Monthly Archives: March 2021

WandaVision Finale Director Reveals Plans for Cut Scene Featuring Señor Scratchy

Note: Full spoilers follow for the series finale of WandaVision. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Last week's action-packed series finale of WandaVision saw the end of Wanda's takeover of the suburban town of Westview and gave fans a hint at the Scarlet Witch and Vision's future in the MCU. On Sunday, series director Matt Shakman appeared on Kevin Smith's podcast Fatman Beyond to take part in an extended conversation about the show. During their talk, Shakman revealed details on how WandaVision's story changed shape throughout post-production, explaining a sequence planned for Monica Rambeau and her S.W.O.R.D. associates in the finale.
 “We did have a whole sequence where Darcy, Monica [and] Ralph meet up with the kids, and they’re in Agatha’s house, and they think that maybe they should steal the Darkhold from the basement because the kids has seen it down there when they were being held hostage. And they go down to get the book, and as they reach out to get the book, the rabbit hops up in front of the book. And they’re like, 'Oh it’s Señor Scratchy, he’s the best!' And they reach over to scratch him and he hisses and this whole American Werewolf in London transformation happens where rabbit turns into this big demon."
Shakman went on to explain how the sequence ended up being cut because of its unfinished visual effects as well as its somewhat awkward placement in the context of the show's busy finale. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/05/wandavision-episode-9-review"] Shakman's comments provide an explanation for Rambeau's curiously small role in the episode in which her new superpowers barely came into play. Not unlike other television shows, WandaVision underwent constant rewrites and changes throughout production, including having an originally planned 10-episode structure reworked into the final 9-episode run. In Marvel comics, Agatha's son is a warlock named Nicholas Scratch. In one storyline, Scratch became the mayor of a small town whose inhabitants were possessed by demons. Throughout WandaVision's run, fan theories were abound concerning the significance of Agatha's pet rabbit. Though the creature was never explicitly revealed to be Nicholas Scratch, it turns out that those predictions weren't necessarily wrong. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=wandavision-all-the-marvel-and-tv-easter-eggs-in-every-episode&captions=true"] For more on WandaVision, read our lingering questions about what the season finale could entail for the MCU and how the series could set up Wanda's role in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of MadnessThe Falcon and the Winter Soldier will continue to explore the fallout of Avengers: Endgame when the series premieres on Disney+ on March 19. [poilib element="accentDivider"] J. Kim Murphy is a freelance entertainment writer.

Justice League: The Snyder Cut Leaks, Accidentally Replaced Tom & Jerry on HBO Max [Update]

Update: In a statement to IGN, HBO Max says, "Zack Snyder’s Justice League was temporarily available on HBO Max, and the error was addressed within minutes.” [poilib element="accentDivider"] Original Story: People settling in for a cozy family showing of cartoon comedy Tom & Jerry on HBO Max got an interesting surprise today -- the movie was four hours long. It was also Zack Snyder's Justice League.     Reports of this error began a few hours ago and were widespread across social media, with The Hollywood Reporter confirming it was able to access Justice League briefly. Reports indicate that many users were able to watch an hour or two of the movie before their session was cut off. Since then the film appears to be have been fixed and now only plays Tom & Jerry instead. IGN has reached out to HBO for comment. Zack Snyder's Justice League cut is not expected to release in theatres and on HBO Max until March 18, at which point it will hopefully not actually have been swapped with Tom & Jerry. IGN spoke with Snyder about the film ahead of its release as a part of IGN Fan Fest earlier this month, and also recently hosted a conversation with producer Deborah Snyder and former 343 Industries executive producer and currently studio head of Halo Transmedia and Entertainment Kiki Wolfkill in honor of International Women's Day. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Justice League: The Snyder Cut Leaks, Accidentally Replaced Tom & Jerry on HBO Max [Update]

Update: In a statement to IGN, HBO Max says, "Zack Snyder’s Justice League was temporarily available on HBO Max, and the error was addressed within minutes.” [poilib element="accentDivider"] Original Story: People settling in for a cozy family showing of cartoon comedy Tom & Jerry on HBO Max got an interesting surprise today -- the movie was four hours long. It was also Zack Snyder's Justice League.     Reports of this error began a few hours ago and were widespread across social media, with The Hollywood Reporter confirming it was able to access Justice League briefly. Reports indicate that many users were able to watch an hour or two of the movie before their session was cut off. Since then the film appears to be have been fixed and now only plays Tom & Jerry instead. IGN has reached out to HBO for comment. Zack Snyder's Justice League cut is not expected to release in theatres and on HBO Max until March 18, at which point it will hopefully not actually have been swapped with Tom & Jerry. IGN spoke with Snyder about the film ahead of its release as a part of IGN Fan Fest earlier this month, and also recently hosted a conversation with producer Deborah Snyder and former 343 Industries executive producer and currently studio head of Halo Transmedia and Entertainment Kiki Wolfkill in honor of International Women's Day. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

