Call of Duty is hosting what Activision says is the first-ever charity race inside of a video game, with players invited to run 100 virtual kilometers in Call of Duty: Warzone Pacific, between May 26 and June 3.

The Veteruns event will support the Call of Duty Endowment fund's ongoing mission of veteran employment, with Activision Blizzard, the video game developer and publisher behind Call of Duty, allocating "$1 for every 10 virtual kilometers run on-foot in Call of Duty: Warzone Pacific, up to $10 per player as part of a $1 million total donation to the Call of Duty Endowment," according to a press release.

As well as racking up their virtual steps for a chance to appear on the event leaderboard, players will be able to claim some reward-based incentives for each milestone they reach, including a bronze calling card after running 25 kilometers in the game, a silver version for achieving 50 kilometers, and a gold in-game calling card for completing 100 kilometers.

"We always look to engage our players in new ways, and working with the Endowment allows us to give our fans the opportunity to do something that is both fun and impactful," said Fernando Machado, Chief Marketing Officer of Activision Blizzard. "This is an event we are all excited for, and we can't wait to see the enthusiasm in the community as they race to hit the top of the leaderboards for a great cause."

While a smart watch won't be much use in this particular exercise, players will be able to track their progress by tweeting @CallofDuty with their Activision ID along with the event hashtag #CODVeteruns100K. In return, they will receive a report of their in-game stats, including the total number of kilometers run and the funds that will be donated on their behalf.

The Call of Duty Endowment scheme was originally set up in 2009 with the aim of finding new jobs for 25,000 ex-servicemen and women by 2018. More than ten years on, the organization has reached another major milestone, having succesfully placed 100,000 veterans into meaningful employment after their military service, two years ahead of schedule.

Last year, Call of Duty held an in-game event to raise money for veteran medics and hospital corpsmen as part of Military Appreciation Month, as well as offering a new DLC pack to raise more cash for the cause. Activision Blizzard says it plans to add a further $30 million to the fund to support the program for the next five years.

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

Call of Duty is hosting what Activision says is the first-ever charity race inside of a video game, with players invited to run 100 virtual kilometers in Call of Duty: Warzone Pacific, between May 26 and June 3.

The Veteruns event will support the Call of Duty Endowment fund's ongoing mission of veteran employment, with Activision Blizzard, the video game developer and publisher behind Call of Duty, allocating "$1 for every 10 virtual kilometers run on-foot in Call of Duty: Warzone Pacific, up to $10 per player as part of a $1 million total donation to the Call of Duty Endowment," according to a press release.

As well as racking up their virtual steps for a chance to appear on the event leaderboard, players will be able to claim some reward-based incentives for each milestone they reach, including a bronze calling card after running 25 kilometers in the game, a silver version for achieving 50 kilometers, and a gold in-game calling card for completing 100 kilometers.

"We always look to engage our players in new ways, and working with the Endowment allows us to give our fans the opportunity to do something that is both fun and impactful," said Fernando Machado, Chief Marketing Officer of Activision Blizzard. "This is an event we are all excited for, and we can't wait to see the enthusiasm in the community as they race to hit the top of the leaderboards for a great cause."

While a smart watch won't be much use in this particular exercise, players will be able to track their progress by tweeting @CallofDuty with their Activision ID along with the event hashtag #CODVeteruns100K. In return, they will receive a report of their in-game stats, including the total number of kilometers run and the funds that will be donated on their behalf.

The Call of Duty Endowment scheme was originally set up in 2009 with the aim of finding new jobs for 25,000 ex-servicemen and women by 2018. More than ten years on, the organization has reached another major milestone, having succesfully placed 100,000 veterans into meaningful employment after their military service, two years ahead of schedule.

Last year, Call of Duty held an in-game event to raise money for veteran medics and hospital corpsmen as part of Military Appreciation Month, as well as offering a new DLC pack to raise more cash for the cause. Activision Blizzard says it plans to add a further $30 million to the fund to support the program for the next five years.

