Editor's Note: The war in Ukraine is an ongoing, painful and emotive topic. IGN urges community members to be respectful when engaging in conversation around this subject and does not endorse harassment of any kind.

The move is in line with economic sanctions currently held against the nation following its invasion of Ukraine.

Russian streamers now report that Twitch has ceased making payments to them. The popular streamer Alexey ‘Jesus AVGN’ Gubanov shared an email via Twitter that he received from Twitch.

In line with the sanctions imposed on Russia, Twitch is restricting payments being issued to streamers in Russia

“we will do everything possible to pay the income you have earned as soon as we are allowed to do so” pic.twitter.com/Qnx821rBXe

— GUARD Hunter (@HUN2R) March 5, 2022

The email details how Twitch is complying with sanctions against Russia and offers to pay the streamer if he can provide “a new payment method”.

During an interview with The Washington Post, Gubanov explained how the sanctions are affecting him despite previously moving to the U.S. due to his stance against Putin.

“I have been blocked from payments from Twitch, many advertisers have left the Russian market, and my Visa and Mastercard cards will soon be blocked abroad,” he explained. “For many years, I have been against the Putin regime, because of which I had to flee my home country, and yet I still have to answer for all the terrible actions of Putin, even in another country.”

It’s thought that Twitch has reached out to streamers in the country to let them know about how the situation will impact them.

“Twitch complies with the terms of the economic sanctions imposed by the United States and other governments, and is complying with those imposed in response to the situation in Ukraine,” says the official email.

“These sanctions may limit or impact your access to payouts, ability to monetize your stream, and/or financially support other creators.”

“We appreciate how frustrating and difficult this is and would like to reassure you that if you can't provide an alternative financial institution, we will do our best to pay you revenues you have earned as soon as we are permitted to do so.”

Sanctions imposed by The European Commission, United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and Canada effectively stop any people or businesses from conducting trade or making transactions with Russian individuals, businesses, or institutions – including any of the country’s banks.

Twitch has also introduced new rules to stop the spreading of misinformation. The policy update will allow Twitch to take action against accounts deemed to be spreading false information – such as the video game footage being passed off as real-life war footage.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

F-Zero X will become the 13th Nintendo 64 game available on Switch when it arrives on March 11.

Players can enjoy the fast-paced futuristic racing as part of part of the Switch Online Expansion Pack which costs $49.99 and is the only way to play N64 games on the console.

F-Zero X features more than 30 unique hover-vehicles including the legendary Blue Falcon and lets users race them solo or with friends in Grand Prix tournaments.

It joins 12 other N64 games available through the Expansion Pass including the recently added The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask which arrived on the service in late February.

The full range of N64 titles currently available on Switch is: Banjo-Kazooie, Dr. Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Mario Tennis, Paper Mario, Sin & Punishment, Star Fox 64, Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Win Back: Covert Operations, and Yoshi’s Story.

The Expansion Pass also grants access to SEGA Genesis games alongside DLC for Nintendo titles including Animal Crossing: New Horizons' Happy Home Paradise and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's Booster Course Pass, which doubles the number of tracks eventually available in the game from 48 to 96.

In our 9/10 review from back in the day, IGN said "F-Zero X is another proof that nobody does sequels like Nintendo" as "the developers kicked out everything that stood in the way of perfectly-tuned gameplay."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale.

EVO has unveiled the lineup of games coming to the popular fighting game tournament this August. EVO staples such as Street Fighter V and Tekken 7 will return as expected, but some titles will also feature for the first time.

The full lineup is as follows:

• Street Fighter V: Champion Edition - PS4 (Capcom)
• Guilty Gear -Strive- PS4 (Arc System Works)
• Mortal Kombat 11: Ultimate - PS4 (Warner Bros. Games)
• TEKKEN 7 - PS4 (Bandai Namco Entertainment)
• THE KING OF FIGHTERS XV - PS4 (SNK)
• MELTY BLOOD: TYPE LUMINA - PS4 (Project Lumina)
• DRAGON BALL FighterZ - PS4 (Bandai Namco Entertainment)
• Granblue Fantasy: Versus - PS4 (Cygames and XSEED)
• Skullgirls: 2nd Encore - PS4 (Autumn Games)

General manager Rick Thiher said: "We are thrilled to present a slate of fighting games representing so many of the genre's player-bases for EVO 2022. There is nothing like the global fighting game community's energy when we gather for EVO, and I'm greatly looking forward to seeing what happens when we start the event series' next chapter together later this year."

