Bungie has released a statement on the Buffalo, New York mass shooting that saw ten people killed and three others injured in a what police are investigating as a racially motivated attack.

The Destiny developer has pledged that, for at least one year, all profits from its Black Lives Matter "Be Heard" pin - which has also been moved to the front page of the Bungie Store - will go to a charity who monitors and reports hate groups and extremists in the United States. Bungie worked with its internal inclusion club, Black at Bungie, to plan the response.

Our “Be Heard” Pin is available on the @BungieStore and all profits are donated to @splcenter. The pin also comes with an emblem so players can show their support in Destiny 2.https://t.co/imXxDfK1Iv pic.twitter.com/TAwFins9gn

— Bungie (@Bungie) May 17, 2022

Its statement said: "All profits from this pin will be donated to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a charity whose work includes monitoring hate groups and other extremists throughout the United States and exposing their activities to the public, the media, and law enforcement.

"In addition, our studio is committed to supporting the success of our inclusion, diversity, and equity initiatives for 2022 and beyond. We understand the fight for equality and equity is not easily won but is a constant effort by all people."

Black at Bungie will also partner with the developer's player support and community teams to bolster its efforts to make its online spaces safe and anti-racist, urging other game developers and communities to do the same.

It's not the first time Bungie has been vocal over issues of social injustice, as on May 5 it spoke out against the proposed overturning of Roe vs. Wade, the historic Supreme Court judgement used to secure rights to abortion across the U.S.

Bungie's message on the Buffalo mass shooting also came after streaming platform Twitch and online chat service Discord released statements over their association with the shooting. The gunman streamed the attack for two minutes on Twitch and planned it using Discord.

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

Bungie has released a statement on the Buffalo, New York mass shooting that saw ten people killed and three others injured in a what police are investigating as a racially motivated attack.

The Destiny developer has pledged that, for at least one year, all profits from its Black Lives Matter "Be Heard" pin - which has also been moved to the front page of the Bungie Store - will go to a charity who monitors and reports hate groups and extremists in the United States. Bungie worked with its internal inclusion club, Black at Bungie, to plan the response.

Our “Be Heard” Pin is available on the @BungieStore and all profits are donated to @splcenter. The pin also comes with an emblem so players can show their support in Destiny 2.https://t.co/imXxDfK1Iv pic.twitter.com/TAwFins9gn

— Bungie (@Bungie) May 17, 2022

Its statement said: "All profits from this pin will be donated to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a charity whose work includes monitoring hate groups and other extremists throughout the United States and exposing their activities to the public, the media, and law enforcement.

"In addition, our studio is committed to supporting the success of our inclusion, diversity, and equity initiatives for 2022 and beyond. We understand the fight for equality and equity is not easily won but is a constant effort by all people."

Black at Bungie will also partner with the developer's player support and community teams to bolster its efforts to make its online spaces safe and anti-racist, urging other game developers and communities to do the same.

It's not the first time Bungie has been vocal over issues of social injustice, as on May 5 it spoke out against the proposed overturning of Roe vs. Wade, the historic Supreme Court judgement used to secure rights to abortion across the U.S.

Bungie's message on the Buffalo mass shooting also came after streaming platform Twitch and online chat service Discord released statements over their association with the shooting. The gunman streamed the attack for two minutes on Twitch and planned it using Discord.

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

Sacha Baron Cohen is creating a new animated comedy special for HBO Max and Cartoon Network called Chelm: The Smartest Place on Earth.

The family-oriented cartoon special is set in the mythical “Town of Fools”, and is based on folktales originally told in Yiddish. Chelm: The Smartest Place on Earth will have absurdist humor and interpretive questioning that is a nod to Jewish intellectual traditions. It will be narrated by Sacha Baron Cohen, and present a "fresh take on the silly antics and exaggerated conflicts of the town, while also preserving the essence and heart of the classic folktales."

Alongside Cohen, the special is being created by Greg Daniels and Mike Judge (of King of the Hill fame), and being penned by Michael Koman, the SNL writer and co-creator of Nathan for You.