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

No Man's Sky is adding time loops and space whales in its Leviathan expedition, which arrives in today.

Developer Hello Games said this latest contained adventure is unlike any of the previous six expeditions – the game's story-led events. Leviathan instead represents a roguelike where the player gets stuck repeating the same sequence over and over.

Players start together on the expedition and must work together as a community to break free of the loop. Dying resets progress, but the further players get, the more the shared "universal memory" will increase.

Better upgrades will become available as this builds, allowing players to go further and work towards eventually freeing themselves.

Hello said its community has joked about the game needing space whales for some time – and this event finally adds the beasts to its universe. The story will seemingly revolve around the Leviathan, which has finally entered No Man's Sky as a creature shrouded in myth and mystery.

Upon breaking the time loop and completing the expedition, players will be given several rewards headlined by the first ever living frigate, the Space Whale itself, but also including the Whalestalker cloak, an Organic Frigate for their base, a Temporal Starship Trail, and more.

Hello Games has updated No Man's Sky several times this year already, including last month's Outlaws update that overhauled space combat and added space pirates. Giving on-planet battles the same treatment, the Sentinels update completely refreshed the game's weapons.

Despite Outlaws being the 20th major update arriving in No Man's Sky, creator Sean Murray said the game isn't finished by a long shot.

The Leviathan expedition is available May 25 on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. Nintendo players can enjoy the update alongside the rest of No Man's Sky when it comes to Switch this summer.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Perhaps you’ve noticed coordinates that have cryptically appeared on social media this week relating to Stranger Things. IGN can exclusively reveal these are coordinates to rifts to the Upside Down that are about to open up worldwide!

As we near Friday’s launch of Stranger Things Season 4, Part, these “rifts” to the Upside Down – achieved using custom light technology – will take over 15 iconic landmarks in 14 countries on May 26 as part of a Netflix global fan event.

These locations include the Empire State Building in New York City; Bondi Beach in Australia; Duomo Square in Milan; Gran Malecón de Barranquilla Malecon Barranquilla in Colombia; The Gateway of India in Mumbai; Menara Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia; Al-'Ula National Monument in Saudi Arabia; Calle Gran via 28 in Madrid; Cologne Media Park in Germany; XBox Plaza in Downtown LA; Wawel Castle in Krakow, Poland; Medborgarplatsen, Stockholm in Sweden; Shoreditch, London, and Tokyo, Japan.

Here are the exact coordinates to the global locations:

• US - NY Empire State Building 40.7411° N 73.9894° W
• Italy - Piazza Duomo Square, Milan 45.4642° N, 9.1897° E
• ANZ - Bondi Beach 33.8922° S 151.2748 °E
• Poland - Wawel Castle in Krakow, Poland (50.0541° N, 19.9354° E) and Vistula River
• Japan- Tokyo
• India - Gateway of India, Mumbai
• Germany - Cologne Media Park 50.94765°N 6.944213°E
• Malaysia - Menara Kuala Lumpur 3.1528° N 101.7038° E
• Saudi Arabia -Al-'Ula National Monument 26.6893°N 37.9816°E
• UK - Shoreditch, London 51.52557°N 0.07854°W
• Spain - Bilbao, Barcelona and Madrid
  • Bilbao, Pais Vasco (43°16′08″N 2°56′03″O)
  • Calle Gran via 28, Madrid (40°25′13″N 3°42′07″O)
  • Madrid Plaza del Callao (40°25′12″N 3°42′20″O)
• US - Los Angeles ( XBOX Plaza @ LA Live)
• Colombia - Gran Malecón de Barranquilla (10.9971° N, 74.7705° W)
• Netherlands - Utrecht, Hoogh Catherijne
• Nordics (Sweden) - Medborgarplatsen, Stockholm (WGS84 59°18'57.9"N 18°4'17.9"E)

The New York City experience will begin with the mysterious clock from Season 4 counting down until 8:45 pm ET when a giant rift to the Upside Down will gradually emerge on the southern facade of the Empire State Building. Major moments from the series thus far and Season 4 storylines will also be seen during the visual spectacle. The light show – designed by renowned lighting designer Marc Brickman – will last for 15 minutes and then be looped for roughly two hours.

