The Lord of the Rings' Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd, who played the hobbits Merry and Pippin in all three films, are launching The Friendship Onion – a podcast where they will reveal stories from their time working on the franchise, interview members of the cast and crew, answer fan questions, and much more. The Friendship Onion will launch on YouTube and Podcast services like Apple Podcasts and Spotify on May 18, 2021, and Monaghan and Boyd have teamed up with Kast Media to make this weekly show a reality. “I am contractually obliged to make a glowing comment here in regards to the podcast Billy and I are making together. This is proving difficult as Billy has abducted me and is holding me for ransom to the price of 44 bananas. PLEASE, SEND bananas,” said Monaghan. “Dom took a little persuading, it’s true, but this podcast is going to rock! He is such a joker, you have to love Dom! Ha....but you also have to love bananas, so....yes! send bananas,” said Boyd. While it doesn't appear to be a straight rewatch podcast like The Office Ladies or the Scrubs podcast Fake Doctors, Real Friends, it should be worth a listen for fans of Middle-earth as they "peel back the layers of their experiences, both in real life and from the screen." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2015/11/17/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-fellowship-of-the-ring-trailer"] [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.

The Lord of the Rings' Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd, who played the hobbits Merry and Pippin in all three films, are launching The Friendship Onion - a podcast where they will reveal stories from their time working on the franchise, interview members of the cast and crew, answer fan questions, and much more. The Friendship Onion will launch on YouTube and Podcast services like Apple Podcasts and Spotify on May 18, 2021, and Monaghan and Boyd have teamed up with Kast Media to make this weekly show a reality. “I am contractually obliged to make a glowing comment here in regards to the podcast Billy and I are making together. This is proving difficult as Billy has abducted me and is holding me for ransom to the price of 44 bananas. PLEASE, SEND bananas,” said Monaghan. “Dom took a little persuading, it’s true, but this podcast is going to rock! He is such a joker, you have to love Dom! Ha....but you also have to love bananas, so....yes! send bananas,” said Boyd. While it doesn't appear to be a straight rewatch podcast like The Office Ladies or the Scrubs podcast Fake Doctors, Real Friends, it should be worth a listen for fans of Middle-earth as they "as they peel back the layers of their experiences, both in real life and from the screen." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2015/11/17/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-fellowship-of-the-ring-trailer"] [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 documents presented as part of the Epic Games vs Apple court case have revealed new details about the cloud gaming streaming service that Walmart had been developing, which it pitched to Epic Games in 2019. An email thread from April 2019 confirms reports from the same year that Walmart was talking to developers about a streaming service for games. The service, known as Project Storm, was designed to be an "open ecosystem" that allowed users to stream from the cloud or download games to a Windows PC and play locally. Documents attached to the email thread show that Walmart had been pitching this system to publishers such as Epic, and was planned to support for third-party launchers such as Steam, Uplay, Epic Games Store, Origin, Battle.net and the Bethesda Launcher. A diagram explaining the system also notes that indie games would be supported alongside AAA via third party launchers. Users would be given the option to subscribe, buy games, or 'BYOG' - Bring your own game (presumably by linking with accounts like Steam and porting across your existing library). Among the new details in the emails, Epic Games co-founder Mark Rein sent messages detailing a clip that would attach a phone to a controller, in order for players to use Walmart's system. “They’re going to sell the clip for a crazy low amount, they were saying something like $2,” said Rein. He notes that the kickstand is the "killer part" of the device, and made it "more comfortable than playing on a Nintendo Switch." Rein also had the opportunity to play games using the service, which he detailed in the thread. "I played Walmart's demo on an Android phone (with and Xbox controller) and the experience felt like playing on a PS4 and superior to playing on Android or iOS," he said. "They also moved it over to a laptop in real-time (video stream hopped from phone to laptop instantly) and I played there too. Again, it was VASTLY superior to playing it on my daughter's Surface Pro laptop." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/03/21/walmart-reportedly-planning-its-own-game-streaming-service"] It is unclear if Project Storm is still in development or if the idea has been abandoned, but a beta period was originally planned for July 2019. As for Epic's streaming partnership plans, eventually the company partnered with Nvidia's GeForce Now streaming system to make Fortnite available for cloud gaming. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. 

New documents presented as part of the Epic Games vs Apple court case have revealed new details about the cloud gaming streaming service that Walmart had been developing, which it pitched to Epic Games in 2019. An email thread from April 2019 confirms reports from the same year that Walmart was talking to developers about a streaming service for games. The service, known as Project Storm, was designed to be an "open ecosystem" that allowed users to stream from the cloud or download games to a Windows PC and play locally. Documents attached to the email thread show that Walmart had been pitching this system to publishers such as Epic, and was planned to support for third-party launchers such as Steam, Uplay, Epic Games Store, Origin, Battle.net and the Bethesda Launcher. A diagram explaining the system also notes that indie games would be supported alongside AAA via third party launchers. Users would be given the option to subscribe, buy games, or 'BYOG' - Bring your own game (presumably by linking with accounts like Steam and porting across your existing library). Among the new details in the emails, Epic Games co-founder Mark Rein sent messages detailing a clip that would attach a phone to a controller, in order for players to use Walmart's system. “They’re going to sell the clip for a crazy low amount, they were saying something like $2,” said Rein. He notes that the kickstand is the "killer part" of the device, and made it "more comfortable than playing on a Nintendo Switch." Rein also had the opportunity to play games using the service, which he detailed in the thread. "I played Walmart's demo on an Android phone (with and Xbox controller) and the experience felt like playing on a PS4 and superior to playing on Android or iOS," he said. "They also moved it over to a laptop in real-time (video stream hopped from phone to laptop instantly) and I played there too. Again, it was VASTLY superior to playing it on my daughter's Surface Pro laptop." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/03/21/walmart-reportedly-planning-its-own-game-streaming-service"] It is unclear if Project Storm is still in development or if the idea has been abandoned, but a beta period was originally planned for July 2019. As for Epic's streaming partnership plans, eventually the company partnered with Nvidia's GeForce Now streaming system to make Fortnite available for cloud gaming. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. 

For a long time, it seemed like YouTube’s most popular original series was Cobra Kai. The Karate Kid spinoff amassed tens of millions of views, and was well-received by critics and fans. After years of YouTube trying to find its breakout hit, Cobra Kai was it.

Then YouTube sold it to Netflix in a moment of strategic reconfiguration for the company — one that wouldn’t prioritize the paywall. One that focused on what already drew in viewers: musicians, celebrities, and creators.

Music’s biggest superstars like Demi Lovato and Justin Bieber, celebrities like Paris Hilton, and top creators like Liza Koshy are the focus of YouTube’s Originals slate. Today, during the company’s annual BrandCast event put on for advertisers, YouTube announced a new Will Smith show, a MIGOS docuseries centering on "hip-hop jewelry," shared details on new social justice initiatives, and confirmed the final season of Koshy’s Liza on Demand will premiere this fall. Add in Released, a recent music show that pairs new music videos with celebrity interviews, and it all begins to sound a little like “MTV for cord-cutters.”

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/09/cobra-kai-season-3-ending-explained"]

That’s part of the plan, according to Susanne Daniels, YouTube’s global head of original series.

YouTube Originals underwent a massive shift in 2018 because it had to. People weren’t really signing up for YouTube Premium, and the cost of shows seemed to greatly outpace any revenue being brought in. YouTube’s team started to work on series viewers would naturally gravitate to and content that advertisers wanted to appear on. Think top YouTube creators with a super engaged fanbase — a new generation of Rob Dyrdeks, Lauren Conrads, and even “Real World” style contestants (all those creator mansions).

“I was thinking, ‘Did I take with me sort of an MTV approach?” Daniels said when asked about the overlap of interests between MTV, where she was a longtime executive, and YouTube Originals. “I don't think I would have done them exactly the same way for MTV, although there is some overlap. The YouTube audience is no bullshit. They smell inauthentic from 10 feet away, and they want no part of it.”

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/08/22/youtube-to-release-50-original-shows-next-year"]

Inauthentic. It’s a word that often comes up in the YouTube community. YouTube works precisely because it doesn’t feel like television. The connection that creators establish with their audience  — often referred to as a parasocial relationship because although it’s entirely one-sided, fans believe they actually know the person behind the screen — is what makes YouTube feel special. How can YouTube replicate that with Paris Hilton, Will Smith or Justin Bieber?

“Authenticity is really important to me when I sit down with the Paris Hiltons of the world,” Daniels added, noting that she only took the meeting out of respect for the documentary’s producers. “Paris in the meeting was so forthcoming about her life in a way that I didn't know what I'd never seen before. At MTV, I might have wanted it to be sexier.”

"Who's more YouTube than Justin Bieber?"

Van Toffler knows all about that. Toffler, a longtime MTV executive who now runs Gunpowder & Sky, an independent studio that has produced several series and documentaries for YouTube, is currently trying to revive a version of TRL for a YouTube audience called Released. It was YouTube that “displaced the music video experience, from MTV to YouTube,” Toffler told IGN. All the reasons that people chose YouTube over MTV — not being able to choose what music video to watch, the antiquated nature of linear programming — is what Toffler and Daniels are leaning into. They’re just trying to do it while bringing a little of MTV over to YouTube in the process.

YouTube may not be competing with Netflix and Spotify directly in the same manner that Disney and Apple Music are respectively, but YouTube is competing for attention. It’s here that Toffler and Daniels are hoping that using what worked for MTV (access and production value), and shaping it for a YouTube audience (emerging artists, more accurate recommendations, access to new videos 24/7) will turn Released into something teens want.

“When my colleagues and I were at MTV, there was only one place, you could go in the afternoon, to watch what was going on in music,” Toffler said. “Now, there’s so many places you can go to consume music and other content, it's just much harder for YouTube, but I do love the fact that they're going to use their powers for good, spreading the word about not just the big stars, but the new acts who deserve attention.”

It’s unclear if Released is working as well as YouTube wants — or if YouTube Originals are producing the numbers that YouTube executives and advertisers are hoping to see. Hilton’s documentary has amassed 22 million views in seven months. The pilot for Koshy’s Liza on Demand was viewed more than 53 million times, but it’s unclear how the rest of the show did since view numbers are switched off. Figuring out which creators to partner with, and what projects based on celebrities or musicians to order, all comes down to how it fits within the YouTube ecosystem.

“Who’s more YouTube than Justin Bieber?” Daniels asked while on the call. “Same with Demi Lovato. I don't break them down into terms of celebrities and YouTubers. I look at are they engaged on the channel? And if they are, and there's an audience for them there, then I want to lean into working with them.”

Keeping everyone happy

Some creators might disagree with Daniels. YouTube personalities have long expressed their frustration with the company seemingly choosing to highlight traditional celebrities like Jimmy Fallon or Victoria Beckham over its own class of homebred talent. While Daniels sees development in part as “great content is great content, and great content will come through at any place,” she also acknowledges that the best content YouTube produces has a strong “correlation between what YouTube is and what YouTube stands for.”

Last year, for example, YouTube partnered with Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson to produce the Creator Games, a livestream that helped raise money for charity and garnered more than 37 million views. Mark “Markiplier” Fisbach made a film that appeals to his 17 million subscribers. Then there was James Charles’ influencer competition show, which was designed to find the next beauty guru on YouTube — a genre of entertainment that brings in billions of views every year.

Now, however, Charles is caught up in a series of allegations over wrong behavior on dating apps, as Insider has reported. He’s not the first YouTube creator who the company has partnered with on an official show only to be caught in a worldwide controversy after the fact. Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg’s show Scared PewDiePie was canceled after anti-semitic imagery appeared in a video, as discovered by the Wall Street Journal in 2017.

Part of the reason that YouTube switched its strategy on producing free-to-watch, ad-supported series was to make advertisers happy. YouTube Originals offered higher production budgets and a level of brand safety that isn’t always guaranteed on YouTube. When these instances occur, advertisers can get skittish. Daniels acknowledges that it’s a concern, but not just for YouTube. It’s a concern for everyone in programming, Daniels said.

“That's something that you worry about all the time,” Daniels added. “Look at what happened with Roseanne and ABC, right? Perfect example.”

Navigating talent controversies, release schedules (“When I have the goods, and I knew I had the goods with Demi Lovato, I'm going to space it out and keep you on the platform for a long as possible,” Daniels said), and keeping advertisers happy is all part of Daniels’ job at YouTube. If it sounds remarkably like how cable television operates — talent scandals, time slots, and ensuring advertisers are content — that’s because it is.

YouTube Originals may not have its Cobra Kai anymore, but it’s starting to feel a little more like MTV with each new documentary series and reality show. One moment in particular that Daniels pointed to as a key YouTube Original is David Blaine’s balloon stunt that caught massive attention in September. It streamed on YouTube during the pandemic, at a time when people were stuck at home and looking for something new and exciting to watch.

“My favorite part about being at YouTube is getting to do interactive, interesting content — some that’s formatted differently because of the platform — I couldn't do anywhere else,” she said. “It’s something I wouldn’t have done at another network. When we can do projects like that, we're tapping into what is special and magical about YouTube.”

For a long time, it seemed like YouTube’s most popular original series was Cobra Kai. The Karate Kid spinoff amassed tens of millions of views, and was well-received by critics and fans. After years of YouTube trying to find its breakout hit, Cobra Kai was it.

Then YouTube sold it to Netflix in a moment of strategic reconfiguration for the company — one that wouldn’t prioritize the paywall. One that focused on what already drew in viewers: musicians, celebrities, and creators.

Music’s biggest superstars like Demi Lovato and Justin Bieber, celebrities like Paris Hilton, and top creators like Liza Koshy are the focus of YouTube’s Originals slate. Today, during the company’s annual BrandCast event put on for advertisers, YouTube announced a new Will Smith show, a MIGOS docuseries centering on "hip-hop jewelry," shared details on new social justice initiatives, and confirmed the final season of Koshy’s Liza on Demand will premiere this fall. Add in Released, a recent music show that pairs new music videos with celebrity interviews, and it all begins to sound a little like “MTV for cord-cutters.”

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/09/cobra-kai-season-3-ending-explained"]

That’s part of the plan, according to Susanne Daniels, YouTube’s global head of original series.

YouTube Originals underwent a massive shift in 2018 because it had to. People weren’t really signing up for YouTube Premium, and the cost of shows seemed to greatly outpace any revenue being brought in. YouTube’s team started to work on series viewers would naturally gravitate to and content that advertisers wanted to appear on. Think top YouTube creators with a super engaged fanbase — a new generation of Rob Dyrdeks, Lauren Conrads, and even “Real World” style contestants (all those creator mansions).

“I was thinking, ‘Did I take with me sort of an MTV approach?” Daniels said when asked about the overlap of interests between MTV, where she was a longtime executive, and YouTube Originals. “I don't think I would have done them exactly the same way for MTV, although there is some overlap. The YouTube audience is no bullshit. They smell inauthentic from 10 feet away, and they want no part of it.”

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/08/22/youtube-to-release-50-original-shows-next-year"]

Inauthentic. It’s a word that often comes up in the YouTube community. YouTube works precisely because it doesn’t feel like television. The connection that creators establish with their audience  — often referred to as a parasocial relationship because although it’s entirely one-sided, fans believe they actually know the person behind the screen — is what makes YouTube feel special. How can YouTube replicate that with Paris Hilton, Will Smith or Justin Bieber?

“Authenticity is really important to me when I sit down with the Paris Hiltons of the world,” Daniels added, noting that she only took the meeting out of respect for the documentary’s producers. “Paris in the meeting was so forthcoming about her life in a way that I didn't know what I'd never seen before. At MTV, I might have wanted it to be sexier.”

"Who's more YouTube than Justin Bieber?"

Van Toffler knows all about that. Toffler, a longtime MTV executive who now runs Gunpowder & Sky, an independent studio that has produced several series and documentaries for YouTube, is currently trying to revive a version of TRL for a YouTube audience called Released. It was YouTube that “displaced the music video experience, from MTV to YouTube,” Toffler told IGN. All the reasons that people chose YouTube over MTV — not being able to choose what music video to watch, the antiquated nature of linear programming — is what Toffler and Daniels are leaning into. They’re just trying to do it while bringing a little of MTV over to YouTube in the process.

YouTube may not be competing with Netflix and Spotify directly in the same manner that Disney and Apple Music are respectively, but YouTube is competing for attention. It’s here that Toffler and Daniels are hoping that using what worked for MTV (access and production value), and shaping it for a YouTube audience (emerging artists, more accurate recommendations, access to new videos 24/7) will turn Released into something teens want.

“When my colleagues and I were at MTV, there was only one place, you could go in the afternoon, to watch what was going on in music,” Toffler said. “Now, there’s so many places you can go to consume music and other content, it's just much harder for YouTube, but I do love the fact that they're going to use their powers for good, spreading the word about not just the big stars, but the new acts who deserve attention.”

It’s unclear if Released is working as well as YouTube wants — or if YouTube Originals are producing the numbers that YouTube executives and advertisers are hoping to see. Hilton’s documentary has amassed 22 million views in seven months. The pilot for Koshy’s Liza on Demand was viewed more than 53 million times, but it’s unclear how the rest of the show did since view numbers are switched off. Figuring out which creators to partner with, and what projects based on celebrities or musicians to order, all comes down to how it fits within the YouTube ecosystem.

“Who’s more YouTube than Justin Bieber?” Daniels asked while on the call. “Same with Demi Lovato. I don't break them down into terms of celebrities and YouTubers. I look at are they engaged on the channel? And if they are, and there's an audience for them there, then I want to lean into working with them.”

Keeping everyone happy

Some creators might disagree with Daniels. YouTube personalities have long expressed their frustration with the company seemingly choosing to highlight traditional celebrities like Jimmy Fallon or Victoria Beckham over its own class of homebred talent. While Daniels sees development in part as “great content is great content, and great content will come through at any place,” she also acknowledges that the best content YouTube produces has a strong “correlation between what YouTube is and what YouTube stands for.”

Last year, for example, YouTube partnered with Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson to produce the Creator Games, a livestream that helped raise money for charity and garnered more than 37 million views. Mark “Markiplier” Fisbach made a film that appeals to his 17 million subscribers. Then there was James Charles’ influencer competition show, which was designed to find the next beauty guru on YouTube — a genre of entertainment that brings in billions of views every year.

Now, however, Charles is caught up in a series of allegations over wrong behavior on dating apps, as Insider has reported. He’s not the first YouTube creator who the company has partnered with on an official show only to be caught in a worldwide controversy after the fact. Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg’s show Scared PewDiePie was canceled after anti-semitic imagery appeared in a video, as discovered by the Wall Street Journal in 2017.

Part of the reason that YouTube switched its strategy on producing free-to-watch, ad-supported series was to make advertisers happy. YouTube Originals offered higher production budgets and a level of brand safety that isn’t always guaranteed on YouTube. When these instances occur, advertisers can get skittish. Daniels acknowledges that it’s a concern, but not just for YouTube. It’s a concern for everyone in programming, Daniels said.

“That's something that you worry about all the time,” Daniels added. “Look at what happened with Roseanne and ABC, right? Perfect example.”

Navigating talent controversies, release schedules (“When I have the goods, and I knew I had the goods with Demi Lovato, I'm going to space it out and keep you on the platform for a long as possible,” Daniels said), and keeping advertisers happy is all part of Daniels’ job at YouTube. If it sounds remarkably like how cable television operates — talent scandals, time slots, and ensuring advertisers are content — that’s because it is.

YouTube Originals may not have its Cobra Kai anymore, but it’s starting to feel a little more like MTV with each new documentary series and reality show. One moment in particular that Daniels pointed to as a key YouTube Original is David Blaine’s balloon stunt that caught massive attention in September. It streamed on YouTube during the pandemic, at a time when people were stuck at home and looking for something new and exciting to watch.

“My favorite part about being at YouTube is getting to do interactive, interesting content — some that’s formatted differently because of the platform — I couldn't do anywhere else,” she said. “It’s something I wouldn’t have done at another network. When we can do projects like that, we're tapping into what is special and magical about YouTube.”

This week in Red Dead Online, claim bonuses for hunting Legendary Animals, freebies for visiting Gus' store, and much, much more.

This week in Red Dead Online, claim bonuses for hunting Legendary Animals, freebies for visiting Gus' store, and much, much more.

Disney Plus has commissioned 15 new pieces of art for Star Wars Day, one for each of the Star Wars films/shows available on the streaming platform.

To celebrate May the 4th, @Lucasfilm and @Disneyplus commissioned artists from around the world to create unique illustrations that represent the Star Wars films and original series, check them out now on Disney+. https://t.co/KT56HOzwnk pic.twitter.com/HQ2wgllb50

— Star Wars (@starwars) May 4, 2021

The art covers all nine Star Wars Skywalker Saga movies, plus Rogue One, Solo, and the shows The Clone Wars, The Mandalorian, and The Bad Batch, plus a mural for Star Wars Day 2021. Each has been created by a different artist from across the US, Mexico, Canada, Germany, and the UK, and each has used different styles and techniques. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=star-wars-day-2021-disney-plus-art&captions=true"] In a similar vein, Mondo has also created a new poster based on A New Hope for Star Wars Day that features some stunning new art based on Luke's journey through Mos Eisley Spaceport. Also brand new on this Star Wars day is the first episode of The Bad Batch, and news on Disney's new Star Wars hotel. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. 

Disney Plus has commissioned 15 new pieces of art for Star Wars Day, one for each of the Star Wars films/shows available on the streaming platform.

To celebrate May the 4th, @Lucasfilm and @Disneyplus commissioned artists from around the world to create unique illustrations that represent the Star Wars films and original series, check them out now on Disney+. https://t.co/KT56HOzwnk pic.twitter.com/HQ2wgllb50

— Star Wars (@starwars) May 4, 2021

The art covers all nine Star Wars Skywalker Saga movies, plus Rogue One, Solo, and the shows The Clone Wars, The Mandalorian, and The Bad Batch, plus a mural for Star Wars Day 2021. Each has been created by a different artist from across the US, Mexico, Canada, Germany, and the UK, and each has used different styles and techniques. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=star-wars-day-2021-disney-plus-art&captions=true"] In a similar vein, Mondo has also created a new poster based on A New Hope for Star Wars Day that features some stunning new art based on Luke's journey through Mos Eisley Spaceport. Also brand new on this Star Wars day is the first episode of The Bad Batch, and news on Disney's new Star Wars hotel. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.