GameStop Forms Committee to Lead E-Commerce Shift, Including Chewy CEO

GameStop appears to be gearing up for a major strategy shift, seemingly away from its existing brick-and-mortar store model and into embracing e-commerce. Today, the company announced the formation of a new strategic planning committee "to identify initiatives that can further accelerate the Company’s transformation." The members on the committee are Alan Attal, Kurt Wolf, and committee chairperson Ryan Cohen. What does this mean? Specifically, the committee is responsible for changing GameStop into a technology business, something that Cohen, the former CEO of Chewy, is known for being good at. It's one of the reasons his appointment to the company's board of directors last year helped trigger a massive short squeeze on company stock. He's been asking for this flavor of change from GameStop since his appointment last year, including penning a letter to the board of directors in November saying the company must "promptly pivot" from a focus on physical stores to "a technology-driven vision." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/28/what-is-going-on-with-gamestop-stock-ign-now"] But Cohen's not the only interesting figure on this committee. Wolf was one of the key figures in an executive board coup last year that saw a group of activist shareholders effectively take control of the board after a vicious, two-year campaign against existing leadership. A move to e-commerce was one of the key platforms of Wolf's group of shareholders, as well as an overhaul of executive compensation -- which, incidentally, Wolf is also now in charge of thanks to this same committee. Other actions already taken by this committee have included appointing a new chief technology officer in Amazon Web Services veteran Matt Francis, and forming a plan to find a new chief financial officer after Jim Bell resigned last month. Incidentally, Bloomberg has reported that Cohen himself may be in line for the role. GameStop stock has surged again today in light of the news, going from an opening of $154.89 to a high today of $210.87 per share, currently sitting at $194.50. Its last surge was in late February a day after Bell's departure, and has held steady about $100 per share ever since. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

GameStop Forms Committee to Lead E-Commerce Shift, Including Chewy CEO

GameStop appears to be gearing up for a major strategy shift, seemingly away from its existing brick-and-mortar store model and into embracing e-commerce. Today, the company announced the formation of a new strategic planning committee "to identify initiatives that can further accelerate the Company’s transformation." The members on the committee are Alan Attal, Kurt Wolf, and committee chairperson Ryan Cohen. What does this mean? Specifically, the committee is responsible for changing GameStop into a technology business, something that Cohen, the former CEO of Chewy, is known for being good at. It's one of the reasons his appointment to the company's board of directors last year helped trigger a massive short squeeze on company stock. He's been asking for this flavor of change from GameStop since his appointment last year, including penning a letter to the board of directors in November saying the company must "promptly pivot" from a focus on physical stores to "a technology-driven vision." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/28/what-is-going-on-with-gamestop-stock-ign-now"] But Cohen's not the only interesting figure on this committee. Wolf was one of the key figures in an executive board coup last year that saw a group of activist shareholders effectively take control of the board after a vicious, two-year campaign against existing leadership. A move to e-commerce was one of the key platforms of Wolf's group of shareholders, as well as an overhaul of executive compensation -- which, incidentally, Wolf is also now in charge of thanks to this same committee. Other actions already taken by this committee have included appointing a new chief technology officer in Amazon Web Services veteran Matt Francis, and forming a plan to find a new chief financial officer after Jim Bell resigned last month. Incidentally, Bloomberg has reported that Cohen himself may be in line for the role. GameStop stock has surged again today in light of the news, going from an opening of $154.89 to a high today of $210.87 per share, currently sitting at $194.50. Its last surge was in late February a day after Bell's departure, and has held steady about $100 per share ever since. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Wonder Woman: Earth One Vol. 3 Exclusive Preview

