Monthly Archives: August 2022
Kevin from The Office Is Finally Getting His Own Chili Cookbook
You'll soon be able to cook over 150 chili recipes recommended by The Office's Kevin Malone... Just make sure not to spill it all over the floor.
Available for preorder now on Amazon, the new Seriously Good Chili cookbook has 177 chili recipes hand-picked by Brian Baumgartner, the actor who played Kevin Malone on NBC's The Office. On Instagram, Baumgartner posted a video of him unboxing the cookbook, saying it will be available this September.
As for the recipes themselves, they come from famous chefs, food bloggers, and celebrities. The book also includes a foreword written by The Office's Oscar Nunez, and a behind-the-scenes look at the iconic chili scene from The Office.
Kevin's famous chili appears in Season 5, Episode 26's cold open, when Kevin is very excited about his annual tradition of bringing a pot of his famous chili to the office. The character even proclaims, "It's probably the thing I do best." The cold open ends with Kevin dropping the pot and spilling chili all over the floor of the office, in a scene you've probably seen countless times on social media.
Earlier this year, a Peacock subscriber discovered that the streaming service hid Kevin's famous chili recipe within Peacock's terms of service. So, you can recreate the entire original recipe without the new cookbook.
For more on The Office, check out how NBC may be standing by for a reboot of The Office. And, Office superfans should check out the official The Office LEGO set.
Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.
Delicious In Dungeon: Popular Monster-Eating Manga Finally Getting Anime Adaptation
An anime adaptation of popular manga Dungeon Meshi / Delicious in Dungeon by Ryoku Kui has been announced, with an official website and Twitter account.
The new series will adapt the story of the Manga, where an RPG-style party of dungeon-crawling adventurers try to make their latest trip as cheap and efficient as possible, forgoing supplies and doing their best to make the monsters they fight into edible treats. The series also offers in-depth recipes for each of the opponents the characters encounter.
A broadcast date for the anime has not yet been announced, but there’s a beautiful piece of art showing the main characters huddled around a meal, being stalked by monsters in the darkness.
The anime will be produced by the renowned Studio Trigger, known for Kill la Kill, Promare, and the upcoming Cyberpunk Edgerunners.
Previously, Studio Trigger produced an anime-style commercial for the 8th volume of the manga, which led to a massive amount of interest from fans in seeing them make a full adaptation. It may give us a sense of what the anime could look like, and you can watch it in the tweet below:
It's not surprising to see that Studio TRIGGER has been left in charge of Dungeon Meshi's animation production. After all they were assigned the task of making a promotional CM for the titular series a few years ago, which miraculously comes full circle. pic.twitter.com/VL5d4jccg3
— Baleygr (CEO of 86 EIGHTY-SIX) (@Baleygr086) August 9, 2022
Dungeon Meshi began in February of 2014 and by August 2017 the first 4 volumes saw over 2 million copies in print. It was rated number one for male readers in 2016’s This Manga Is Amazing’s rankings, the result of 400 manga professionals voting on their favorites.
Mat Jones is IGN's UK Social Coordinator, and will turn back into a pumpkin at midnight.
Gotham Knights: Designing Mr. Freeze, and Giving Him a Gang to Play With – IGN First
The key thing to know about Gotham Knights’ factions is that they aren’t just henchmen for a named villain. The gangs of enemies you’ll find across Gotham’s darkened streets are sorted into affiliations – with their own preferences of street crime and equipment – but they’re mercenaries, not cultists.
Take our subjects for today: the Regulators faction, and classic supervillain Mr. Freeze. The Regulators are an existing gang in this version of Gotham, a group of tech-enhanced ne’er-do-wells who steal advanced goods, traffic organs and augment their own power with their ill-gotten gains. You can meet them doing their own thing as you clean up the streets – but you can also find them allied with Mr. Freeze, and adopting his penchant for ice-enhanced elemental attacks as a result. In effect, Freeze hires the Regulators for portions of his storyline, they don’t just flock to his cause.
It led to a very interesting design challenge for Gotham Knights’ art team – how do you design a villain and a gang that feel like they could work together, but don’t necessarily always do so?
Interestingly, that process was more organic than forced. The team knew they wanted to include the iconic Freeze, but his association with a gang came later. At first, it was all about building a villain who felt recognisable, without feeling overly familiar.
“When we get a villain like Mr. Freeze, I mean the guy's got so much history, it's a challenge for our team when we get it,” explains character art director, Jay Evans. “It's, ‘Where do we go from here?’ Because we look at all the past [versions of the character] that have been done really well. For us, the kind of jumping off point was where does he fit in our Gotham City, on a technological kind of level? So he is the most advanced technology piece in our Gotham.”