“This pitch was so hilarious; we just knew the HBO Max audience needed to get a dose of this original brand of storytelling. Chelm: The Smartest Place on Earth is a perfect pairing of comedy and satire, and no one does that combination better than Sacha, Greg, Mike, and Michael,” said Amy Friedman, head of kids & family programming at Warner Bros. “This unique project will breathe new, hysterical life into the nonsensical Chelmic wisdom that originated from this imaginary city of folks who aren’t quite the sharpest tools in the shed.”

For more fun animation, check out the best adult cartoon TV series and the top 100 animated series of all time.

Header image credit: Russell James

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Features Editor.

Sacha Baron Cohen is creating a new animated comedy special for HBO Max and Cartoon Network called Chelm: The Smartest Place on Earth.

The family-oriented cartoon special is set in the mythical “Town of Fools”, and is based on folktales originally told in Yissish. Chelm: The Smartest Place on Earth will have absurdist humor and interpretive questioning that is a nod to Jewish intellectual traditions. It will be narrated by Sacha Baron Cohen, and present a "fresh take on the silly antics and exaggerated conflicts of the town, while also preserving the essence and heart of the classic folktales."

Alongside Cohen, the special is being created by Greg Daniels and Mike Judge (of King of the Hill fame), and being penned by Michael Koman, the SNL writer and co-creator of Nathan for You.

“This pitch was so hilarious; we just knew the HBO Max audience needed to get a dose of this original brand of storytelling. Chelm: The Smartest Place on Earth is a perfect pairing of comedy and satire, and no one does that combination better than Sacha, Greg, Mike, and Michael,” said Amy Friedman, head of kids & family programming at Warner Bros. “This unique project will breathe new, hysterical life into the nonsensical Chelmic wisdom that originated from this imaginary city of folks who aren’t quite the sharpest tools in the shed.”

For more fun animation, check out the best adult cartoon TV series and the top 100 animated series of all time.

Header image credit: Russell James

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Features Editor.

A classic Yu-Gi-Oh card from the original series has been unbanned in the trading card game after 17 years.

The Change of Heart card, which first appeared in Season 2 of the anime and the Battle City themed Yugi and Kaiba starter decks from 2004, was changed by Konami from Banned to Limited.

As reported by Polygon, this means players can include one copy of the card in their deck for the first time since April 2005.

Applying bans and limited-use conditions is fairly common in most card games but it's unusual to see something brought back after being deemed too overpowered to play for most of the game's time on the market.

Change of Heart is a spell card in Yu-Gi-Oh that lets the player take over one of their opponents monsters for a single turn, meaning they can pretty quickly turn the tide of battle and even win the game outright.

In the original anime, Change of Heart is the favourite card of Bakura, first revealed it in episode 12 of Season 2. In classic Yu-Gi-Oh fashion, Bakura opens the shadow realm and intends to use Change of Heart to corrupt Yugi, but following further shenanigans, it's the evil Bakura who's banished because of the card instead.

Yu-Gi-Oh is as popular as ever 20 years later, and any fans of the original game can now return Change of Heart to their decks, whether they're playing in person or digitally in one of the many games.

Master Duel released earlier this year as a completely authentic and accurate Yu-Gi-Oh simulator and has proved incredibly successful so far with tens of millions of downloads already.

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

A classic Yu-Gi-Oh card from the original series has been unbanned in the trading card game after 17 years.

The Change of Heart card, which first appeared in Season 2 of the anime and the Battle City themed Yugi and Kaiba starter decks from 2004, was changed by Konami from Banned to Limited.

As reported by Polygon, this means players can include one copy of the card in their deck for the first time since April 2005.

Applying bans and limited-use conditions is fairly common in most card games but it's unusual to see something brought back after being deemed too overpowered to play for most of the game's time on the market.

Change of Heart is a spell card in Yu-Gi-Oh that lets the player take over one of their opponents monsters for a single turn, meaning they can pretty quickly turn the tide of battle and even win the game outright.

In the original anime, Change of Heart is the favourite card of Bakura, first revealed it in episode 12 of Season 2. In classic Yu-Gi-Oh fashion, Bakura opens the shadow realm and intends to use Change of Heart to corrupt Yugi, but following further shenanigans, it's the evil Bakura who's banished because of the card instead.