DC's Wonder Woman: Earth One saga is nearly complete, and IGN has an exclusive preview of the third and final graphic novel in the series. Wonder Woman: Earth One Vol. 3 reunites writer Grant Morrison and artist Yanick Paquette for one last Wonder Woman epic. In this climactic chapter, Queen Diana is forced to lead the charge in defense of her homeland as Max Lord's army of robots invade Themiscyra. Can Diana remain a force for love and peace when she's forced to become the warrior her mother designed her to be? Get a taste of what's coming and see Diana interacting with Artemis by checking out the slideshow gallery below: [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=wonder-woman-earth-one-vol-3-exclusive-preview&captions=true"] For those not familiar with the Earth One line of graphic novels, they're simialr to Marvel's Ultimate Universe imprint in that they reimagine and modernize familiar heroes for a 21st Century audience, with some heroes changing more drastically than others. The Wonder Woman books offer a fairly unusual take on Diana and her world, as they draw heavy inspiration from the original Golden Age Wonder Woman comics and the themes of bondage and subservience that were so prevalent in the work of creator William Moulton Marston. The first volume even drew controversy for its depiction of Diana being the daughter of Hercules, a choice even Morrison admitted he "struggled" with. "In this particular story I wanted that tension," Morrison told IGN in 2016. "I wanted that push and pull, and I wanted Diana to be a bit more impure in the sense that, yeah, there is a little bit of masculinity that has been put into her. Originally, Hippolyta does it just for the reasons that Hercules' DNA will then go on to destroy women, and there would be no more sons, as Hippolyta said. So it's actually kind of an act of revenge. Diana is used as revenge on the battlefield, which to me seemed much more this sort of thing that people could relate to. She's a character who's so pure and so perfect that it seemed like we needed that little bit of dark in the character to give her a chance to grow and to think about things and change." Vol. 2 further shook up the Wonder Woman mythology by depicting long-time DC villain Doctor Psycho as a supervillain pickup artist and a critique of toxic masculinity. "Part of it was my revenge on having seen [this level of manipulation] actually done to someone. You can see the narcissist type, the sociopath type and how easy it is for them get to people -- people you wouldn't even imagine could be that manipulated by anything," Morrison told IGN in 2018. "It's a very real problem for young people in the world. There are people out there who are quite willing to use these techniques so I kind of wanted to draw attention to it, but, you know, on the Wonder Woman scale where the guy is a supervillain. I wanted to put these paragon of femininity up against that threat and see how she deals with it -- because even paragons of intelligence and grace I've watched having real trouble with people like this. Here are the techniques. If you see anyone using these techniques against you, the warnings should go off." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/12/15/wonder-woman-1984-review"] You can check out IGN's review of Wonder Woman: Earth One Vol. 1 and Wonder Woman: Earth One Vol. 2. DC is also finally releasing the third volume of Batman: Earth One in 2021, which will introduce a very different version of Two-Face and shed more light on this Bruce Wayne's ties to the Arkham family. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

Wonder Woman: Earth One Vol. 3 Exclusive Preview

DC's Wonder Woman: Earth One saga is nearly complete, and IGN has an exclusive preview of the third and final graphic novel in the series. Wonder Woman: Earth One Vol. 3 reunites writer Grant Morrison and artist Yanick Paquette for one last Wonder Woman epic. In this climactic chapter, Queen Diana is forced to lead the charge in defense of her homeland as Max Lord's army of robots invade Themiscyra. Can Diana remain a force for love and peace when she's forced to become the warrior her mother designed her to be? Get a taste of what's coming and see Diana interacting with Artemis by checking out the slideshow gallery below: [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=wonder-woman-earth-one-vol-3-exclusive-preview&captions=true"] For those not familiar with the Earth One line of graphic novels, they're simialr to Marvel's Ultimate Universe imprint in that they reimagine and modernize familiar heroes for a 21st Century audience, with some heroes changing more drastically than others. The Wonder Woman books offer a fairly unusual take on Diana and her world, as they draw heavy inspiration from the original Golden Age Wonder Woman comics and the themes of bondage and subservience that were so prevalent in the work of creator William Moulton Marston. The first volume even drew controversy for its depiction of Diana being the daughter of Hercules, a choice even Morrison admitted he "struggled" with. "In this particular story I wanted that tension," Morrison told IGN in 2016. "I wanted that push and pull, and I wanted Diana to be a bit more impure in the sense that, yeah, there is a little bit of masculinity that has been put into her. Originally, Hippolyta does it just for the reasons that Hercules' DNA will then go on to destroy women, and there would be no more sons, as Hippolyta said. So it's actually kind of an act of revenge. Diana is used as revenge on the battlefield, which to me seemed much more this sort of thing that people could relate to. She's a character who's so pure and so perfect that it seemed like we needed that little bit of dark in the character to give her a chance to grow and to think about things and change." Vol. 2 further shook up the Wonder Woman mythology by depicting long-time DC villain Doctor Psycho as a supervillain pickup artist and a critique of toxic masculinity. "Part of it was my revenge on having seen [this level of manipulation] actually done to someone. You can see the narcissist type, the sociopath type and how easy it is for them get to people -- people you wouldn't even imagine could be that manipulated by anything," Morrison told IGN in 2018. "It's a very real problem for young people in the world. There are people out there who are quite willing to use these techniques so I kind of wanted to draw attention to it, but, you know, on the Wonder Woman scale where the guy is a supervillain. I wanted to put these paragon of femininity up against that threat and see how she deals with it -- because even paragons of intelligence and grace I've watched having real trouble with people like this. Here are the techniques. If you see anyone using these techniques against you, the warnings should go off." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/12/15/wonder-woman-1984-review"] You can check out IGN's review of Wonder Woman: Earth One Vol. 1 and Wonder Woman: Earth One Vol. 2. DC is also finally releasing the third volume of Batman: Earth One in 2021, which will introduce a very different version of Two-Face and shed more light on this Bruce Wayne's ties to the Arkham family. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

