343 Industries has revealed new details on Season 2 of Halo Infinite's multiplayer, including that it will be called Lone Wolves, that it will have new maps and modes, and that it will be released on May 3, 2022.

All the news was shared on Halo Waypoint by Halo Infinite head of creative Joseph Staten, and he began by sharing the inspiration behind Lone Wolves, which is both Season 2's name and theme.

"By 'theme' we mean a core idea that guides the creation of much, but not all, of a Season’s content," Staten said. "Lone Wolf Spartans are hunters. Trackers. They’re resourceful improvisers, operating deep in enemy territory without resupply or support. They’re fierce, rugged, and prefer to work alone—but they’re still loyal to the Spartan pack."

You can see concept art for two of these "Lone Wolves" above, and they give a first look at Spartan Sigrid Eklund (left) and Spartan Hieu Dinh (right). Players will learn more about them and Spartan Commander Laurette Agryna during Season 2's story - "a mix of cinematics, story-themed events, Battle Pass items and more that embody the Lone Wolves theme."

As with Season 1's Tenrai samurai-esque armor core, Season 2 will also have a Fracture event that strays from the "Lone Wolves" theme and gives players a unique new take on the Spartan look.

Season 2 will also see playlist updates, balance changes, new modes, and maps. These include an Arena map called Catalyst, a BTB map called Breaker, a free-for-all elimination mode called Last Spartan Standing, another new mode called Land Grab, and the return of King of the Hill.

In April, 343 will reveal more details on the Lone Wolves season as it prepares for its launch.

343's Updates on Campaign Co-Op, Forge, and Season 3

It was previously revealed that the much-anticipated Halo Infinite campaign co-op wouldn't arrive until Season 2, but fans will have to wait a bit longer as it won't be ready right when it launches. 343 has committed to releasing 4-player network co-op and 2-player split-screen co-op for Halo Infinite on all Xbox consoles. However, 343 has said that the "non-linear, wide-open sections of the Campaign present some big challenges for split-screen that have taken us more time to solve."

This means campaign co-op won't be ready on May 3, but the team is still aiming on delivering it to fans later in the season. 343 was a bit more non-committal on split-screen co-op, saying that "we are still aiming to deliver Campaign network co-op later in Season 2, and we will share a release date for that and for split-screen co-op as soon as we can."

Forge is also progressing well and is still on track for Season 3. 343 is currently "flighting Forge to a small group of community creators and working closely with them to ensure that all of you have a terrific experience creating, sharing, browsing, and playing Forge content." Public flights are planned for later this year.

343 is also hard at work on Season 3, but it shared no further details on that or how long Season 2 would last.

For more on Halo Infinite, check out where Master Chief's latest adventure ranks on our list of the best games to play on Xbox Series X/S right now, how Infinite's mid-season update brought "multiple improvements" to the campaign, and see 343 devs react to a Legendary speedrun of the game.

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 Batman's secret website that pits fans against the Riddler has been updated with a loading screen countdown towards... something.

The website in question - www.rataalada.com - is an ARG that rewarded clever visitors with such rewards as a series of Gotham City Police Department sketches for The Batman, a short video called "Thomas Wayne Lies," and an image containing a cipher.

This loading screen/countdown also contains the cipher you can access by clicking [CLICK FOR REWARD]. While what the message says is anyone's guess, the URL may give a hint as to what we are waiting for. The end of the URL of the cipher page is "Its_Not_Over_Yet," possibly hinting at an upcoming sequel announcement or deleted scene that director Matt Reeves has talked about containing a certain spoiler character. This is obviously all speculation and could end up being any number of things.

It's also important to note that when you first visit the website, certain interesting text pops up, including corrections.arkham.gov, possibly hinting this has something to do with Arkham Asylum and/or a possible inmate there.

As of this writing, the loading screen is at 6% and slowly increasing. As further developments occur, we will update this page with any reveals.

While you wait for whatever this ends up being, be sure to check out our review of The Batman, which is out now in theaters. In our review, we said, "The Batman is a gripping, gorgeous, and, at times, genuinely scary psychological crime thriller that gives Bruce Wayne the grounded detective story he deserves."

For more, check out our explainer of The Batman's ending, how a total coincidence caused 2019's Joker and The Batman to share themes, and how the Batman director had to shoot fake scenes to protect a big spoiler.

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 Batman's secret website that pits fans against the Riddler has been updated with a loading screen countdown towards... something.

The website in question - www.rataalada.com - is an ARG that rewarded clever visitors with such rewards as a series of Gotham City Police Department sketches for The Batman, a short video called "Thomas Wayne Lies," and an image containing a cipher.

