically *better* than GGPO, but I think the good netcode + game's input buffer makes it feel better than an older game with strict timing like +R. Try it for yourselves and judge. #GGST https://t.co/r4PF6ioarl

— J I Y U N A (@jiyunaJP) February 16, 2021

Those who preorder the game will be able to access the open beta of Guilty Gear Strive from February 17, with the beta running until February 21. Those without a preorder can play from February 18. Here are 25 minutes of high-level gameplay of every beta character from Guilty Gear Strive. The game was initially delayed out of 2020 due to COVID-19, but the full release will land on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and PC on April 9, 2021. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

No Man's Sky has received another update, titled Companions, which lets players adopt and breed alien companions. The Companions update launches today and will let players "tame, breed, train and even speak to the creatures they encounter." No Man's Sky has long been known for the inimitable alien creatures that inhabit the game's procedural planets, but this update will let players interact with them on a deeper level. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/17/no-mans-sky-companions-official-trailer"] Explorers can adopt creatures as sidekicks for their interstellar adventures, and the tamed beasts can be trained "to scan for resources, mark out hazards, provide light, hunt dangerous fauna, find settlements, excavate buried treasure or even mine for materials with their own shoulder-mounted mining lasers." Once a companion is nurtured they will also lay eggs which can be incubated by the player. A new system called the Egg Sequencer will also let players genetically modify their alien eggs to create variant and rare species, which can be sold to other travellers. "A wide range of customisable accessories and decals" will also be made available so players can create a stylish companion. Hello Games notes that "no two creatures are alike," and that the personality of the new companions will be defined "by their species and ecosystem." This will colour their emotional interactions with other players, who may also have a companion. You can also connect your companion to an Exosuit via a neural harness, and their alien thoughts will be "translated and sent directly to your internal communication channels," allowing players to communicate with their new alien friends. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=no-mans-sky-companions-update&captions=true"] Beyond the addition of companions, the update will also "bring significant improvements to load and warp times for PlayStation 4 players." You can check out full patch notes on the Hello Games website. Hello Games says that this is the start of the game's 5th anniversary festivities, but they "have a lot planned" for the rest of 2021. In other Hello Games news, Sean Murray has said that the studio won't be talking about its new game for a while, but that it's going to be big. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Marvel's Eternals star Kumail Nanjiani has revealed how director Chloe Zhao carefully selected the cast for the upcoming cosmic superhero movie. Nanjiani was interviewed by Vulture as part of a profile piece on The Rider and Nomadland director, and the ex-Silicon Valley actor explained that Zhao made her choices based on how each star's personality fitted into their Eternals counterpart. Nanjiani, who will portray Kingo in the superhero flick, described why he was surprised by a particular answer that Zhao gave him during a meeting about his character, and how that extended to the movie's whole cast. "I was like 'Okay, so how do you want to see Kingo?'" Nanjiani said. "She was like 'He's you. I picked you because I wanted him to be you.' That's how she picked the entire cast. She wanted everybody to put pieces of themselves into each character." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/12/wandavision-episode-6-review"] The Eternals' ensemble is the most diverse cast seen in a Marvel movie to date, and Nanjiani puts that down to the commitment shown by Zhao - who is also the first Asian woman to direct an MCU movie - to represent different ethnicities and cultures in a superhero flick. Recalling a shot of the cast, Nanjiani admitted that he got emotional over the image. He said: "You never see a movie with a cast that looks like the world this much, let alone big superheroes in a Marvel movie." Nanjiani is the latest member of the Eternals team to heap praise on Zhao over her vision of the film. Fellow Eternals star Salma Hayek recently described the film as possessing "a completely different DNA" to previous MCU movies due to the way it was shot, while Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige revealed that Zhao's Eternals pitch was the "best he'd ever heard". [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/16/marvels-avengers-operation-hawkeye-future-imperfect-trailer"] In other Marvel news, Falcon and the Winter Soldier actress Emily VanCamp revealed how the upcoming Disney+ show compares to WandaVision's trippiness, while Assembled - a new Disney+ documentary series - will provide a behind-the-scenes look at Marvel's 2021 TV series. Thumbnail photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images [poilib element="accentDivider"] Tom Power is a UK-based freelance writer who cannot wait for Marvel's Eternals. Follow him on Twitter.