For a hint at the best vantage point to watch in person in NYC, fans can refer to their local rift coordinates listed above.

Check out these exclusive mock-ups below of what fans around the world can expect to see on May 26:

The European and Middle East spectacles utilize forced perspective projection mapping, playback technology, lighting, and audio to create those rifts. For the Asia and Latin America spectacles, the rifts at those iconic landmarks will be realized using a projection mapping system, smoke machines, and additional lighting wizardry.

For more on the Upside Down and the gang from Hawkins, read our Stranger Things Season 4, Part 1 review, discover what the cast and creators exclusively revealed to us about making the show’s most ambitious season yet, and read up on everything we know about Season 4’s big bad, Vecna. Plus, enjoy David Harbour explaining what the keys are to acting miserable in Russian gulags.

Perhaps you’ve noticed coordinates that have cryptically appeared on social media this week relating to Stranger Things. IGN can exclusively reveal these are coordinates to rifts to the Upside Down that are about to open up worldwide!

As we near Friday’s launch of Stranger Things Season 4, Part, these “rifts” to the Upside Down – achieved using custom light technology – will take over 15 iconic landmarks in 14 countries on May 26 as part of a Netflix global fan event.

These locations include the Empire State Building in New York City; Bondi Beach in Australia; Duomo Square in Milan; Gran Malecón de Barranquilla Malecon Barranquilla in Colombia; The Gateway of India in Mumbai; Menara Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia; Al-'Ula National Monument in Saudi Arabia; Calle Gran via 28 in Madrid; Cologne Media Park in Germany; XBox Plaza in Downtown LA; Wawel Castle in Krakow, Poland; Medborgarplatsen, Stockholm in Sweden; Shoreditch, London, and Tokyo, Japan.

Here are the exact coordinates to the global locations:

• US - NY Empire State Building 40.7411° N 73.9894° W
• Italy - Piazza Duomo Square, Milan 45.4642° N, 9.1897° E
• ANZ - Bondi Beach 33.8922° S 151.2748 °E
• Poland - Wawel Castle in Krakow, Poland (50.0541° N, 19.9354° E) and Vistula River
• Japan- Tokyo
• India - Gateway of India, Mumbai
• Germany - Cologne Media Park 50.94765°N 6.944213°E
• Malaysia - Menara Kuala Lumpur 3.1528° N 101.7038° E
• Saudi Arabia -Al-'Ula National Monument 26.6893°N 37.9816°E
• UK - Shoreditch, London 51.52557°N 0.07854°W
• Spain - Bilbao, Barcelona and Madrid
  • Bilbao, Pais Vasco (43°16′08″N 2°56′03″O)
  • Calle Gran via 28, Madrid (40°25′13″N 3°42′07″O)
  • Madrid Plaza del Callao (40°25′12″N 3°42′20″O)
• US - Los Angeles ( XBOX Plaza @ LA Live)
• Colombia - Gran Malecón de Barranquilla (10.9971° N, 74.7705° W)
• Netherlands - Utrecht, Hoogh Catherijne
• Nordics (Sweden) - Medborgarplatsen, Stockholm (WGS84 59°18'57.9"N 18°4'17.9"E)

The New York City experience will begin with the mysterious clock from Season 4 counting down until 8:45 pm ET when a giant rift to the Upside Down will gradually emerge on the southern facade of the Empire State Building. Major moments from the series thus far and Season 4 storylines will also be seen during the visual spectacle. The light show – designed by renowned lighting designer Marc Brickman – will last for 15 minutes and then be looped for roughly two hours.