Yu-Gi-Oh is as popular as ever 20 years later, and any fans of the original game can now return Change of Heart to their decks, whether they're playing in person or digitally in one of the many games.

Master Duel released earlier this year as a completely authentic and accurate Yu-Gi-Oh simulator and has proved incredibly successful so far with tens of millions of downloads already.

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

It seems like Wong is the new face of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or at least its superheroic fixer. Disney confirmed today that Benedict Wong is part of the cast for She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, playing the Sorceror Supreme Wong once again. That makes him the character with the most recurring appearances in Phase 4 of the MCU.

Wong kicked off his Phase 4 appearances with a guest spot in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. He also appears in What If…?, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Adding She-Hulk to the list, Wong has shown up in five Marvel Studios projects in this phase.

It's something that Benedict Wong made a joke about in an earlier interview. "I call it Phase Wong. It's a nice, interesting shift. Wong has taken on a new role, and that dynamic changes between them [Wong and Strange] both," Wong told Empire Magazine for May's issue 400.

He'll be joined by series star Tatiana Maslany as Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk, Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk, Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky/the Abomination. The nine-episode series has Jessica Gao as its head writer, with Kat Coiro and Anu Valia directing various episodes. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law will release on Disney+, starting on August 17, 2022.

Before that series drops, there's also Ms. Marvel launching on June 8, 2022, and Thor: Love and Thunder hitting theaters on July 8, 2022.

There's no clue how much of Phase Wong we have left. On the film side, there's still Thor: Love and Thunder, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, The Marvels, and Blade. Over on Disney+, there's also Echo, an untitled Halloween special, The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, Secret Invasion, Ironheart, Armor Wars, and Agatha: House of Harkness. Of those projects, Thor: Love and Thunder, Blade, the untitled Halloween special, and Agatha: House of Harkness all have a little bit of magic in them, making potential way for the Sorceror Supreme.

It seems like Wong is the new face of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or at least its superheroic fixer. Disney confirmed today that Benedict Wong is part of the cast for She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, playing the Sorceror Supreme Wong once again. That makes him the character with the most recurring appearances in Phase 4 of the MCU.

Wong kicked off his Phase 4 appearances with a guest spot in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. He also appears in What If…?, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Adding She-Hulk to the list, Wong has shown up in five Marvel Studios projects in this phase.

It's something that Benedict Wong made a joke about in an earlier interview. "I call it Phase Wong. It's a nice, interesting shift. Wong has taken on a new role, and that dynamic changes between them [Wong and Strange] both," Wong told Empire Magazine for May's issue 400.

He'll be joined by series star Tatiana Maslany as Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk, Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk, Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky/the Abomination. The nine-episode series has Jessica Gao as its head writer, with Kat Coiro and Anu Valia directing various episodes. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law will release on Disney+, starting on August 17, 2022.

Before that series drops, there's also Ms. Marvel launching on June 8, 2022, and Thor: Love and Thunder hitting theaters on July 8, 2022.

There's no clue how much of Phase Wong we have left. On the film side, there's still Thor: Love and Thunder, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, The Marvels, and Blade. Over on Disney+, there's also Echo, an untitled Halloween special, The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, Secret Invasion, Ironheart, Armor Wars, and Agatha: House of Harkness. Of those projects, Thor: Love and Thunder, Blade, the untitled Halloween special, and Agatha: House of Harkness all have a little bit of magic in them, making potential way for the Sorceror Supreme.

It turns out that The Mandalorian crew struggled to get to grips with Baby Yoda.

During an interview with Vanity Fair, executive producer Dave Filoni revealed that young Grogu (aka Baby Yoda) was a bit of a sticking point during production.

“Honestly, it’s something I never would’ve done because Yoda is Yoda,” he said. “I think people now look back and think it was like a slam dunk. But we were very cautious. The amount of measuring, especially in the first season, for how we were framing this kid took a lot of effort.”