The landmark Microsoft-Bethesda acquisition was reportedly a factor in Google's decision to close its Stadia game development studios. A report from Kotaku says that Google Stadia General Manager Phil Harrison brought it up as a factor during a Q&A with staff following Google's decision to shut down its two internal game studios in Los Angeles and Montreal in early February. According to Kotaku's sources, Harrison "pointed specifically to Microsoft’s buying spree and planned acquisition of Bethesda Software later this year as one of the factors that had made Google decide to close the book on original game development." Microsoft announced its plans to acquire Zenimax Media and Bethesda Softworks in September 2020, bringing blockbuster franchises such as The Elder Scrolls, Fallout and Doom under its wing. It's not entirely clear what the connection between the acquisition and Stadia's decision is, although it could be seen as an inability to compete in the market. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/11/22/google-stadia-review"] Harrison reportedly mentioned the COVID-19 pandemic and "the rising costs of game development" as other factors in the decision. Kotaku's report notes that the studio's game developers were shocked by the decision to close the studios, as just weeks before they had been praised by Harrison via email for the "great progress" made by the teams. Kotaku's sources say this was "emblematic" of the reported mismanagement at Stadia's studios prior to their closure. Despite the first-party studio closures, Google recently announced that more than 100 third-party games would be added to its streaming service by the end of 2021. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Warner Bros. has released a series of motion posters for the upcoming Mortal Kombat movie, featuring Mileena, Kung Lao, and many, many more. The short videos, released on Twitter, offered fans a closer look at who's playing who in the latest adaptation of the blockbuster video game series, which is scheduled to cannonball onto HBO Max and into theaters on April 16, 2021. The posters were unveiled alongside the announcement of the new trailer arriving on Thursday, February 18. Check out the screenshots of the posters in our gallery: [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=mortal-kombat-reboot-movie-character-posters&captions=true"] The posters showcase the movie's cast of ferocious fighters, including Joe Taslim's Sub-Zero, Josh Lawson's Kano, Sisi Stringer's Mileena, Max Huang's Kung Lao, Chin Han's Shang Tsung, Jessica McNamee's Sonya Blade, Ludi Lin's Liu Kang, Tadanobu Asano's Raiden, Mehcad Brooks' Jax Briggs, Hiroyuki Sanada's Scorpion, and Lewis Tan's Cole Young — an all-new character, described as a "washed-up MMA fighter" who bears a mysterious birthmark in the shape of the Mortal Kombat symbol on his chest. Together with Sonya Blade, his journey will lead him to the temple of a thunderous Elder God known as Lord Raiden, where he will come into contact with a group of highly-skilled fighters, resulting in plenty of fights and (for the first time) "crazy fatalities," which means the R-rated movie will likely feature several of the classic violent finisher moves. "There are some crazy fatalities," revealed Tan, who performed his own stunts on set. "We've picked a couple of iconic ones. There's a lot of really cool signature moves that you'll see, a lot of Easter eggs that we snuck into the film, but there are some really badass fatalities that I can't wait to see on the big screen. They're brutal, man. They, they don't hold back." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/16/will-the-new-mortal-kombat-movie-be-good-or-bad-good"] Warner Bros. is expected to release the new James Wan-produced live-action adaptation of Mortal Kombat to theaters and HBO Max simultaneously. The movie's distribution plan was reconsidered due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which has impacted several studios and their respective release calendars over the past year. For more Mortal Kombat action, check out our deep-dive into the history of its bizarre movie and TV adaptations and read more about how the upcoming movie will be grounded in realism. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