That’s not to say this version of Freeze is a pure sci-fi fantasy. The key for the design team was in creating someone whose advanced technology was still rooted in reality.
“A lot of our reference was medical equipment,” says Evans. “Molded, cool, almost sci-fi shapes with part lines and product design influences. But then, he's still understandable. There's still mechanical connections. It's still relatable. It's not just sci-fi blobs where you have to use your imagination.”
Brilliantly, to help build advanced tech that felt in some way realistic, the art team… used some advanced tech to help make that happen.
“We started experimenting quite early on with using VR in our concept art pipeline,” says Evans. “What makes it awesome is when you're designing a weapon or a piece of a character, just having that there in real life floating in front of you at the correct scale, it just really helps the artists. [...] Then exporting that rough mesh, exporting that into a game engine right away. It seemed like a really natural, quick pipeline. And we used it on Mr. Freeze.”
“VR just [adds] that tangibility,” adds Wu. “If you [have a gauntlet in front of you], you feel like you can wear it right here, right now. And then you can see all those different perspectives right away in real time. That's very useful.”
Using VR helped the team get a sense of not just how Mr. Freeze looks as piece of design, but how he’d feel to be close to in an interactive space, helping them build a tangible new version of an iconic character. But of course, you can only push a known supervillain so far, and the team made sure early on to identify what it is that makes Freeze immediately identifiable to even a casual comic book fan:
“The dome, the goggles, his face,” explains associate character art director, Jianli Wu. “The lore of Mr. Freeze is iconic. We don't want to deviate from that, because everyone, when they see that, they know it’s Mr Freeze. But we elevated the tech level a little bit, and we want to bring our own flavor into his design. We want to be faithful to the IP and, but at the same time, we want to bring something new to the table. So that's kind of the philosophy we have for a lot of the characters in the game, from the player-characters to someone like Mr. Freeze.”
The Regulators, on the other hand, are a brand new addition to the universe. While there have been a couple of DC supervillains called The Regulator over the years, the Gotham Knights faction doesn’t appear to be associated with them. Initially, they weren’t even created to be associated with Mr. Freeze, either.
“Our approach was to design the factions as standalone factions first,” explains Evans. “The Regulators in our fiction are the fantasy of these hackers, safe crackers, various other tech-related criminals. And what makes them unique is they have this ‘found technology’ layer to them. So the Regulators are grabbing technology from the most futuristic or the most advanced places in Gotham – maybe it's STAR Labs or something.
“And then they're building their weapons and their equipment, and it's all visible on the outside of them. So on the base layer, we have this kind of contemporary, almost athletic wear with bright colors. But then on top, we have this tech layer. On the base units, it's smaller elements, [but] on some of the more advanced archetypes, it can be things like a completely augmented arm that has a upgraded weapon.”
In the gallery above, you can see that advancement in action, a visual representation of how the game increases enemy strength alongside you. Enemy goons can range from Base, to Veteran, to Champion, to Named Champion difficulties, and in the case of a Regulator, you can see how much more of that pilfered tech they’re applying to themselves as they increase in importance to the gang.
Regulators can be Brawlers, Shooters, Snipers, Shockers, and Dronemasters, all of whom use their tech in different ways to try and take the Knights down. It was only when that faction philosophy was established that the team realized they’d created the perfect mercenary force for their power-suited take on Victor Fries – but that also created a little more work.
“We linked up the Regulators with Mr. Freeze,” says Evans. “It seemed like a natural fit, based on their technology levels, where they fit artistically and in their writing, stuff like that.”
“I remember at some point we went through the Regulators all over again,” continues Wu, “because it would fit with Mr. Freeze a little bit better. So yeah, I think that's just one of those things that's inevitable at certain parts of the project.”
After that redesign, things truly came together. The Regulators can be found all over Gotham under normal circumstances, but you’ll stumble on Freeze-aligned pockets of them, too, presumably working under the supervillain’s direction. Later in Freeze’s optional villain arc, it will seemingly be the Regulators that help him to ice over the top of Elliot Centre for a boss battle (which we saw in some 2020 footage of the game).
They make for a natural team, but one that feels more rooted in business than devotion – a part of Gotham Knights’ more grounded take on the legendary comic book city. We’ll be talking more about that very soon in our month of IGN First coverage, but if you want to learn more right now, we have the first 16 minutes of the game to watch, and a reveal of 28 unlockable superhero suits, and how they were designed.
Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
Even Ben Stiller Doesn’t Know How Many People Watched Severance: ‘It’s Really Weird’
Severance co-creator Ben Stiller has no idea how many people have watched the show, and thinks that's "really weird".
During an interview with Decider, the 56-year-old filmmaker revealed that, much like the fictional macrodata in Severance, he has no idea what Apple’s numbers really mean.
