Legendary Star Wars composer John Williams is returning to produce the theme to Obi-Wan Kenobi, the new Star Wars series due to debut in May on Disney Plus.

Variety reports that Williams, who is 90, recorded in Los Angeles last week under tight security. Williams returns to the Star Wars franchise for the first time since Rise of Skywalker, which released in 2019.

Particularly notable is that Williams rarely scores music for television. Neither of the previous Star Wars shows — The Mandalorian or Book of Boba Fett — featured music by Williams, with Ludwig Göransson and Joseph Shirley filling the role instead.

It is unclear if Williams will contribute additional music beyond the Obi-Wan Kenobi theme.

Williams' music is traditionally regarded as an essential part of the Star Wars experience, his booming themes conveying the feel of a grand space opera. He has also composed numerous other famous themes, including Jurassic Park, Harry Potter, and other beloved blockbusters. He holds the record for the most Oscar nominations for a living person.

With Book of Boba Fett concluding last week, attention is turning to Obi-Wan Kenobi, which features Ewan McGregor reprising the role for the first time since 2005's Revenge of the Sith. It is scheduled to premiere on Disney Plus on May 25.

While you wait, you can check out our breakdown of Obi-Wan Kenobi's teaser, as well as our list of the newest Disney Plus shows for February 2022.

Image Credit: Getty Images/Axelle/Bauer-Griffin

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN

Earlier this week, a video published to the official Final Fantasy Twitter account seemed to suggest that in Final Fantasy 6 Pixel Remaster, the iconic train suplexing scene would be missing a very important, specific level of suplex-ness.

As you can see, the train does not flip upside down:

Yes, you can still suplex the train in Final Fantasy VI pixel remaster. pic.twitter.com/6g1nutVqD3

— FINAL FANTASY (@FinalFantasy) February 13, 2022

For context, the scene is supposed to look like this, with the train upside down as Sabin descends back to earth with it.

Suplexing the train has historically been one of the most famous and delightful scenes in Final Fantasy 6. And understandably so. Your party is literally fighting a giant sentient ghost train while sprinting away from it down train tracks, and when resident monk martial artist Sabin uses the move Meteor Strike, he doesn't just hurt the train, he lifts it off the ground, flips it in midair, and, well, suplexes the entire thing.

We’re still hard at work polishing Final Fantasy VI pixel remaster in time for launch next week, and we saw some of your comments that the Phantom Train didn’t flip during Meteor Strike. The video was taken from a pre-release version, and will be adjusted in time for launch!

— FINAL FANTASY (@FinalFantasy) February 17, 2022

So understandably, a lot of fans were upset and pointed out the issue in the comments of the video. There was enough protest that the account followed up today with a statement reassuring folks that the lack of a flipped train was merely because the video shown was from a pre-release version of the game. The train will, in fact, flip at launch.

It's admittedly a bit weird for a social account marketing an incredibly famous game to publish a video of a very well-known scene if said scene isn't even done yet, but at least Square Enix is committed to the full effects of a train being suplexed for release.

Final Fantasy 6 Pixel Remaster just got a new release date of February 23 on Steam and mobile after being delayed out of 2021 for additional polish. Previous Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters have launched with a number of bugs that required post-launch patches to address.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Earlier this week, a video published to the official Final Fantasy Twitter account seemed to suggest that in Final Fantasy 6 Pixel Remaster, the iconic train suplexing scene would be missing a very important, specific level of suplex-ness.

As you can see, the train does not flip upside down:

Yes, you can still suplex the train in Final Fantasy VI pixel remaster. pic.twitter.com/6g1nutVqD3

— FINAL FANTASY (@FinalFantasy) February 13, 2022

For context, the scene is supposed to look like this, with the train upside down as Sabin descends back to earth with it.

Suplexing the train has historically been one of the most famous and delightful scenes in Final Fantasy 6. And understandably so. Your party is literally fighting a giant sentient ghost train while sprinting away from it down train tracks, and when resident monk martial artist Sabin uses the move Meteor Strike, he doesn't just hurt the train, he lifts it off the ground, flips it in midair, and, well, suplexes the entire thing.