For a hint at the best vantage point to watch in person in NYC, fans can refer to their local rift coordinates listed above.

Check out these exclusive mock-ups below of what fans around the world can expect to see on May 26:

The European and Middle East spectacles utilize forced perspective projection mapping, playback technology, lighting, and audio to create those rifts. For the Asia and Latin America spectacles, the rifts at those iconic landmarks will be realized using a projection mapping system, smoke machines, and additional lighting wizardry.

For more on the Upside Down and the gang from Hawkins, read our Stranger Things Season 4, Part 1 review, discover what the cast and creators exclusively revealed to us about making the show’s most ambitious season yet, and read up on everything we know about Season 4’s big bad, Vecna. Plus, enjoy David Harbour explaining what the keys are to acting miserable in Russian gulags.

Seth Green’s new animated series is apparently in jeopardy after several of his NFTs were stolen.

The upcoming project, White Horse Tavern, based on a BoredApe NFT named Fred Simian, has been in the works for some time, but – per a report from BuzzFeed – it has since been halted as Green technically no longer owns the rights to the character after a phishing scam.

“I bought that ape in July 2021, and have spent the last several months developing and exploiting the IP to make it into the star of this show,” said Green during the Web3 conference, VeeCon. “Then days before — his name is Fred by the way — days before he’s set to make his world debut, he’s literally kidnapped.”

Well frens it happened to me. Got phished and had 4NFT stolen. @BoredApeYC @opensea @doodles @yugalabs please don’t buy or trade these while I work to resolve:@DarkWing84 looks like you bought my stolen ape- hit me up so we can fix it pic.twitter.com/VL1OVnd44m

— Seth Green (@SethGreen) May 17, 2022

Green’s NFT collection was compromised earlier this month after the actor fell foul of a scam. On May 8, an anonymous scammer managed to nab four of Green’s NFTs, using a phishing scam to trick the actor into parting with his collection. The assets lost include his BoredApe, two MutantApes, and a Doodle.

One of the MutantApes was almost instantly traded for around $42,000 while his BoredApe was purchased by a user named DarkWing84 for a staggering $200,000. Green’s animated NFT show is based on a simple concept: “What if your friendly neighborhood bartender was Bored Ape Yacht Club #8398?” It looks as though the answer to that extremely specific question will have to wait.

After losing the NFT, the likeness and usage rights to #8398, or Fred Simian, belong to someone else. That means that Green’s show, at the moment, would violate the copyright of the current holder. Whether or not Green will see the return of his BoredApe remains to be seen, but the actor has already begun publicly pleading with DarkWing84 for the return of his NFT.

“DarkWing84 looks like you bought my stolen ape,” he said via Twitter. “hit me up so we can fix it”

Green has also since commented on the legality of the current owner’s purchase, and what this means for his upcoming show.

“The art was stolen,” he said via Twitter. “A buyer who purchased stolen art with real money and refuses to return it is not legally entitled to exploitation usage of the underlying IP. It’ll go to court, but I’d prefer to meet @DarkWing84 before that. Seems we’d have lots in common.”

Elsewhere, GameStop has officially entered crypto and NFT after creating its own wallet. Meanwhile, several developers have signed an anti-NFT pledge due to the environmental impact of the tech.

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

Seth Green’s new animated series is apparently in jeopardy after several of his NFTs were stolen.

The upcoming project, White Horse Tavern, based on a BoredApe NFT named Fred Simian, has been in the works for some time, but – per a report from BuzzFeed – it has since been halted as Green technically no longer owns the rights to the character after a phishing scam.

“I bought that ape in July 2021, and have spent the last several months developing and exploiting the IP to make it into the star of this show,” said Green during the Web3 conference, VeeCon. “Then days before — his name is Fred by the way — days before he’s set to make his world debut, he’s literally kidnapped.”

