Monthly Archives: May 2022

Chainsaw Man Anime Adaptation Coming to Crunchyroll Later This Year

Crunchyroll has carved out a home for the highly anticipated anime adaptation of Chainsaw Man, which will simulcast on the streaming service when it airs in Japan later this year.

Chainsaw Man will be available to stream on Crunchyroll in one of its upcoming seasons and will be subtitled and dubbed in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide to give more people access to the supernatural world of Devils manifested from the collective fears of humans. And those fears are only set to escalate with the arrival of this new poster:

Based on Tatsuki Fujimoto's widely popular and award-winning manga of the same name, Chainsaw Man follows a teenage Devil Hunter named Denji who makes a contract with his pet Devil, Pochita, in order to be resurrected from the dead, thus becoming "Chainsaw Man" — a man with a devil's heart who can transform parts of his body into functioning chainsaws.

"With dark humor, dynamic characters and a sharp story, Chainsaw Man is one of the most anticipated new series this year, and we are wickedly excited to bring it to fans on the Crunchyroll service," said Asa Suehira, Chief Content Officer at Crunchyroll. "Anime fans will be up all night thinking about the spectacular visuals and high-octane action."

The series is directed by Ryū Nakayama from a screenplay by Attack on Titan scribe Hiroshi Seko. Art director Yusuke Takeda has helped to bring the story to screen alongside character designers Kazutaka Sugiyame and Kiyotaka Oshiyama, who took charge of the devil design, while Kensuke Ushio composed the music for the MAPPA-produced adaptation.

Chainsaw Man is easily one of the most anticipated new anime titles of the year, alongside the likes of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, a 10-episode series set in the Cyberpunk 2077 universe, Spriggan, an anime based on the classic manga by Hiroshi Takashige, and Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 2, which is now available to stream on Crunchyroll and Funimation.

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

My Bad: Read the Full First Issue of 2022’s Most Bizarre New Superhero Comic

Ahoy Comics has become one of the go-to publishers for anyone who craves an off-kilter, genre-bending approach to superhero stories, and My Bad may be the publisher's most bizarre and hilarious release yet. But if you want to decide for yourself, IGN can exclusively debut a lengthy preview of the upcoming trade paperback collection.

Check out the slideshow gallery below to read the entire first issue of My Bad, along with the new TPB introduction by novelist and comics scribe Alex Segura:

[warning - some NSFW language ahead!]

My Bad is a joint effort between writers Mark Russell (the mind behind DC's shockingly subversive The Flintstones) and Bryce Ingman (Edgar Allan Poe's Snifter of Terror), with Peter Krause (Irredeemable) handling the artwork.

In the series, Russell and Ingman each pen separate, interconnected stories centered around an egotistical villain named Emperor King, with Krause drawing both stories. In Russell's tale, Emperor King sends a birthday present to his nemesis The Chandelier, which sparks a massive bout of paranoia in the Batman-esque superhero. In Ingman's story, Emperor King torments his other nemesis, the alien speedster The Accelerator, with a series of deadly traps, only to accidentally snare the wrong person. By the end of this five-issue series, both stories wind up converging.

The My Bad TPB is priced at $17.99 and is slated for release on Tuesday, May 17.

In other comics news, Batman: Damned artist Lee Bermejo is returning to Gotham City with Batman: Dear Detective, and Marvel is teasing the final entry in the Spider-Verse saga.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

My Bad: Read the Full First Issue of 2022’s Most Bizarre New Superhero Comic

Ahoy Comics has become one of the go-to publishers for anyone who craves an off-kilter, genre-bending approach to superhero stories, and My Bad may be the publisher's most bizarre and hilarious release yet. But if you want to decide for yourself, IGN can exclusively debut a lengthy preview of the upcoming trade paperback collection.

Check out the slideshow gallery below to read the entire first issue of My Bad, along with the new TPB introduction by novelist and comics scribe Alex Segura:

[warning - some NSFW language ahead!]

My Bad is a joint effort between writers Mark Russell (the mind behind DC's shockingly subversive The Flintstones) and Bryce Ingman (Edgar Allan Poe's Snifter of Terror), with Peter Krause (Irredeemable) handling the artwork.