We’re still hard at work polishing Final Fantasy VI pixel remaster in time for launch next week, and we saw some of your comments that the Phantom Train didn’t flip during Meteor Strike. The video was taken from a pre-release version, and will be adjusted in time for launch!

— FINAL FANTASY (@FinalFantasy) February 17, 2022

So understandably, a lot of fans were upset and pointed out the issue in the comments of the video. There was enough protest that the account followed up today with a statement reassuring folks that the lack of a flipped train was merely because the video shown was from a pre-release version of the game. The train will, in fact, flip at launch.

It's admittedly a bit weird for a social account marketing an incredibly famous game to publish a video of a very well-known scene if said scene isn't even done yet, but at least Square Enix is committed to the full effects of a train being suplexed for release.

Final Fantasy 6 Pixel Remaster just got a new release date of February 23 on Steam and mobile after being delayed out of 2021 for additional polish. Previous Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters have launched with a number of bugs that required post-launch patches to address.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard. Take-Two Interactive buying Zynga. Sony buying Bungie. Embracer Group buying, well, everything. Amid a wave of mass games industry consolidation, it's no surprise that shareholders grilled Ubisoft executives today during the publisher's third-quarter earnings call about its own interest in making major acquisitions of its own, or being acquired. But Ubisoft's leadership is, at least publicly, maintaining an air of disinterest for now.

It's clear that the publisher knew the issue would be on the mind of shareholders, as it tried to preempt the discussion in its own earnings report with a page-long manifesto of sorts extolling the virtues of organic growth. You can read the whole thing here on page 3, but in summary, Ubisoft wants shareholders to see it as successful at slow growth over time, as opposed to a company that spends lots of money buying up other companies. As evidence, it points at what it's built over the years doing exactly that: its library of IPs like Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, Tom Clancy games, and more alongside various proprietary technologies and, rather ironically, its company culture and organizational structure.

Notably, most of this was accomplished without much need for Ubisoft to acquire other huge companies, though it's certainly done that too, if on a much smaller scale than investors are asking about. In recent years Ubisoft has picked up mobile publisher Green Panda Games, Brawlhalla developer Blue Mammoth, anti-cheat developer GameBlocks, mobile developer Kolibri Games, server company i3D.net, and several more.

But that's not really what's being talked about here. As the publisher points out, Ubisoft has become both very valuable and very successful on its own steam, a notable triumph after the long-running battle between Ubisoft and Vivendi not that long ago. Its discussion of organic growth can be interpreted to mean that the publisher is comfortable not doing much in the way of massive acquisitions of its own anytime soon, so we're not likely to see Ubisoft try to pick up Take-Two or something tomorrow.

But of course, all that discussion of how valuable and successful Ubisoft prompted questions of a different sort from investors on the call. As one pointed out about 12 minutes in, if Ubisoft's assets are so highly valued right now, is this not a prime moment to sell the company to someone else?

CEO Yves Guillemot responded with a somewhat cautious declaration of independence:

"Ubisoft can remain independent...our IPs are sought after by the biggest global players in entertainment and tech," he said. "Having said that, if there were an offer to buy us, the board of directors would of course review it in the interest of all stakeholders."

There are two things of note here. The first is that this is a fairly standard statement for any executive to make when asked this question. Acquisition discussions, especially for companies like this, happen constantly, and more often than not they go nowhere. But we never hear about them until the deal actually goes through due to a number of legal prohibitions to keep financial speculation from running wild, among other reasons. Pretty much any company executive, then, when asked if their company might be acquired at some point, has to walk a tightrope of "Maybe, also maybe not" to avoid both making definitive statements but also outright lies.

But it is somewhat notable that this is a gentler response than Guillemot could have given, especially given Ubisoft's history with Vivendi and fighting off acquisitions. Given how hard Ubisoft pushed back against a potential takeover only four years ago, even a gentle crack in the acquisition door from the company CEO is worth remarking on.