Well frens it happened to me. Got phished and had 4NFT stolen. @BoredApeYC @opensea @doodles @yugalabs please don’t buy or trade these while I work to resolve:@DarkWing84 looks like you bought my stolen ape- hit me up so we can fix it pic.twitter.com/VL1OVnd44m

— Seth Green (@SethGreen) May 17, 2022

Green’s NFT collection was compromised earlier this month after the actor fell foul of a scam. On May 8, an anonymous scammer managed to nab four of Green’s NFTs, using a phishing scam to trick the actor into parting with his collection. The assets lost include his BoredApe, two MutantApes, and a Doodle.

One of the MutantApes was almost instantly traded for around $42,000 while his BoredApe was purchased by a user named DarkWing84 for a staggering $200,000. Green’s animated NFT show is based on a simple concept: “What if your friendly neighborhood bartender was Bored Ape Yacht Club #8398?” It looks as though the answer to that extremely specific question will have to wait.

After losing the NFT, the likeness and usage rights to #8398, or Fred Simian, belong to someone else. That means that Green’s show, at the moment, would violate the copyright of the current holder. Whether or not Green will see the return of his BoredApe remains to be seen, but the actor has already begun publicly pleading with DarkWing84 for the return of his NFT.

“DarkWing84 looks like you bought my stolen ape,” he said via Twitter. “hit me up so we can fix it”

Green has also since commented on the legality of the current owner’s purchase, and what this means for his upcoming show.

“The art was stolen,” he said via Twitter. “A buyer who purchased stolen art with real money and refuses to return it is not legally entitled to exploitation usage of the underlying IP. It’ll go to court, but I’d prefer to meet @DarkWing84 before that. Seems we’d have lots in common.”

Elsewhere, GameStop has officially entered crypto and NFT after creating its own wallet. Meanwhile, several developers have signed an anti-NFT pledge due to the environmental impact of the tech.

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

Amber Heard was almost removed from Aquaman 2 before Jason Momoa and director James Wan fought to keep her on.

During the high-profile Johnny Depp libel case, entertainment consultant Katherine Arnold (via The Wrap) testified that Heard was almost booted from the Aquaman sequel due to negative publicity surrounding the case.

“In February 2021, there were conversations that Amber’s, I’m going to be technical with you, her option for employment was not going to be exercised. So, they may not have hired her again,” Arnold said. “Her management team fought very hard, and they ultimately ended up hiring her, but not only because of what her management did, but also because star Jason Momoa and director James Wan committed to her.”

Heard previously claimed that her Aquaman 2 role was “pared down” following her split with Johnny Depp.

According to Arnold, Warner Bros. was ready to fire Heard from the upcoming sequel to shed any negative publicity associated with the ongoing case.

However, Warner Bros. chief Walter Hamada said that’s not the case.

“They didn’t have a lot of chemistry together,” Hamada said as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. “The reality is it’s not uncommon on movies for two leads to not have chemistry and it’s sort of movie magic and editorial — the ability to put performances with the magic of a great score and how you put the pieces together, you can fabricate that chemistry.”

Hamada claims that this lack of chemistry is what led Warner Bros. to consider booting Heard.

“At the end of the day when you watch the movie, it looks like they have great chemistry,” he explained. “But I just know that through the course of postproduction, it took a lot of effort to get there. Sometimes you just put characters together on the screen and they work. It’s like what makes a movie star a movie star. You know it when you see it. The chemistry wasn’t there… This one was more difficult because of lack of chemistry between the two.”

Asked directly if Heard’s role was ever “reduced,” Hamada confirmed that it wasn’t.

He explained that the upcoming sequel was always conceived as a “buddy comedy” between Aquaman and his half-brother, King Orm, played by Patrick Wilson. And it had been that way “from the very early stages of development”.

Aquaman 2 stars Jason Momoa as DC’s underwater superhero alongside Amber Heard, Nicole Kidman, Patrick Wilson, Temuera Morrison, Dolph Lundgren, and Jani Zhao.