When The Mandalorian debuted back in 2019, Baby Yoda was an instant hit. It was the opposite of whatever happened with Jar-Jar Binks – everyone loved the little green fella who would eventually be called Grogu… but the team at Lucasfilm wasn’t so sure.

Part of that was down to the original concept art. The Vanity Fair report describes off-putting images of wrinkled and feral hands that had the show's creators second guessing the character. Thankfully, a perfect piece of art from Chris Alzmann made Grogu a reality. “He had kind of a goofy, ugly look," said Favreau. "We didn’t want him too cute.”

Baby Yoda, photographed by Annie Leibovitz. pic.twitter.com/0Ie1NbRWns

— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) May 17, 2022

Another issue of debate for if Grogu should be a character was lore, which all goes back to the legacy of George Lucas. Favreau and Filoni didn’t want to take away the mystery surrounding Yoda – a creature whose origin remains shrouded in secrecy to this day. Reveal too much about Grogu and you risk revealing even more about the mysterious Jedi master.

“It gave us some pause,” revealed Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy. “[Jon Favreau] and Dave [Filoni] debated that quite ferociously.”

But it’s also about how these Star Wars characters are perceived. Think back to Episode I: The Phantom Menace and you’ll get some idea of why Lucasfilm might have been reluctant.

Jar-Jar Binks was the prequel trilogy’s attempt to create a fun, child-like character that would likely shift a lot of merchandise. But the character has long been maligned after his terrible reception. Even the Ewoks weren’t a smash hit with everyone. Thankfully, Grogu has already passed the test and became an instant hit with the fans.

The real animatronic Grogu used on-set was eventually put together in three months, and requires three or four puppeteers to bring to life. But how will his story pan out? For now, we’ll have to wait and see, but it looks as though he’s going to face plenty of tough choices. And turning his back on the Jedi could lead him down a dark path yet.

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

It turns out that The Mandalorian crew struggled to get to grips with Baby Yoda.

During an interview with Vanity Fair, executive producer Dave Filoni revealed that young Grogu (aka Baby Yoda) was a bit of a sticking point during production.

“Honestly, it’s something I never would’ve done because Yoda is Yoda,” he said. “I think people now look back and think it was like a slam dunk. But we were very cautious. The amount of measuring, especially in the first season, for how we were framing this kid took a lot of effort.”

When The Mandalorian debuted back in 2019, Baby Yoda was an instant hit. It was the opposite of whatever happened with Jar-Jar Binks – everyone loved the little green fella who would eventually be called Grogu… but the team at Lucasfilm wasn’t so sure.

Part of that was down to the original concept art. The Vanity Fair report describes off-putting images of wrinkled and feral hands that had the show's creators second guessing the character. Thankfully, a perfect piece of art from Chris Alzmann made Grogu a reality. “He had kind of a goofy, ugly look," said Favreau. "We didn’t want him too cute.”

Baby Yoda, photographed by Annie Leibovitz. pic.twitter.com/0Ie1NbRWns

— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) May 17, 2022

Another issue of debate for if Grogu should be a character was lore, which all goes back to the legacy of George Lucas. Favreau and Filoni didn’t want to take away the mystery surrounding Yoda – a creature whose origin remains shrouded in secrecy to this day. Reveal too much about Grogu and you risk revealing even more about the mysterious Jedi master.

“It gave us some pause,” revealed Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy. “[Jon Favreau] and Dave [Filoni] debated that quite ferociously.”

But it’s also about how these Star Wars characters are perceived. Think back to Episode I: The Phantom Menace and you’ll get some idea of why Lucasfilm might have been reluctant.

Jar-Jar Binks was the prequel trilogy’s attempt to create a fun, child-like character that would likely shift a lot of merchandise. But the character has long been maligned after his terrible reception. Even the Ewoks weren’t a smash hit with everyone. Thankfully, Grogu has already passed the test and became an instant hit with the fans.

The real animatronic Grogu used on-set was eventually put together in three months, and requires three or four puppeteers to bring to life. But how will his story pan out? For now, we’ll have to wait and see, but it looks as though he’s going to face plenty of tough choices. And turning his back on the Jedi could lead him down a dark path yet.

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