This loading screen/countdown also contains the cipher you can access by clicking [CLICK FOR REWARD]. While what the message says is anyone's guess, the URL may give a hint as to what we are waiting for. The end of the URL of the cipher page is "Its_Not_Over_Yet," possibly hinting at an upcoming sequel announcement or deleted scene that director Matt Reeves has talked about containing a certain spoiler character. This is obviously all speculation and could end up being any number of things.

It's also important to note that when you first visit the website, certain interesting text pops up, including corrections.arkham.gov, possibly hinting this has something to do with Arkham Asylum and/or a possible inmate there.

As of this writing, the loading screen is at 6% and slowly increasing. As further developments occur, we will update this page with any reveals.

While you wait for whatever this ends up being, be sure to check out our review of The Batman, which is out now in theaters. In our review, we said, "The Batman is a gripping, gorgeous, and, at times, genuinely scary psychological crime thriller that gives Bruce Wayne the grounded detective story he deserves."

For more, check out our explainer of The Batman's ending, how a total coincidence caused 2019's Joker and The Batman to share themes, and how the Batman director had to shoot fake scenes to protect a big spoiler.

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.

A number of Pokémon community members have honed in on some text on the official website for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet that seems to indicate "traditional catching mechanics" will return in the games - that is, not the Pokémon catching from Pokémon Legends: Arceus.

The website text in question reads as follows:

Various towns blend seamlessly into the wilderness with no borders. You’ll be able to see the Pokémon of this region in the skies, in the seas, in the forests, on the streets — all over! You’ll be able to experience the true joy of the Pokémon series — battling against wild Pokémon in order to catch them — now in an open-world game that players of any age can enjoy.​

This, combined with a screenshot of a battle with a wild Larvitar and a trainer's Pikachu, has been interpreted by a number of Pokémon fans (many of them gathered on this Reddit thread) to mean that in Violet and Scarlet, we won't be able to just throw PokéBalls at monster on the overworld like in Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Instead, we'll have to enter battles and weaken them first, just like in every other main series Pokémon game up to this point (except for Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee).

While this piece of information isn't quite enough to say for certain one way or another how catching wild Pokémon is going to work in these games, it's probably a safe enough assumption. For one, Pokémon Let's Go! implemented twists on traditional Pokémon catching that haven't been seen in a Pokémon game since, indicating they were more of an experiment than a permanent fixture.

And while Pokémon Legends: Arceus' catching mechanics were wildly popular, including with us in our review, the game came out less than two months ago — nearly enough time for Game Freak to pivot an essential feature based on audience feedback alone.

Fans are divided on whether this return to basics is a good thing or not, though. While some in the thread are lamenting the possible lack of Arceus' stealth mechanics, others are pointing out that a traditional Pokémon game is unlikely to have the same focus on catching piles and piles of the same species over and over again, making overworld capturing unnecessary. For now, though, it's all speculation, as we don't know much about the design of Violet and Scarlet or how catching will factor into it.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet were announced recently on on February 27 as a part of a Pokemon Day celebratory stream. We got a look at three new starter Pokémon: Grass Cat Sprigatito, Fire Croc Fuecoco, and Water Duckling Quaxly. The games are set for release on Nintendo Switch in late 2022.

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

A number of Pokémon community members have honed in on some text on the official website for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet that seems to indicate "traditional catching mechanics" will return in the games - that is, not the Pokémon catching from Pokémon Legends: Arceus.

The website text in question reads as follows:

Various towns blend seamlessly into the wilderness with no borders. You’ll be able to see the Pokémon of this region in the skies, in the seas, in the forests, on the streets — all over! You’ll be able to experience the true joy of the Pokémon series — battling against wild Pokémon in order to catch them — now in an open-world game that players of any age can enjoy.​

This, combined with a screenshot of a battle with a wild Larvitar and a trainer's Pikachu, has been interpreted by a number of Pokémon fans (many of them gathered on this Reddit thread) to mean that in Violet and Scarlet, we won't be able to just throw PokéBalls at monster on the overworld like in Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Instead, we'll have to enter battles and weaken them first, just like in every other main series Pokémon game up to this point (except for Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee).

While this piece of information isn't quite enough to say for certain one way or another how catching wild Pokémon is going to work in these games, it's probably a safe enough assumption. For one, Pokémon Let's Go! implemented twists on traditional Pokémon catching that haven't been seen in a Pokémon game since, indicating they were more of an experiment than a permanent fixture.