“No, it’s hard,” he said, when asked if Apple provided him with concrete viewing figures for his show. “They don’t tell you the numbers. It’s really weird. So, you get these graphs and charts, like I said, that have like peaks and valleys. But you don’t know what the baseline is. I guess [it] could be like, based on 100 people or could be like, 200 million people. We don’t know.”
Severance made waves when Season 1 hit Apple TV+ earlier this year – a workplace drama that puts a sinister high-tech twist on the notion of work/life balance. The show follows a group of “severed” employees who have undergone a medical procedure to separate their work and home life memories… and explores how this procedure affects them both in and outside of the office.
But while it’s seen rave reviews and a buzz of discussion online, it seems that nobody, including creator Ben Stiller, has any idea how well it performed. Apple doesn't provide viewing figures to consumers, press, or it seems even the shows' creators.
“They basically say, ‘Yeah, this is doing well,’” he said. “You’re trying to interpret what they’re saying. But they’re straightforward. It’s just that’s how, I guess, all the streamers do it. How do you find out? I’m curious how you find out.”
“The fun thing was going to [San Diego] Comic-Con and having a full house for a panel and seeing all those people there,” he added. “That was the first time I was like, ‘Oh, wow, this is really like… There are people who are really watching this, like human beings to connect with on it.’”
Severance has already been renewed for a second season and has entered the cultural landscape as one of 2022’s most talked about new shows.
“And that’s what I felt was really fortunate about the show,” said Stiller. “Maybe also the timing of when we came out in terms of how people are approaching our work and those questions. The fact that it’s in the conversation, just culturally, it’s really been fun to be a part of.”
There may be no escape in Severance, but there’s no indication what the numbers mean, either. Both in and outside of the show, the data remains inscrutable… and that feels kinda appropriate, really.
Want to find out more about Severance? Check out our review of Severance Season 1 as well as our dive into the show’s season finale.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
MultiVersus Has Seemingly Passed 10 Million Players
New platform fighter MultiVersus has seemingly passed 10 million players in just three weeks – and before it's even left beta.
According to tracker.gg (via PC Gamer) the game has hit a colossal 10,268,259 active accounts across all platforms since it headed to open beta three weeks ago.
While this isn't an official announcement, tracker.gg ingests data directly from games, so it would seem to be accurate. We've contacted Warner Bros. for confirmation.
The new game from Warner Bros. features iconic characters such as Batman, Bugs Bunny, and Shaggy and Velma from Scooby Doo, and it seems as though these classic Warner Bros. characters have tapped into gamers in a big way.
MultiVersus has proved to be a surprise hit with an absolutely huge beta launch seeing a vast number of players flocking to the quirky new fighting game. I get the feeling it’s going to get even bigger, too. Season 1 brings with it a new character – Morty from the hit animated show, Rick & Morty.
While Season 1 details have been coming in thick and fast, it looks as though MultiVersus players will have a bit of a wait before they get their hands on their new playable character. The game’s first season (and official launch) has been delayed with no official date announced.
However, MultiVersus developers are keen to point out that the delays are absolutely nothing to do with the Warner Bros. Discovery merger.
IGN’s MultiVersus review called the game “a raucous and fun competitive platform fighter that rewards players for learning the strengths and weaknesses of its eclectic cast of characters and working as part of a team. Its focus on online 2v2 means it lacks the pick-up-and-play nature of a game like Smash Bros., but it also does a nice job of setting it apart from other games in the genre. MultiVersus may need time to grow its currently limited selection of stages and characters to meet its bright potential, but its foundations are already rock solid.”
Where the game goes from here remains to be seen, but it’s certainly off to a tremendous start. 10 million players certainly can’t be wrong.
Want to find out more about MultiVersus? Check out our character guide for a full list of playable characters, as well as our tips and tricks to get the most out of your match-ups.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
Elden Ring: Latest Update Makes Summoning Signs Much More Useful
The latest Elden Ring update has added some interesting changes to summoning signs.
Update 1.06 has made summoning signs more useful, adding “the function to send summoning signs to summoning pools in multiple areas, including distant areas.”
Essentially, this means you’ll have more of a chance of being summoned to another player’s game while going about your business in The Lands Between. You won’t even have to stay near your sign anymore and can continue exploring while you wait for a summon.
Unfortunately, when sending a summoning sign to a “distant area” the summoning pools in Mohgwyn’s Palace are excluded. While no reasoning is given for that single exclusion, it may be because this area is commonly used to farm Runes and level up faster than you normally could.
There’s also a change to invasions, allowing players to invade a larger area, “including distant areas.”
Oh, and if you’ve been having trouble with White Mask Varre’s questline, there’s a new way to advance it by killing a newly-added NPC. This is because the means of completing Varre's quest required players to go online - this offers an offline option. The patch notes don’t explicitly explain where the NPC you’ll need to kill will be, so you might have to work that one out.