What does it all mean? Given the industry's propensity for secrecy, it's hard to say exactly. But one reading of all this is that Ubisoft isn't in line to be acquired any time soon, even if it's more open to the idea than it was four years ago. It also doesn't really need it. As Guillemot points out to shareholders, Ubisoft is having no problems getting its games on any of the three consoles it wants to put them on, and selling piles of copies of them once it's there. It can make partnerships with Microsoft for things like Game Pass freely, and its games are in demand enough there's no risk of any of the three platform holders closing the door.

Ongoing history of delays aside (where IS Roller Champions?), Ubisoft is doing fine on its own, thank you very much. For now at least, Xbox, Sony, and Nintendo can keep their hands off.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard. Take-Two Interactive buying Zynga. Sony buying Bungie. Embracer Group buying, well, everything. Amid a wave of mass games industry consolidation, it's no surprise that shareholders grilled Ubisoft executives today during the publisher's third-quarter earnings call about its own interest in making major acquisitions of its own, or being acquired. But Ubisoft's leadership is, at least publicly, maintaining an air of disinterest for now.

It's clear that the publisher knew the issue would be on the mind of shareholders, as it tried to preempt the discussion in its own earnings report with a page-long manifesto of sorts extolling the virtues of organic growth. You can read the whole thing here on page 3, but in summary, Ubisoft wants shareholders to see it as successful at slow growth over time, as opposed to a company that spends lots of money buying up other companies. As evidence, it points at what it's built over the years doing exactly that: its library of IPs like Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, Tom Clancy games, and more alongside various proprietary technologies and, rather ironically, its company culture and organizational structure.

Notably, most of this was accomplished without much need for Ubisoft to acquire other huge companies, though it's certainly done that too, if on a much smaller scale than investors are asking about. In recent years Ubisoft has picked up mobile publisher Green Panda Games, Brawlhalla developer Blue Mammoth, anti-cheat developer GameBlocks, mobile developer Kolibri Games, server company i3D.net, and several more.

But that's not really what's being talked about here. As the publisher points out, Ubisoft has become both very valuable and very successful on its own steam, a notable triumph after the long-running battle between Ubisoft and Vivendi not that long ago. Its discussion of organic growth can be interpreted to mean that the publisher is comfortable not doing much in the way of massive acquisitions of its own anytime soon, so we're not likely to see Ubisoft try to pick up Take-Two or something tomorrow.

But of course, all that discussion of how valuable and successful Ubisoft prompted questions of a different sort from investors on the call. As one pointed out about 12 minutes in, if Ubisoft's assets are so highly valued right now, is this not a prime moment to sell the company to someone else?

CEO Yves Guillemot responded with a somewhat cautious declaration of independence:

"Ubisoft can remain independent...our IPs are sought after by the biggest global players in entertainment and tech," he said. "Having said that, if there were an offer to buy us, the board of directors would of course review it in the interest of all stakeholders."

There are two things of note here. The first is that this is a fairly standard statement for any executive to make when asked this question. Acquisition discussions, especially for companies like this, happen constantly, and more often than not they go nowhere. But we never hear about them until the deal actually goes through due to a number of legal prohibitions to keep financial speculation from running wild, among other reasons. Pretty much any company executive, then, when asked if their company might be acquired at some point, has to walk a tightrope of "Maybe, also maybe not" to avoid both making definitive statements but also outright lies.

But it is somewhat notable that this is a gentler response than Guillemot could have given, especially given Ubisoft's history with Vivendi and fighting off acquisitions. Given how hard Ubisoft pushed back against a potential takeover only four years ago, even a gentle crack in the acquisition door from the company CEO is worth remarking on.

What does it all mean? Given the industry's propensity for secrecy, it's hard to say exactly. But one reading of all this is that Ubisoft isn't in line to be acquired any time soon, even if it's more open to the idea than it was four years ago. It also doesn't really need it. As Guillemot points out to shareholders, Ubisoft is having no problems getting its games on any of the three consoles it wants to put them on, and selling piles of copies of them once it's there. It can make partnerships with Microsoft for things like Game Pass freely, and its games are in demand enough there's no risk of any of the three platform holders closing the door.