HBO Max's animated Gremlins prequel series, Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, has officially set its voice cast. According to Variety, Ming-Na Wen (The Mandalorian, Mulan) will voice Fong Wing, a doctor of Chinese medicine who is said to be "resourceful, slyly funny and fiercely protective of her family," while BD Wong (Jurassic Park, Mr. Robot) will voice Hon Wing, a character described as a "calm rock" who "never believed his father-in-law's tales of magic and adventure." Together, they will portray the mother and father of 10-year-old Sam Wing, aka the future antique shop owner from the 1984 live-action movie, who will be voiced by Izaac Wang (Raya and the Last Dragon, Clifford the Big Red Dog). Sam's worldly-wise grandfather will be voiced by James Hong (Big Trouble in Little China, Mulan), while Matthew Rhys (The Americans, Perry Mason) has been cast as the villain. Rhys' character, Riley Greene, is described as a "power-hungry English industrialist and treasure hunter who wields black magic that is determined to stop at nothing in his pursuit of Gizmo and the mythical treasure of the Mogwai." Gizmo will be voiced by A.J. LoCascio, while Sam's friend Elle will be voiced by Gabrielle Green. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2015/12/06/12-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-gremlins"] Set in 1920s Shanghai, the animated television adaptation will tell the story of how Sam Wing met the young Mogwai called Gizmo. Sam and Gizmo, together with Elle, will take a perilous journey through the Chinese countryside, encountering, and sometimes battling, colorful monsters and spirits from Chinese folklore. However, on their quest to return Gizmo to his family and uncover a legendary treasure, they will be pursued by Riley Greene and his growing army of evil Gremlins. Tze Chun is writing and co-executive producing the 10-episode series for HBO Max, though there is no official release date yet. For more on Gremlins, check out our Gremlins Blu-ray review, which we called "Great," saying, "Director Joe Dante's token sense of humor, seen in his earlier films like The Howling or Piranha, is perfectly blended with the amusing, and surprisingly scary horror elements, creating a fine horror-comedy genre-bender in a similar vein to something like An American Werewolf in London." [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

The Mortal Kombat movie is getting a new trailer this Thursday, February 18. The trailer announcement was made alongside a short video of Joe Taslim as Sub-Zero. Taslim is a renowned martial artist and appeared in such films as The Raid, Fast & Furious 6, and The Night Comes for Us.

Joe Taslim is Sub-Zero. #MortalKombatMovie trailer Thursday. pic.twitter.com/63Rv7Kwahs

— Mortal Kombat Movie (@MKMovie) February 17, 2021

The Mortal Kombat movie will arrive on HBO Max and in theaters on April 16, 2021, and we recently got a closer look at the film that will also star Mehcad Brooks as Jackson "Jax" Briggs, Chin Han as Shang Tsung, Hiroyuki Sanada as Scorpion, 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 named Cole Young. This film is a reboot and will see Young, who is a "washed-up MMA fighter" and bears a birthmark in the shape of the Mortal Kombat symbol on his chest, meet up with Sonya Blade. She then leads him to the temple of Lord Raiden where he comes into contact with a group of highly-skilled fighters. "When we first meet Cole, he's in a really bad spot," Tan said. "He's down on his luck. He's kind of a washed-up MMA fighter who used to be a champion, who used to believe in himself, who used to have a lot of hope in his career. And it's all gone down the drain. It's a very interesting place for a hero to start, and I think that, along the journey of Mortal Kombat and Cole discovering where he comes from, you're introduced to all these other iconic characters and elements that everybody loves so dearly." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/16/will-the-new-mortal-kombat-movie-be-good-or-bad-good"] There will also be some "crazy fatalities" in the film that will make fans of the franchise very happy. "There are some crazy fatalities," added Tan, who performed his own stunts on set. "We've picked a couple of iconic ones. There's a lot of really cool signature moves that you'll see, a lot of Easter eggs that we snuck into the film, but there are some really badass fatalities that I can't wait to see on the big screen. They're brutal, man. They, they don't hold back." For more on the Mortal Kombat movie, which finished filming back in 2019, check out the history of its bizarre movie and TV adaptations and read more about how the upcoming movie will be grounded in realism. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=meet-the-cast-of-the-mortal-kombat-reboot-movie&captions=true"] [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.