EVO returns after last year's event was canceled due to complications caused by COVID-19. Founded by Tom Cannon, it is one of the world's most popular fighting game events, its roots being in the tournaments hosted in Northern California in the mid-90s.

Super Smash Bros. is conspicuously absent from this year's lineup. Nintendo made the decision last month to not have any iteration of the franchise at EVO 2022, possibly as a result of Sony purchasing the tournament in 2021.

Fans and players alike can otherwise attend EVO 2022 at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas from August 5 to 7.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale.

The iconic shot of Luke, Leia, R2-D2, and C-3PO looking out at the stars at the end of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back almost wasn't included in the movie at all.

According to Luke Skywalker himself — Mark Hamill — the final scene was filmed very late into production after the filmmakers started worrying about the original ending's negative tone.

"Filmed 4 months after we wrapped principal photography on #ESB, it wasn't a 're-shoot', it was an added scene," Hamill wrote on Twitter. "Concerned about the downbeat ending & thorough defeat of the protagonists, they wanted to add an uplifting moment of hope & rejuvenation to reassure the audience."

Filmed 4 months after we wrapped principal photography on #ESB, it wasn't a "re-shoot", it was an added scene. Concerned about the downbeat ending & thorough defeat of the protagonists, they wanted to add an uplifting moment of hope & rejuvenation to reassure the audience. https://t.co/VIMbC3YprU pic.twitter.com/MG41dr8fgu

— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) March 8, 2022

Just before the final scene, Luke's hand is chopped off by Darth Vader, who also just revealed that he is Luke's father. Han Solo has been frozen in carbonite, and our heroes barely escape capture from Vader's Star Destroyer on the Millennium Falcon. It's certainly not the most positive note to send fans out of the theater on.

However, the additional filming isn't even the last time the scene was changed. According to the official Star Wars website, George Lucas wanted to make even more changes to the movie after it had already made its initial premiere in theaters.

Lucas apparently realized "that the end of the film was unclear" in terms of where geographically Leia and Luke had escaped to. Shots added just weeks before the movie's widespread release made it clear that Luke and Leia were aboard a separate medical ship, not the Falcon.

Fans will once again be able to relive the events of Empire Strikes Back next month in LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, which we just learned will get Mandalorian and Rogue One DLC. And, if you're feeling nostalgic for the Star Wars universe, check out planets Star Wars should explore beyond Tatooine.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

The iconic shot of Luke, Leia, R2-D2, and C-3PO looking out at the stars at the end of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back almost wasn't included in the movie at all.

According to Luke Skywalker himself — Mark Hamill — the final scene was filmed very late into production after the filmmakers started worrying about the original ending's negative tone.

"Filmed 4 months after we wrapped principal photography on #ESB, it wasn't a 're-shoot', it was an added scene," Hamill wrote on Twitter. "Concerned about the downbeat ending & thorough defeat of the protagonists, they wanted to add an uplifting moment of hope & rejuvenation to reassure the audience."

Filmed 4 months after we wrapped principal photography on #ESB, it wasn't a "re-shoot", it was an added scene. Concerned about the downbeat ending & thorough defeat of the protagonists, they wanted to add an uplifting moment of hope & rejuvenation to reassure the audience. https://t.co/VIMbC3YprU pic.twitter.com/MG41dr8fgu

— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) March 8, 2022

Just before the final scene, Luke's hand is chopped off by Darth Vader, who also just revealed that he is Luke's father. Han Solo has been frozen in carbonite, and our heroes barely escape capture from Vader's Star Destroyer on the Millennium Falcon. It's certainly not the most positive note to send fans out of the theater on.

However, the additional filming isn't even the last time the scene was changed. According to the official Star Wars website, George Lucas wanted to make even more changes to the movie after it had already made its initial premiere in theaters.

Lucas apparently realized "that the end of the film was unclear" in terms of where geographically Leia and Luke had escaped to. Shots added just weeks before the movie's widespread release made it clear that Luke and Leia were aboard a separate medical ship, not the Falcon.

Fans will once again be able to relive the events of Empire Strikes Back next month in LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, which we just learned will get Mandalorian and Rogue One DLC. And, if you're feeling nostalgic for the Star Wars universe, check out planets Star Wars should explore beyond Tatooine.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

As one of the final announcements during its March 8 hardware event, Apple announced a new desktop computer and display: the Mac Studio and Studio display.