In the series, Russell and Ingman each pen separate, interconnected stories centered around an egotistical villain named Emperor King, with Krause drawing both stories. In Russell's tale, Emperor King sends a birthday present to his nemesis The Chandelier, which sparks a massive bout of paranoia in the Batman-esque superhero. In Ingman's story, Emperor King torments his other nemesis, the alien speedster The Accelerator, with a series of deadly traps, only to accidentally snare the wrong person. By the end of this five-issue series, both stories wind up converging.

The My Bad TPB is priced at $17.99 and is slated for release on Tuesday, May 17.

In other comics news, Batman: Damned artist Lee Bermejo is returning to Gotham City with Batman: Dear Detective, and Marvel is teasing the final entry in the Spider-Verse saga.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

Twitch and Discord Provide Statements Following Buffalo Mass Shooting

Twitch and Discord have both released statements following their association with a mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, that saw ten people killed and three more injured.

The attack - which is currently being investigated as racially motivated - was carried out by an 18-year-old white man who streamed it for at least two minutes on Twitch and allegedly planned it using Discord.

As reported by Eurogamer, Twitch told CNN that it identified and removed the stream in less than two minutes and later said to The New York Times that it "has a zero-tolerance policy against violence of any kind, and works swiftly to respond to all incidents".

"We extend our deepest sympathies to the victims and their families, and we will do everything we can to assist law enforcement in the investigation."

It added: "The user has been indefinitely suspended from our service, and we are taking all appropriate action, including monitoring for any accounts rebroadcasting this content."

The shooter allegedly released a 180-page document outlining his racist and anti-Semitic views ahead of the attack which also referenced the use of online forum 4chan and a private Discord chat room.

Discord's statement said: "We extend our deepest sympathies to the victims and their families, and we will do everything we can to assist law enforcement in the investigation."

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

Bridgerton Season 3 Will Skip Ahead and Focus on Penelope and Colin’s Love Story

Netflix's Bridgerton will skip ahead in its third season and will focus on the love story of Luke Newton's Colin Bridgerton and Nicola Coughlan's Penelope Featherington.

While Bridgerton's first two seasons followed the first two novels by Julia Quinn, Variety reports that Coughlan revealed during Sunday's FYSEE panel that this upcoming season will instead focus on the fourth book. The third book's story, which is centered around Benedict Bridgerton's love life, will likely be pushed to a later season.

Spoilers ahead for Bridgerton's second season!

At the end of Bridgerton's second season, Penelope overheard Colin saying he would never marry her. This was especially painful as Penelope has had her eye on Colin for some time.

Season 3 will also see Hannah Dodd taking up the role of Francesca Bridgerton. Ruby Sokes, who previously played her, is the lead in Netflix's Lockwood & Co. and stepped down from Bridgerton.

Season 2 of Bridgerton debuted on Netflix on March 25, 2022, and, in our review, we said that "Bridgerton’s second outing proves it wasn’t just a one-hit wonder, with more sizzling romance and delicious intrigue."

For more, check out more shows like Bridgerton you can watch while you wait for the third season and check out our breakdown of the show's characters and all the details on the Queen Charlotte spin-off.

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.

Arma Reforger Has Seemingly Leaked Online and Teases the Future of the Franchise

A leaked marketing guide appears to confirm that Arma 4 will not be the next entry in the franchise from Bohemia Interactive, but that it instead will be a PC and console game called Arma Reforger.

As reported by PC Gamer, the marketing guide was posted on Reddit's Gaming Leaks and Rumors and appears to be credible, especially since Bohemia is gearing up to reveal the "Future or Arma" on May 17, 2022.

The guide says that, due to the "complexity of developing Arma 4," Arma Reforger will be a "bridge" between Arma 3 and what will eventually be the official fourth game in the series. While it may not be the Arma 4 people were hoping for, it does look to be using Bohemia's new Enfusion engine.

Arma Reforger will allegedly take place on the fictional island of Everon in the Atlantic ocean and will be set in "an alternate 1989" during a conflict between the US and Soviet Union. The game is being billed as a "military simulation game (as opposed to a 'simulator')," which hints it may be more accessible than the mainline games.

Bohemia hopes this game, which will be on its new Enfusion engine, will get modders comfortable with the new tools in time for Arma 4, whenever it arrives. In doing so, Arma 4 should have a thriving modding community at launch.

The marketing guide also notes that Bohemia will continue to work with the International Committee of the Red Cross and the company will keep working on features that have an "anti-war humanitarian focus" by continuing to "expose, disseminate, and promote International Humanitarian Law in-game."

Arma 3 was released in 2013 and doctored footage of the game was recently used as hoax news footage of combat in Ukraine.

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.

Fans Track Down Pioneering Developer Who Brought Female Representation To Games

After nearly 40 years away from the games industry, Van Mai, the pioneering woman who wrote on Atari 2600's Wabbit and helped create the first console game to star a human girl, has been found.

As reported by the Video Game History Foundation, Polygon began searching for this developer that went by the name "Ban Tran" - a Vietnamese woman who worked at Apollo to develop Wabbit before the company declared bankruptcy in 1982.

Tran would leave the company and work on an unreleased Solar Fox conversion for the Atari 5200 at MicroGraphic Image, but then she seemingly disappeared from the industry. There were many who attempted to find her, but she was not found until recently thanks to the help of collaborators at the Video Game History Foundation.

A Discord member named SoH, who is part of a channel dedicated to finding Ban Tran in the Video Game History Foundation's Discord, suggested that someone should contact the National Archives in Texas to try to find the bankruptcy records for Apollo.

This proved to be the golden ticket as Tran was one of several Apollo employees who went through the court to get their final royalty checks for the games they worked on. Once this information was obtained, the Video Game History Foundation was able to reach out to her and she agreed to talk to the company about her story.

Tran, who now goes by her married name, Van Mai, was born in Vietnam and entered the US as a refugee following the Vietnam war. She lived in Dallas with her family and would drop out of high school due to the language barrier. While she would eventually get a GED, before that she started taking programming classes.

After working for the Dallas Independent School District, Mai applied to a help wanted ad at Apollo and got the job, in part, by pitching a game in her interview. Despite Mai not being the type of "nerd" Apollo was used to hiring, she quickly made an impression.

"It was an extremely-intense concept and made Night Trap look like a bedtime story for kids, but it was 20 years ahead of its time and way too intense for the VCS,” Mai's one-time co-worker Dan Oliver remembered. “She was explaining it like it was a picnic at the beach, so pretty quickly the stereotype started to fall.”

Mai herself doesn't fully remember what the game was, but she does remember pitching a game for little girls that would eventually become Wabbit - a game starring a girl named Billie Sue who has to keep rabbits away from her vegetables.

“I don’t think my teammates or my boss said anything about [the theme],” Mai said. “Everything was up to me, I designed it – all the animation and all that. They seemed to like it a lot.”

Wabbit was developed in about 4-6 months, but Mai doesn't recall if the game was successful or not. She does know, however, that her mom was proud of her and that one of her nieces tried to buy a copy at a local mall but it was sold out.

As previously mentioned, Mai would leave Apollo after it filed for bankruptcy and would work at Micrographic for a while before leaving to earn a degree in computer science. She would work as an Oracle developer for a French telecommunications company before settling in in the banking industry, a field she still works in today.

Over the years, Mai had thought of returning to games, but understands it would be tough to jump back in. Despite that, she has fond memories of her time in the industry.

"It was wonderful,” Mai said. “Writing games is the most — I don’t know, I can never find a job like that. You just go in there and play games for a while to get ideas, and then sit around and talk to your teammates, just giving each other opinions. It was fun.”

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.

David Tennant and Catherine Tate to Return to Doctor Who in 2023

The Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble are on their way back as David Tennant and Catherine Tate are officially returning to Doctor Who in 2023 to celebrate the series' 60th anniversary.

BBC shared the news in a blog, saying, "One of the most loved pairings in Doctor Who’s history have reunited and are filming scenes that are due to air in 2023 to coincide with the show’s 60th anniversary celebrations."

The last time we saw these two, The Doctor had to wipe Donna's memory to save her life. He even warned her family that if she ever remembered, she would surely die. So, what could possibly bring them back together?

While he isn't revealing too much, Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies did tease that this reunion will be "spectacular."

"They're back! And it looks impossible - first, we announce a new Doctor, and then an old Doctor, along with the wonderful Donna, what on earth is happening? Maybe this is a missing story. Or a parallel world. Or a dream, or a trick, or a flashback. The only thing I can confirm is that it’s going to be spectacular, as two of our greatest stars reunite for the battle of a lifetime," Davies said.

Speaking of that new Doctor, it was recently announced that Sex Education's Ncuti Gatwa will be replacing Jodie Whittaker and will become the fourteenth Doctor.

Tennant played The Tenth Doctor in three series and nine specials between 2005 and 2010. Tate played Donna Noble in Series 4 and other specials between 2006 and 2010.

If all of this Doctor Who news has inspired you to rewatch the series or watch it for the first time, be sure to check out our guide that details everything you need to know to catch up for the exciting future of Doctor Who.

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.

David Tennant and Catherine Tate to Return to Doctor Who in 2023

The Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble are on their way back as David Tennant and Catherine Tate are officially returning to Doctor Who in 2023 to celebrate the series' 60th anniversary.

BBC shared the news in a blog, saying, "One of the most loved pairings in Doctor Who’s history have reunited and are filming scenes that are due to air in 2023 to coincide with the show’s 60th anniversary celebrations."

The last time we saw these two, The Doctor had to wipe Donna's memory to save her life. He even warned her family that if she ever remembered, she would surely die. So, what could possibly bring them back together?

While he isn't revealing too much, Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies did tease that this reunion will be "spectacular."

"They're back! And it looks impossible - first, we announce a new Doctor, and then an old Doctor, along with the wonderful Donna, what on earth is happening? Maybe this is a missing story. Or a parallel world. Or a dream, or a trick, or a flashback. The only thing I can confirm is that it’s going to be spectacular, as two of our greatest stars reunite for the battle of a lifetime," Davies said.

Speaking of that new Doctor, it was recently announced that Sex Education's Ncuti Gatwa will be replacing Jodie Whittaker and will become the fourteenth Doctor.

Tennant played The Tenth Doctor in three series and nine specials between 2005 and 2010. Tate played Donna Noble in Series 4 and other specials between 2006 and 2010.

If all of this Doctor Who news has inspired you to rewatch the series or watch it for the first time, be sure to check out our guide that details everything you need to know to catch up for the exciting future of Doctor Who.

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.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Continues Its Reign Atop the Domestic Weekend Box Office

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has continued its reign atop the domestic weekend box office by bringing in $61 million in its second weekend.

As reported by Variety, Doctor Strange 2 also added $83.5 million internationally, which helped its global tally reach $688.1 million.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness had the 11th best domestic opening of all time, and its second weekend saw a 67% drop from that first outing. That's a bit of a steeper fall than Eternals' 61% and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings' 52%, but the latest Doctor Strange movie also had a much higher opening, so a bigger drop is mostly expected.

Dreamworks' The Bad Guys took second place with $6.9 million. In its four weeks in theaters, The Bad Guys has grossed $66.2 million domestically and $165 million globally.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 sped to third place with $4.5 million, and newcomer Firestarter opened up with $3.8 million. While the Stephen King adaptation didn't cost too much to produce, it was still a bit of a disappointing result.

Variety notes that this new take on Firestarter earned less than the original 1984 film starring Drew Barrymore. That film grossed $4.7 million, and that is not adjusted for inflation.

In our Firestarter review, which is also on Peacock, we said, "Despite solid performances from Zac Efron and Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Firestarter feels stifled in story and presentation. Over four decades have passed since the Stephen King novel, so new ideas were needed to resuscitate this twisted tale and have it not feel undercooked -- or even less interesting than other stories that have copied it over the years."

Everything Everywhere All at Once has once again held on to fifth place, earning another $3.3 million in its eighth weekend of release. This second-highest multiverse film currently in theaters has earned $47.1 million domestically so far.

For more on Doctor Strange, read on as to why we believe Scarlet Witch's arc makes total sense, how director Sam Raimi made an MCU horror film with Multiverse of Madness, and every dead MCU character so far.

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.