Ongoing history of delays aside (where IS Roller Champions?), Ubisoft is doing fine on its own, thank you very much. For now at least, Xbox, Sony, and Nintendo can keep their hands off.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Intel has shared more information on its upcoming line of consumer graphics cards, the Arc series. Today, the well-known CPU maker confirmed that its Arc brand GPUs for laptops will begin shipping this quarter, while those looking to buy a desktop GPU will need to wait until Q2 of this year.

You’ve all been patient, and the first wave of #IntelArc GPUs are launching soon for notebooks. Desktops and workstations will soon follow! https://t.co/rXgX9dGEL1 pic.twitter.com/F6ubSUzSHM

— Intel Graphics (@IntelGraphics) February 17, 2022

Originally announced last August, Intel’s Arc brand will serve as the company’s foothold into a market, taking on GPU giants AMD and Nvidia. But Intel is playing the long game here with the Arc brand as the company also confirmed during its initial announcement that its GPUs will span “multiple hardware generations,” under the codenames “Battlemage,” “Celestial,” and “Druid.”

The Arc brand will also include its own supersampling tech, XeSS, which will compete with AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution and Nvidia’s DLSS. Despite the Arc series not being announced yet, Intel has already confirmed that several developers will support XeSS. And one of the first PC games confirmed to support the tech is the PC version of Death Stranding Director’s Cut.

Another interesting tidbit in Intel's blog post is “Project Endgame,” a new cloud GPU service, allowing users to "access Intel Arc GPUs through a service for always-accessible, low-latency computing experience." While not much is known about the Project Endgame, it could be Intel’s response to Nvidia GeForce Now’s RTX 3080 membership, which allows subscribers to play games on the cloud with an RTX 3080 PC gaming rig. Intel did not share any further details other than Project Endgame will be available later this year.

This announcement comes amid an interesting time for the graphics card market. Unprecedented demand and an ongoing chip shortage continue to cause issues for those looking to buy the latest GPUs, something of which both AMD and Nvidia have struggled to keep up with demand. Nvidia, in particular, has been silent on its forthcoming flagship, the RTX 3090 Ti, which is rumored to have been delayed.

For more info, check out our best graphics cards for 2022, as well as every new graphics card announced at CES 2022.

Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Intel has shared more information on its upcoming line of consumer graphics cards, the Arc series. Today, the well-known CPU maker confirmed that its Arc brand GPUs for laptops will begin shipping this quarter, while those looking to buy a desktop GPU will need to wait until Q2 of this year.

You’ve all been patient, and the first wave of #IntelArc GPUs are launching soon for notebooks. Desktops and workstations will soon follow! https://t.co/rXgX9dGEL1 pic.twitter.com/F6ubSUzSHM

— Intel Graphics (@IntelGraphics) February 17, 2022

Originally announced last August, Intel’s Arc brand will serve as the company’s foothold into a market, taking on GPU giants AMD and Nvidia. But Intel is playing the long game here with the Arc brand as the company also confirmed during its initial announcement that its GPUs will span “multiple hardware generations,” under the codenames “Battlemage,” “Celestial,” and “Druid.”

The Arc brand will also include its own supersampling tech, XeSS, which will compete with AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution and Nvidia’s DLSS. Despite the Arc series not being announced yet, Intel has already confirmed that several developers will support XeSS. And one of the first PC games confirmed to support the tech is the PC version of Death Stranding Director’s Cut.

Another interesting tidbit in Intel's blog post is “Project Endgame,” a new cloud GPU service, allowing users to "access Intel Arc GPUs through a service for always-accessible, low-latency computing experience." While not much is known about the Project Endgame, it could be Intel’s response to Nvidia GeForce Now’s RTX 3080 membership, which allows subscribers to play games on the cloud with an RTX 3080 PC gaming rig. Intel did not share any further details other than Project Endgame will be available later this year.