And while Pokémon Legends: Arceus' catching mechanics were wildly popular, including with us in our review, the game came out less than two months ago — nearly enough time for Game Freak to pivot an essential feature based on audience feedback alone.

Fans are divided on whether this return to basics is a good thing or not, though. While some in the thread are lamenting the possible lack of Arceus' stealth mechanics, others are pointing out that a traditional Pokémon game is unlikely to have the same focus on catching piles and piles of the same species over and over again, making overworld capturing unnecessary. For now, though, it's all speculation, as we don't know much about the design of Violet and Scarlet or how catching will factor into it.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet were announced recently on on February 27 as a part of a Pokemon Day celebratory stream. We got a look at three new starter Pokémon: Grass Cat Sprigatito, Fire Croc Fuecoco, and Water Duckling Quaxly. The games are set for release on Nintendo Switch in late 2022.

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

Will Smith will evidently become legend once more. Warner Bros. is gearing up for a sequel to 2007's I Am Legend, with Will Smith returning and Black Panther's/Creed's Michael B. Jordan co-starring, Deadline reports.

Plot details are understandably being kept under wraps, but the movie marks Smith and Jordan's first time working together as co-stars and producers.

The sequel is being penned and produced by Oscar-winning Akiva Goldsman, writer of A Beautiful Mind, Fringe, and the original I Am Legend screenplay. I Am Legend (the film) is based on the 1954 novel of the same name by Richard Matheson, which helped to popularize the post-apocalyptic genre.

No director is currently confirmed to be attached to the project, and no firm release window has been announced.

I Am Legend starred Will Smith as a U.S. Army virologist living alone in a post-apocalyptic New York City, three years after a cure for the measles virus became lethal and supposedly infected 99% of humanity. Smith struggled to survive and develop a cure for those affected, who had become pale-skinned beasts with vampiric and zombie-like traits.

You might be asking yourself: How is Will Smith returning for a sequel? Didn't he sacrifice himself to save someone else at the end of the movie? That's if you watched the second version of the ending. The original ending, which test audiences supposedly disliked enough to make Warner Bros. reshoot it, is actually closer to the novel's chilling ending. As Smith's character fends off a final attack from the infected, he sees their leader draw a butterfly symbol in blood on a pane of glass. Smith realizes that the infected woman he's been experimenting on has a butterfly tattoo, and is the leader's mate. Smith gives the infected woman back to the leader and says he's sorry, realizing (much like in the book) that he's become a boogeyman monster to the infected, in effect becoming a "legend."

In the ending that most theatrical audiences saw, Smith manages to create a vaccine just in time, saves a woman and child, and sacrifices himself in a fiery explosion while fending off the infected, who exhibit none of the human, intelligent traits that they did in the originally filmed ending. Of course, being an action movie, we don't really see Smith die, just an explosion.

I Am Legend grossed a whopping $585 million worldwide when it released in 2007, and with Smith recently winning Oscar nominations for best actor and best picture for King Richard, Warner Bros. clearly sees an opportunity to once again capitalize on Smith's box-office draw power.

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer for IGN.

Will Smith will evidently become legend once more. Warner Bros. is gearing up for a sequel to 2007's I Am Legend, with Will Smith returning and Black Panther's/Creed's Michael B. Jordan co-starring, Deadline reports.

Plot details are understandably being kept under wraps, but the movie marks Smith and Jordan's first time working together as co-stars and producers.

The sequel is being penned and produced by Oscar-winning Akiva Goldsman, writer of A Beautiful Mind, Fringe, and the original I Am Legend screenplay. I Am Legend (the film) is based on the 1954 novel of the same name by Richard Matheson, which helped to popularize the post-apocalyptic genre.

No director is currently confirmed to be attached to the project, and no firm release window has been announced.

I Am Legend starred Will Smith as a U.S. Army virologist living alone in a post-apocalyptic New York City, three years after a cure for the measles virus became lethal and supposedly infected 99% of humanity. Smith struggled to survive and develop a cure for those affected, who had become pale-skinned beasts with vampiric and zombie-like traits.

You might be asking yourself: How is Will Smith returning for a sequel? Didn't he sacrifice himself to save someone else at the end of the movie? That's if you watched the second version of the ending. The original ending, which test audiences supposedly disliked enough to make Warner Bros. reshoot it, is actually closer to the novel's chilling ending. As Smith's character fends off a final attack from the infected, he sees their leader draw a butterfly symbol in blood on a pane of glass. Smith realizes that the infected woman he's been experimenting on has a butterfly tattoo, and is the leader's mate. Smith gives the infected woman back to the leader and says he's sorry, realizing (much like in the book) that he's become a boogeyman monster to the infected, in effect becoming a "legend."