The Mac Studio can be configured with either the M1 Max or the new flagship processor, the M1 Ultra. The new desktop's rear offers an assortment of ports: one HDMI port, one audio jack, one Ethernet port, two USB-A ports, and four Thunderbolt 4 ports. In contrast, the front features two USB-C ports and an SD card slot.

While the Mac Studio Display is a new 27-inch 5K display with a built-in 12-megapixel ultrawide front camera, 600-nits of brightness, and six speakers built-in. The Studio Display features three USB-C ports and one Thunderbolt 4 port. Apple says that the Thunderbolt port will support up to 96W of passthrough charging that is powerful enough to fast-charge a 14-inch MacBook Pro.

Apple presented both products as devices aimed at creative professionals. One example, as noted in the press release, a user with a MacBook Pro would be able to connect up to three Studio Displays to create a "powerful edit bay or animation workspace." While the Mac Studio is claimed to outperform a Xeon CPU-based Mac Pro by up to 50 percent and up to 2.5 faster than a 10-core processor 27-inch iMac.

The Mac Studio's pricing starts at $1,999 if you configure the device with an M1 Max chip, while for those looking to configure one with the M1 Ultra chip, pricing begins at $3,999. For those looking to buy a Studio Display, it will cost $1,599.

Both the Mac Studio and Studio Display will release on March 18.

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

Two of the world's most popular social services, Spotify and Discord, are currently down. Users are unable to access either platform, with Discord joking tweeting that it's "time for everyone to go outside."

Discord's issues began at around 9am PT and have since persisted. Spotify, meanwhile, has logged users out and is currently inaccessible. You can check the status of both Spotify and Discord using Down Detector, IGN's sister site.

We’re aware of an issue causing message failures and are working on a fix.

Apologies for the disruption & thx for hanging tight! https://t.co/rq97JXSEFv

— Discord (@discord) March 8, 2022

According to Discord's status page, the platform is "continuing to investigate the issue impacting the API to find root cause." The update was sent at around 10:29 PST.

Spotify, meanwhile, simply tweeted, "Something's not quite right, and we're looking into it. Thanks for your reports!"

Something’s not quite right, and we’re looking into it. Thanks for your reports!

— Spotify Status (@SpotifyStatus) March 8, 2022

Spotify and Discord are currently trending on Twitter as users report errors and post memes, as they are wont to do.

IGN will continue to monitor the situation and post updates as they happen.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot

As part of its first 2022 hardware event, Apple announced today that it is adding a fourth chip to its M1 lineup: the M1 Ultra.

The M1 Ultra serves as the most powerful system on a chip from the tech company. Based on what Apple has said about its new chip, the M1 Ultra is two M1 Max Chips (the company's previous flagship silicon) chips connected. The tech giant also confirmed that the M1 Ultra is eight times faster than its M1 chip.

Developing...

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

Apple has announced the fifth generation of its iPad Air product series, as part of its Peek Performance hardware event today.

In a surprising twist, Apple announced that the fifth-generation iPad Air will be powered by its M1 processor. Previously the only iPad that included the M1 chip was the fifth-generation iPad Pro which was released roughly a year ago.

The iPad Air 2022 will also include support for the second-generation Apple Pencil, the optional Magic Keyboard accessory, and optional 5G support. The device will also include USB-C charging.

Developing...

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

Apple has officially announced a new iPhone SE model, a lower-cost smartphone from the tech giant as part of its Peek Performance event.

While the design has not changed much since its predecessor, the big new addition with the latest iPhone SE model is the inclusion of 5G support, which was previously only available in the iPhone 12 series, and the iPhone 13 line which was released last year. The 2022 iPhone SE also includes the A15 chip, the same processor included in the iPhone 13 series, and the sixth-generation iPad.

Outside of 5G support and the A15 chip, the third-generation iPhone SE includes a questionably outdated design with a 4.7-inch display and extreemly thick bezels that stick out like a sore thumb compared to other smartphones released within the last year.

Although the camera remains unchanged compared to the 2020 model, Apple says that the A15 chip provides some software-based improvements to this year's SE model. Features such as Deep Fusion and Smart HDR 4 are supported.

The 2022 iPhone SE model has a starting price of $429 and will release on March 18.

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