James Wan directed the film based on a script by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick.

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

Amber Heard was almost removed from Aquaman 2 before Jason Momoa and director James Wan fought to keep her on.

During the high-profile Johnny Depp libel case, entertainment consultant Katherine Arnold (via The Wrap) testified that Heard was almost booted from the Aquaman sequel due to negative publicity surrounding the case.

“In February 2021, there were conversations that Amber’s, I’m going to be technical with you, her option for employment was not going to be exercised. So, they may not have hired her again,” Arnold said. “Her management team fought very hard, and they ultimately ended up hiring her, but not only because of what her management did, but also because star Jason Momoa and director James Wan committed to her.”

Heard previously claimed that her Aquaman 2 role was “pared down” following her split with Johnny Depp.

According to Arnold, Warner Bros. was ready to fire Heard from the upcoming sequel to shed any negative publicity associated with the ongoing case.

However, Warner Bros. chief Walter Hamada said that’s not the case.

“They didn’t have a lot of chemistry together,” Hamada said as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. “The reality is it’s not uncommon on movies for two leads to not have chemistry and it’s sort of movie magic and editorial — the ability to put performances with the magic of a great score and how you put the pieces together, you can fabricate that chemistry.”

Hamada claims that this lack of chemistry is what led Warner Bros. to consider booting Heard.

“At the end of the day when you watch the movie, it looks like they have great chemistry,” he explained. “But I just know that through the course of postproduction, it took a lot of effort to get there. Sometimes you just put characters together on the screen and they work. It’s like what makes a movie star a movie star. You know it when you see it. The chemistry wasn’t there… This one was more difficult because of lack of chemistry between the two.”

Asked directly if Heard’s role was ever “reduced,” Hamada confirmed that it wasn’t.

He explained that the upcoming sequel was always conceived as a “buddy comedy” between Aquaman and his half-brother, King Orm, played by Patrick Wilson. And it had been that way “from the very early stages of development”.

Aquaman 2 stars Jason Momoa as DC’s underwater superhero alongside Amber Heard, Nicole Kidman, Patrick Wilson, Temuera Morrison, Dolph Lundgren, and Jani Zhao.

James Wan directed the film based on a script by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick.

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

It looks as though The Boys could get its own cinematic universe with upcoming spin-offs.

During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, creator Eric Kripke revealed that Amazon has some further spin-offs in the works.

“We have a couple more scripts [for shows] that we're in various stages of talking about,” he revealed. However, he also clarified: “I don't think we're going to rush it. I think we want to build it slowly.”

The Boys was a huge hit for Amazon when it debuted back in July 2019.

The series stars Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Laz Alonso, Tomer Capon, and Karen Fukuhara as The Boys – a group of non-powered vigilantes who take on corrupt superhumans, exposing who they really are.

Season 2 debuted back in 2020, and IGN’s own review said: “The Boys Season 2 continues its excellent form of balancing its comedy, over-the-top violence, and character development into a cohesive force of awesomeness. While a few lackluster storylines never get resolved, there are plenty of meaningful moments sprinkled throughout. Homelander and Stormfront's palpable chemistry, mixed with Billy Butcher's humanizing character development, demonstrate how effective showrunner Eric Kripke and his team are at crafting an engaging story that has plenty of stylized drama and shocking surprises, but also tons of heart.”

Season 3 is already on its way and introduces a bunch of new supes.

But there was also talk of a spin-off series, which currently remains untitled, focussing on college-age supes as they learn their new profession.

Set to star Jaz Sinclair, Lizze Broadway, Shane Paul McGhie, Aimee Carrero, and Maddie Phillips as young superheroes, the show will expand the Vought universe considerably.

But it’s unknown what other ideas Kripke has in mind.

The Boys returns for Season 3 on June 3, 2022, and stars Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Erin Moriarty, Anthony Starr, Dominique McElligott, Jessie T. Usher, Nathan Mitchell, and Chace Crawford.

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