In the ending that most theatrical audiences saw, Smith manages to create a vaccine just in time, saves a woman and child, and sacrifices himself in a fiery explosion while fending off the infected, who exhibit none of the human, intelligent traits that they did in the originally filmed ending. Of course, being an action movie, we don't really see Smith die, just an explosion.

I Am Legend grossed a whopping $585 million worldwide when it released in 2007, and with Smith recently winning Oscar nominations for best actor and best picture for King Richard, Warner Bros. clearly sees an opportunity to once again capitalize on Smith's box-office draw power.

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer for IGN.

A new Alien movie is on the way to Hulu courtesy of Ridley Scott and apparent series superfan Fede Alvarez, whose pitch had reportedly been rattling around in Scott's head for years.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, not much is known about the new movie save that it's apparently unconnected to the previous movies. Alvarez, who is best-known for his work on The Evil Dead Remake and Don't Breathe, will write and direct the new standalone film.

Alvarez is said to have casually pitched the idea to Scott many years ago, but that nothing came of it until recently, when Scott reportedly called him and asked if he still wanted to make it. 20th Century Pictures quickly picked up the project.

"It was just a really good story with a bunch of characters you haven't seen before," 20th Century Pictures president Steve Asbell said.

Asbell suggested that the new movie will face less pressure than the average blockbuster move with a "gargantuan budget," allowing it to be "closer to its genre roots."

Alvarez's new Alien movie isn't the only project headed to Hulu. Back in 2020, a new Alien show helmed by Fargo's Noah Hawley was announced for FX, which Scott said would "never be as good as the first one." Scott is also reportedly working on an entry of his own, but it's seemingly undecided whether it will be tied to the plot of Prometheus and Alien: Covenant.

In the meantime, if you're starved for new xenomorph content, there's always Aliens: Fireteam Elite.

A new Alien movie is on the way to Hulu courtesy of Ridley Scott and apparent series superfan Fede Alvarez, whose pitch had reportedly been rattling around in Scott's head for years.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, not much is known about the new movie save that it's apparently unconnected to the previous movies. Alvarez, who is best-known for his work on The Evil Dead Remake and Don't Breathe, will write and direct the new standalone film.

Alvarez is said to have casually pitched the idea to Scott many years ago, but that nothing came of it until recently, when Scott reportedly called him and asked if he still wanted to make it. 20th Century Pictures quickly picked up the project.

"It was just a really good story with a bunch of characters you haven't seen before," 20th Century Pictures president Steve Asbell said.

Asbell suggested that the new movie will face less pressure than the average blockbuster move with a "gargantuan budget," allowing it to be "closer to its genre roots."

Alvarez's new Alien movie isn't the only project headed to Hulu. Back in 2020, a new Alien show helmed by Fargo's Noah Hawley was announced for FX, which Scott said would "never be as good as the first one." Scott is also reportedly working on an entry of his own, but it's seemingly undecided whether it will be tied to the plot of Prometheus and Alien: Covenant.

In the meantime, if you're starved for new xenomorph content, there's always Aliens: Fireteam Elite.

Players are questioning how microtransactions in the new Gran Turismo 7 are being handled after it was revealed that Polyphony Digital has done away with direct car purchases in favor of purchasing credits. This has made it so that some cars could cost up to $40.

In the last Gran Turismo game — Gran Turismo Sport — individual cars could be purchased at a set price. In Gran Turismo 7, however, players can only acquire in-game currency called Credits which range from $2.49 for 100,000 credits or $20 for 2,000,000 credits.

While credits can be earned in-game through grinding, this new microtransaction system has resulted in some changes within the marketplace since the last Gran Turismo game. According to VGC, cars that would cost $5 in Gran Turismo Sport, are almost $40, as it costs 3,000,000 credits or purchasing the 2,000,000 credits option twice.

Gran Turismo 7’s credit costs are likely meant to encourage players to grind for their dream cars and earn credits through in-game challenges. But the loss of one-off car purchases still stings. Plus, given some Legendary cars are 3,000,000 credits, not having the option to purchase only the required amount also leaves a bitter aftertaste.

However, players with the time to drive towards their dream car on their own will be happy to know there’s an amazing game worth the grind. IGN’s Grand Turismo 7 review praised the latest Polyphony Digital sim as one of the best in the series “enhanced by the PS5’s gorgeous graphics[.]”

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.