Disintegration Developer V1 Interactive Shuts Down

V1 Interactive, the development studio behind RTS-inspired first-person shooter Disintegration, is closing its doors today. In an announcement to Twitter today, the studio thanked its staff for their work over the last five years, with CEO and founder Marcus Lehto adding in a separate tweet that this news was not coming as a shock to the studio's employees. "We’ve been transparent with them about the state of things for months and are making this decision now so they still have ample time to search for new jobs while being supported by our studio," he said. As of the middle of last year, the studio had around 30 employees. V1 Interactive was founded by Lehto, the co-creator of the Halo franchise, with Disintegration as its only published title. The game was first envisioned as a real-time strategy title, but was gradually shaped into an FPS ahead of its official announcement in July of 2019. It launched in June of last year, but our review of the game said that its simple shooting and squad management made its campaign "fall pretty flat." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/10/disintegration-single-player-review"] Support for multiplayer was shuttered three months after release, and publisher Take-Two (via its Private Division label) CEO Strauss Zelnick called Disintegration's sales "a bit disappointing." This is the second Private Division studio to go under in recent years, with development of Kerbal Space Program 2 being moved to a new, internal studio from independent external studio Star Theory in February of 2020, along with half of Star Theory's employees. Those remaining at Star Theory were eventually forced to shutter the studio due to an inability to secure new publishing contracts. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Disintegration Developer V1 Interactive Shuts Down

V1 Interactive, the development studio behind RTS-inspired first-person shooter Disintegration, is closing its doors today. In an announcement to Twitter today, the studio thanked its staff for their work over the last five years, with CEO and founder Marcus Lehto adding in a separate tweet that this news was not coming as a shock to the studio's employees. "We’ve been transparent with them about the state of things for months and are making this decision now so they still have ample time to search for new jobs while being supported by our studio," he said. As of the middle of last year, the studio had around 30 employees. V1 Interactive was founded by Lehto, the co-creator of the Halo franchise, with Disintegration as its only published title. The game was first envisioned as a real-time strategy title, but was gradually shaped into an FPS ahead of its official announcement in July of 2019. It launched in June of last year, but our review of the game said that its simple shooting and squad management made its campaign "fall pretty flat." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/10/disintegration-single-player-review"] Support for multiplayer was shuttered three months after release, and publisher Take-Two (via its Private Division label) CEO Strauss Zelnick called Disintegration's sales "a bit disappointing." This is the second Private Division studio to go under in recent years, with development of Kerbal Space Program 2 being moved to a new, internal studio from independent external studio Star Theory in February of 2020, along with half of Star Theory's employees. Those remaining at Star Theory were eventually forced to shutter the studio due to an inability to secure new publishing contracts. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Nintendo Can’t Repair Some Japanese 3DS Models Because It’s Run Out of Spare Parts

Nintendo is ending repairs of the original Nintendo 3DS and 3DS XL a few weeks earlier than expected in Japan. This news comes by way of 4Gamer.net, as translated by Siliconera, which reports that the final batches of original 3DS units sent in by March 8, 2021 — so today — will be the last batches repaired by Nintendo. The company previously announced on February 25 that it would no longer be offering repairs of the original 3DS and 3DS XL in Japan due to "difficulty in securing spare parts" after March 31, 2021, according to Siliconera. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2016/10/19/top-25-3ds-games"] That February announcement reportedly led to more units than expected to be sent in for repair, which further drained Nintendo's supply of spare parts to repair the handheld devices. That's why the company has pushed back its final repair date to today. All of this is to say that if you're someone with a Japanese model of the original 3DS or 3DS XL unless you've already sent your unit in, you're out of luck as far as an official repair by Nintendo goes. As noted by Siliconera, though, Nintendo's online 3DS services will remain online for the foreseeable future and Nintendo's official Japanese repair centers will still be accepting repairs for all other 3DS models like the New Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo 2DS, and their XL counterparts. The two models being phased out of repairs, the original 3DS and 3DS XL, were released in 2011 and 2012 respectively. Production of those two models and all other 3DS models ended back in September of last year after nine years of being on the market. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/10/31/nintendo-will-make-more-3ds-franchises-available-on-switch"] The Nintendo 3DS was the last device to be co-developed alongside another console by Nintendo — the WiiU, in this instance — as the company focused its home console and handheld development into one system with the release of the Nintendo Switch back in 2017. Check out our list of the 25 best 3DS games and then check out IGN's thoughts on the latest 3DS consoles released in our New Nintendo 3DS and 3DS XL review. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes