Hans Zimmer has revealed his favorite ever Batman score, referring to the musical arrangement as "the most glorious statement of Batman" he's ever heard – and it's Elliot Goldenthal's work on Batman Forever and Batman & Robin.

Speaking to IGN, the award-winning composer, who previously worked on the scintillating scores of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight series, reflected on the evolution of his career and the experiences he's had with other music maestros over the years, including those who have scored Batman films such as Danny Elfman and Michael Giacchino.

Zimmer considered what makes a great Batman score by thinking about the distinct sounds of each composition before declaring Elliot Goldenthal's musical number as "the greatest Batman score of them all." Zimmer said he was invited to Poland to take to the concert stage to play Inception, where Goldenthal presented his superhero suite.

"It was the happiest moment of my life how his art, and craftsmanship, and sheer audacity of writing, and imagination, completely wiped the floor with my little Inception piece. And his thing was just the most glorious statement of Batman I'd ever heard," Zimmer said of Goldenthal's music. "It was just amazing. It was amazing and everybody knew it."

"It's nice when you can actually say somebody did something that you are immediately, incredibly familiar with, and they've just done it so much better than you could ever do it, and you can just be inspired and rejoiced," Zimmer added, admitting that it comes with the realization that you could perhaps "do a little bit more studying" and "work a little harder."

Goldenthal took over the reins from Danny Elfman to compose the score for Batman Forever in 1995 and later returned with director Joel Schumacher to score Batman & Robin in 1997, showcasing a fun and unique style that struck a different kind of chord. Zimmer gave Goldenthal the credit he felt he deserved after thinking about his own work.

Zimmer identified his score for Tony Scott's The Fan as one of his least appreciated scores, admitting that "nobody went to see" the film when it was released in 1996. "Maybe it wasn't the greatest movie in the world," he said. "But I think it's a pretty good score, I think it's a pretty daring score so I'm rather fond of that one. And it's not for the faint of heart."

He also highlighted Ridley Scott's Hannibal as another film with an underrated score, which he approached like a romantic comedy. "I think I wrote my best love theme in that one because I always felt that Hannibal Lecter has no reason to live were it not for his obsession with Clarice Starling, and vice versa," he explained. "He gives her purpose."

Acclaimed composer Michael Giacchino is writing the music for Matt Reeves' The Batman, due out on March 4, 2022. He recently shared a clip of an orchestra performing part of the piece, which aligned itself with the visual tone and atmosphere present in the franchise reboot's first trailer, with a suitably gothic, haunting and dramatic sound.

Adele Ankers is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.

The HTC Vive Flow is a new portable virtual reality headset that takes us that much closer to our inevitable Ready Player One future.

The HTC Vive Flow is an astonishingly lightweight VR headset that’s more like a pair of VR glasses than any of the heavy head-strapped displays that have come before it. Of course, it helps they even look like a pair of oversized sunglasses that uses traditional temples that fold up into a small package too. This headset basically sits on your ears instead of using a big adjustable head strap system to wrap itself around your head.

Wearing the HTC Vive Flow reminds me of using science goggles thanks to its large gasket that basically forms a light-blocking seal around your eyes with soft and extremely flexible fabric.

The headset also isn’t front-heavy at all because HTC opted to remove the internal battery and instead have it draw power from an external power bank via its USB-C connection.

The second reason the Flow is so compact is newly developed pancake lenses that are much thinner than the Fresnel lenses used in most VR headsets. Aside from that, all that’s in the headset is a pair of 1,600 x 1,600 resolution screens, a Qualcomm XR One processor to power all the virtual experiences, and a cooling fan.

As the HTC Vive Flow is designed to be portable, it primarily connects to Android phones (there’s no word of iOS support yet) over Bluetooth. The headset merely uses your phone as a controller and amazingly it doesn’t need you to launch into any dedicated app. instead, HTC has found just overlays a virtual D-Pad-like control scheme over the Android home screen.

The onboard Qualcomm chip handles all of the Flow’s processing. It’s powerful enough to drive your basic polygonal VR experiences like attending a virtual meeting in Vive Sync or play games like Space Slurpies, which is basically like a 3D version of snake that uses your phone’s gyroscope as a joystick.

HTC is also pushing its latest VR product as more of a relaxation and entertainment device. During my hands-on time, I went into a pseudo-sensory deprivation tank with TRIPP and explored a bit of the virtual reconstruction of Route 66 in A Road to Remember. In a virtual theater setting, you can also use the Vive Flow to watch any content from streaming service apps on your phone – such as HBO Max, Netflix, and Disney+.

Unfortunately, the HTC Vive Flow isn’t really designed as a gaming device as its displays only refresh up to 60Hz and the pancake lenses only offer up a 100-degree field of view. HTC has also told us you can’t connect the headset to a gaming PC or gaming laptop through USB-C – we really wished it could because it would be the perfect portable VR headset for gaming.

The HTC Vive Flow will retail for a steep $499 price which includes the headset and a carrying case, but no bundled power bank. Pre-orders open on Oct 14 and the headset will be available starting November 2021.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Kevin Lee is IGN's SEO Updates Editor. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam.

DICE has finally revealed Battlefield 2042's new Hazard Mode, which is a squad-based PvPvE experience about collecting data drives and getting out of the map alive.

Hazard Zone is a squad-based mode that sees groups of players vying to collect and extract data drives that have been scattered around smaller arenas after satellite crashes. Each player squad is made up of 4 players, with the objective being to collect as many drives as possible before extracting ahead of a storm becoming too intense for aircraft to get to you.

Those efforts are hampered further by enemy AI forces, and the game's extreme weather conditions – and there are only two time-limited opportunities to extract during a match, meaning only two squads can get away. Dying in the mode will see you placed in a spectator screen, although a 'Reinforcement Uplink' item can see squad members revived again.

Player counts for the mode will differ depending on your platform of choice. On Xbox One and PS4, Hazard Zone will include 24 players (6 squads), whereas Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC will see 32 players (8 squads). There will be Hazard Zone map variants for every map included in the game's All-Out Warfare modes.

DICE's Danny Berlin made very clear in a presentation that "Hazard Zone is not a Battle Royale mode." The key difference for Berlin is that your main objective is "not to kill, but to extract out of the Hazard Zone alive with as many data drives as possible." Berlin also made it clear that there's an emphasis on building a sqaud before the match begins, rather than simply collecting items when inside a round.

Berlin also introduced a wider metagame around Hazard Zone. Each data drive extracted will be worth a set number of 'Dark Market Credits', a currency used only in the mode. Those credits can be spent before matches on new weapons, gadgets, and upgrades for your specialists (and each squad can only have one of each specialist).

Hazard Zone is the third and final mode, after All-Out Warfare (which we got to sample in an open beta) and the more bizarre Portal, which sees 5 different Battlefield games' features meshed into a single custom game creation tool. After a short delay, Battlefield 2042 will arrive on November 19.

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.

EA has announced that it will be removing ex-Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden from Madden 22 following his resignation over homophobic and misogynistic emails.

The publisher shared the news of Gruden's removal on its Madden NFL Twitter account, where a statement from the company reads:

"EA Sports is committed to taking action in maintaining a culture of inclusion and equity. Due to the circumstances of Jon Gruden's resignation, we are taking steps to remove him from Madden NFL 22. We will replace him with a generic likeness via a title update in the coming weeks."

pic.twitter.com/KSKsJ1iVXU

— Madden NFL 22 (@EAMaddenNFL) October 13, 2021

Gruden's resignation from the Raiders came after The New York Times unveiled a number of emails written by the coach in which, "He denounced the emergence of women as referees, the drafting of a gay player and the tolerance of players protesting during the playing of the national anthem." The emails uncovered by the New York Times came only a week after previous allegations surfaced claiming that, in 2011, Gruden had used racist stereotypes when talking about the NFL Players' Union Chief DeMaurice Smith.

The announcement of Gruden's departure from the team was made earlier this week on Twitter. "I have resigned as Head Coach of the Las Vegas Raiders," said Gruden as part of a statement. "I love the Raiders and do not want to be a distraction. Thank you to all the players, coaches, staff, and fans of Raider Nation. I’m sorry, I never meant to hurt anyone."

This isn't the first time of late that EA has taken to removing an athlete or player from one of its prolific sports games. Last month, the publisher confirmed that it had taken the French national team and Manchester City full-back Benjamin Mendy out of FIFA 22 as the player awaits trial amid allegations of rape and sexual assault.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Macaulay Culkin has confirmed that he's not involved with the forthcoming Disney+ reboot Home Sweet Home Alone.

Home Alone's Kevin McCallister will not be returning to defend his house this year. Culkin took to Twitter to set the record straight following speculation over a potential cameo appearance in the reboot. "Just a heads up since I've been getting this question a lot today: I am NOT in the new Home Alone reboot," he wrote. "I wish all involved the best of luck though."

Hey y'all. Just a heads up since I've been getting this question a lot today:
I am NOT in the new Home Alone reboot.

I wish all involved the best of luck though.

— Macaulay Culkin (@IncredibleCulk) October 13, 2021

Rumors of Culkin's possible involvement in the reboot emerged this week after fans spotted a familiar-looking face in the first trailer for Home Sweet Home Alone, which is due to premiere on Disney+ next month. In the footage, a police officer with a "McCallister" name badge pulls up to inspect a local neighborhood following "reports of suspicious people" in the area.

The uniform is worn by actor Devin Ratray, who played Kevin's older brother Buzz in 1990's Home Alone and its sequel. The inclusion of an OG Home Alone star in the reboot sparked rumors of Culkin returning for more holiday hijinks but unfortunately, his social media statement seems definitive, leaving Archie Yates' Max Mercer to draw up his own battle plan.

Arriving on Disney+ on November 12, Home Sweet Home Alone's cast also includes Aisling Bea, Kenan Thompson, Tim Simons, Pete Holmes, Ally Maki, and Chris Parnell, together with Rob Delaney and Ellie Kemper, playing a troubled married couple looking to steal a priceless heirloom. The film is directed by Dan Mazer from a script by Mikey Day and Streeter Seidell.

Adele Ankers is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.

Macaulay Culkin has confirmed that he's not involved with the forthcoming Disney+ reboot Home Sweet Home Alone.

Home Alone's Kevin McCallister will not be returning to defend his house this year. Culkin took to Twitter to set the record straight following speculation over a potential cameo appearance in the reboot. "Just a heads up since I've been getting this question a lot today: I am NOT in the new Home Alone reboot," he wrote. "I wish all involved the best of luck though."

Hey y'all. Just a heads up since I've been getting this question a lot today:
I am NOT in the new Home Alone reboot.

I wish all involved the best of luck though.

— Macaulay Culkin (@IncredibleCulk) October 13, 2021

Rumors of Culkin's possible involvement in the reboot emerged this week after fans spotted a familiar-looking face in the first trailer for Home Sweet Home Alone, which is due to premiere on Disney+ next month. In the footage, a police officer with a "McCallister" name badge pulls up to inspect a local neighborhood following "reports of suspicious people" in the area.

The uniform is worn by actor Devin Ratray, who played Kevin's older brother Buzz in 1990's Home Alone and its sequel. The inclusion of an OG Home Alone star in the reboot sparked rumors of Culkin returning for more holiday hijinks but unfortunately, his social media statement seems definitive, leaving Archie Yates' Max Mercer to draw up his own battle plan.

Arriving on Disney+ on November 12, Home Sweet Home Alone's cast also includes Aisling Bea, Kenan Thompson, Tim Simons, Pete Holmes, Ally Maki, and Chris Parnell, together with Rob Delaney and Ellie Kemper, playing a troubled married couple looking to steal a priceless heirloom. The film is directed by Dan Mazer from a script by Mikey Day and Streeter Seidell.

Adele Ankers is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.

Sony has opened up a direct registration system that will give those in the US a chance to purchase a PS5 this holiday season.

However, not just anyone with a PSN account will be invited. According to the FAQ page, invitations are limited, and will be based on 'previous interests and PlayStation activities'.

There will be a limited number of consoles available, but if you want to be within a chance, all you need to do is register for an invitation using your email and PSN ID (see here).

Emails will be sent out starting in November, and if selected, you'll be invited to purchase the console via PS Direct.

Each invitation will provide access to one PS5 or PS5 Digital console. It will also have a time limit, so if you do register, keep a keen eye on your emails in November.

If you're interested in even more PS5 stock updates, and how to get a PS5 before the end of the year, make sure you're following @IGNDeals on Twitter, as we'll post new stock availability when it's available at retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, and more.

Sony has already confirmed that supply shortages for the PS5 will continue into 2022, with the global chip shortage causing significant issues.

In May, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said he anticipates supply shortages for the RTX 30 series to last until "the second half of this year." In that same month, Sony CFO Hiroki Tokoi echoed those claims during an earnings call, stating that the company is expecting PS5s to remain in limited supply throughout next year.

Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.

Sony has opened up a direct registration system that will give those in the US a chance to purchase a PS5 this holiday season.

However, not just anyone with a PSN account will be invited. According to the FAQ page, invitations are limited, and will be based on 'previous interests and PlayStation activities'.

There will be a limited number of consoles available, but if you want to be within a chance, all you need to do is register for an invitation using your email and PSN ID (see here).

Emails will be sent out starting in November, and if selected, you'll be invited to purchase the console via PS Direct.

Each invitation will provide access to one PS5 or PS5 Digital console. It will also have a time limit, so if you do register, keep a keen eye on your emails in November.

If you're interested in even more PS5 stock updates, and how to get a PS5 before the end of the year, make sure you're following @IGNDeals on Twitter, as we'll post new stock availability when it's available at retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, and more.

Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.

During a recent New York Comic Con panel, one of the writers behind Call of Duty Vanguard spoke about the team's desire to make more 'iconic' characters within the franchise, similar to the likes of Halo's Master Chief.

As reported by VGC, Call of Duty: Vanguard writer Sam Maggs opened up about the team's hopes for Vanguard and how they would like to create more prolific standout characters within the franchise. “We came into this process saying, ‘how do we make the iconic CoD characters?’ because you don’t really have that in Call of Duty right now,” she stated during the panel.

“You know when you think about a game like Halo, you think of Master Chief, but when you think of CoD there’s not really those standout characters." While previous iterations of the Call of Duty franchise have seen noteworthy characters such as Captain Price, Ghost, and Captain "Soap" MacTavish, more recent entries into the franchise arguably haven't capitalized on character development to quite the same extent.

Maggs says that the team started by coming up with characters that it felt could be "flagship" heroes in the franchise, because they want to be able to carry their stories over into future Vanguard games, should that be the direction that Activision decides to take Call of Duty. "We are hoping that if people love them as much as we do, that we get to continue to tell the story of these people and make them sort of like figureheads for this era of CoD basically,” she concluded.

As per Call of Duty's website, Vanguard's upcoming campaign will focus on the escapades of Task Force One as they attempt to stop the Nazi party from implementing the mysterious Project Phoenix toward the end of WW2. The special forces squad itself is made up of four playable characters: Sergeant Arthur Kingsley, Lieutenant Polina Petrova, Private Lucas Riggs, and Lieutenant First Class Wade Jackson. Sergeant Richard Webb will make up the fifth member of the team, though it seems that he won't be playable throughout the campaign. The site also notes that these operators will also make up a third of the game's twelve playable characters in Vanguard's multiplayer when the game launches next month.

Earlier this week, the team at Sledgehammer showed off a little more of its campaign with the release of a new trailer and a subsequent behind-the-scenes look at how Vanguard's story came to be. In other Call of Duty news, Activision recently spoke further about the upcoming anti-cheat set to be released alongside Vanguard. The company says that its new system is called Ricochet, and is designed to combat hackers in the game using kernel-level monitors.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

During a recent New York Comic Con panel, one of the writers behind Call of Duty Vanguard spoke about the team's desire to make more 'iconic' characters within the franchise, similar to the likes of Halo's Master Chief.

As reported by VGC, Call of Duty: Vanguard writer Sam Maggs opened up about the team's hopes for Vanguard and how they would like to create more prolific standout characters within the franchise. “We came into this process saying, ‘how do we make the iconic CoD characters?’ because you don’t really have that in Call of Duty right now,” she stated during the panel.

“You know when you think about a game like Halo, you think of Master Chief, but when you think of CoD there’s not really those standout characters." While previous iterations of the Call of Duty franchise have seen noteworthy characters such as Captain Price, Ghost, and Captain "Soap" MacTavish, more recent entries into the franchise arguably haven't capitalized on character development to quite the same extent.

Maggs says that the team started by coming up with characters that it felt could be "flagship" heroes in the franchise, because they want to be able to carry their stories over into future Vanguard games, should that be the direction that Activision decides to take Call of Duty. "We are hoping that if people love them as much as we do, that we get to continue to tell the story of these people and make them sort of like figureheads for this era of CoD basically,” she concluded.

As per Call of Duty's website, Vanguard's upcoming campaign will focus on the escapades of Task Force One as they attempt to stop the Nazi party from implementing the mysterious Project Phoenix toward the end of WW2. The special forces squad itself is made up of four playable characters: Sergeant Arthur Kingsley, Lieutenant Polina Petrova, Private Lucas Riggs, and Lieutenant First Class Wade Jackson. Sergeant Richard Webb will make up the fifth member of the team, though it seems that he won't be playable throughout the campaign. The site also notes that these operators will also make up a third of the game's twelve playable characters in Vanguard's multiplayer when the game launches next month.

Earlier this week, the team at Sledgehammer showed off a little more of its campaign with the release of a new trailer and a subsequent behind-the-scenes look at how Vanguard's story came to be. In other Call of Duty news, Activision recently spoke further about the upcoming anti-cheat set to be released alongside Vanguard. The company says that its new system is called Ricochet, and is designed to combat hackers in the game using kernel-level monitors.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.