This announcement comes amid an interesting time for the graphics card market. Unprecedented demand and an ongoing chip shortage continue to cause issues for those looking to buy the latest GPUs, something of which both AMD and Nvidia have struggled to keep up with demand. Nvidia, in particular, has been silent on its forthcoming flagship, the RTX 3090 Ti, which is rumored to have been delayed.

For more info, check out our best graphics cards for 2022, as well as every new graphics card announced at CES 2022.

Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

NERF and Minecraft have mashed up once again, this time in the form of a Minecraft Dungeons-inspired Sabrewing motorized NERF bow.

The Sabrewing Bow comes with an 8-round clip, and fires darts one at a time by pulling "back the string with the priming handle to power up the motor" and hitting the fire button. It also includes a clip-worth of darts, so you can go full-bore right out of the box.

They're NERF Elite darts, too, which means they travel fast, far, and surprisingly accurately. As someone who remembers the days of plastic toys that shot crappy suction cup darts, I am constantly delighted by the advancements we, as a society, have made in the world of foam projectiles. Take a look at the slideshow below to see the NERF Minecraft Sabrewing Motorized Bow.

If you haven't played Minecraft: Dungeons, I highly recommend it. I reviewed Minecraft: Dungeons back when it came out, and it's a ton of fun, and they've been making improvements ever since. It's a nice intro to Diablo, basically, but with Minecraft. Plus it's really pretty. While you wait for the blaster to come out, go play Minecraft: Dungeons, it's on Game Pass.

Seth Macy is Executive Editor, IGN Commerce, and just wants to be your friend. You can find him hosting the Nintendo Voice Chat podcast.

NERF and Minecraft have mashed up once again, this time in the form of a Minecraft Dungeons-inspired Sabrewing motorized NERF bow.

The Sabrewing Bow comes with an 8-round clip, and fires darts one at a time by pulling "back the string with the priming handle to power up the motor" and hitting the fire button. It also includes a clip-worth of darts, so you can go full-bore right out of the box.

They're NERF Elite darts, too, which means they travel fast, far, and surprisingly accurately. As someone who remembers the days of plastic toys that shot crappy suction cup darts, I am constantly delighted by the advancements we, as a society, have made in the world of foam projectiles. Take a look at the slideshow below to see the NERF Minecraft Sabrewing Motorized Bow.

If you haven't played Minecraft: Dungeons, I highly recommend it. I reviewed Minecraft: Dungeons back when it came out, and it's a ton of fun, and they've been making improvements ever since. It's a nice intro to Diablo, basically, but with Minecraft. Plus it's really pretty. While you wait for the blaster to come out, go play Minecraft: Dungeons, it's on Game Pass.

Seth Macy is Executive Editor, IGN Commerce, and just wants to be your friend. You can find him hosting the Nintendo Voice Chat podcast.

Great news, anime fans! If you were looking for a way to catch up with your favorite anime shows while on the go without draining your smartphone battery, Crunchyroll has announced today that it now has a dedicated app on the Nintendo Switch.

Nintendo Switch owners will be able to stream content on the Crunchyroll app offline on the hybrid console, thanks to Epic Games' Unreal Engine tech. Crunchyroll is the latest to join the Nintendo Switch's limited library of streaming/video content apps following the release of the Pokemon TV app, in addition to services such as Funimation, Hulu, and YouTube.

Crunchyroll also confirmed that the Switch app will allow users to stream while the console is in docked mode, handheld, and tabletop mode, allowing fans to experience streaming their favorite anime on Crunchyroll however they want on the Nintendo Switch.

While a new streaming service is always a win for the Nintendo Switch, some fans are still irritated that Netflix, arguably one of the biggest streaming services right now, still does not have a dedicated app on the console. Nintendo said that streaming services like Netflix would come to its hybrid console "in time," but that was back in 2017. With the recent news that the 3DS and Wii U eShops will be discontinued early next year, both of which had Netflix apps before it was discontinued in January 2021, now would be a good time for the Switch to support Netflix.

Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.