Elden Ring’s multiplayer mechanics have been a highlight since the game launched, and with this new update, you’ll find it even easier to join others or go to-to-toe with other Tarnished.
As well as this update to summoning signs and pools, there are also a ton of balance changes and bug fixes, notably reducing the time before you can roll after a Greatsword, Curved Greatsword, or Great Hammer attack. The motion speed of strong and charged attacks has also been increased for those weapons. There are over 30 bug fixes included, with full patch notes found here.
IGN’s Elden Ring review called the game a “masterpiece” praising the game as “FromSoftware’s largest and most ambitious game yet”.
“Elden Ring is a massive iteration on what FromSoftware began with the Souls series, bringing its relentlessly challenging combat to an incredible open world that gives us the freedom to choose our own path,” it reads, as well as PVP and co-operative play that our critic was barely “able to scratch the surface of.”
Having trouble with Elden Ring PVP and co-op? Find out how to level up quickly in Elden Ring as well as how to access co-op and invasions.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
Formula 1’s Lewis Hamilton Had to Turn Down a Role in Top Gun: Maverick
Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton has revealed that he was offered a role in Top Gun: Maverick, but he had to turn it down due to other commitments.
In a new interview with Vanity Fair, Hamilton recalled watching the original 1986 Top Gun movie at a young age and becoming fixated on the idea of becoming a fighter pilot, so when he heard about the sequel, he decided to approach his good friend Tom Cruise to ask about appearing in the film. He was subsequently offered his dream aviation role, but it came at a time when he couldn't accept it.
"When I heard the second one was coming out, I was like, 'Oh, my God, I have to ask him,'" Hamilton admitted. "I said, 'I don't care what role it is. I'll even sweep something, be a cleaner in the back.'"
He was offered a spot in one of the fighter jets' cockpits but realized the filming schedule would have clashed with the climax of the Formula 1 season. Hamilton acknowledged that he is a "perfectionist," and there wasn't enough time for him to prepare for the role. He added it was "the most upsetting call that I think I've ever had," reaching out to Cruise and director Joseph Kosinski to decline the offer.
Hamilton has dabbled in the film industry before, having had a cameo in Zoolander 2 and lending his voice in Cars 2 and Cars 3. He's also recently joined Brad Pitt as one of the producers of the upcoming Formula 1 movie directed by Kosinski. In that film, Pitt will play a veteran driver who comes out of retirement to mentor a young driver on the race track, but Hamilton's role will be much more behind the scenes.
For now, though, Kosinski is still flying high on the success of Top Gun: Maverick, which recently surpassed James Cameron's Titanic to become the seventh highest-grossing movie ever at the US box office, earning $662 million in ticket sales. The film has also crossed the coveted $1 billion mark at the global box office and is Tom Cruise's highest-grossing movie of all time.
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.
A White Xbox Elite Series 2 Controller Seems to Be on the Way
A new video has emerged of a White Xbox Elite Series 2 controller.
The Xbox Elite Series 2 controller has only been available in black (or a limited-edition Halo-styled version) but the White edition has been expected for some time. Now, it looks as though they may be on their way, after Twitter user Rebs_Gaming (via VGC) uncovered a new video of the controller being unboxed.
“I think this is our first footage of the Xbox Elite Series 2 White Edition controller,” he said via Twitter. “A leaked image of the controller was shown by @IdleSloth84 back in March.”
Leak: I think this is our first footage of the Xbox Elite Series 2 White Edition controller. A leaked image of the controller was shown by @IdleSloth84 back in March. Source: https://t.co/WfMCEk3FQv#Xbox #XboxOne #XboxSeriesX pic.twitter.com/t97qbaNPCu
— Rebs Gaming (@Mr_Rebs_) August 8, 2022
Microsoft is yet to confirm the existence of the fabled White Xbox Elite Series 2 controller, but the video appears to be genuine – showing a brief unboxing of the controller. While some viewers note that the security stickers were removed very quickly, it’s likely that the box was prepped or already opened ahead of the unboxing video.
The original video was posted by YouTuber Nicholas Lugo, but there’s currently no information about how Lugo got his hands on the coveted controller.
According to Microsoft, the Xbox Elite Series 2 controller is “the world’s most advanced controller” with a range of pro features including:
- Adjustable-tension thumbsticks
- Shorter hair trigger locks
- Wrap around rubberized grip
- Up to 3 custom profiles and 1 default profile
- Button Mapping
Additionally, the Xbox Elite Series 2 controller is the only Xbox controller to feature a built-in rechargeable battery pack.
The standard Xbox Elite Series 2 controllers include the controller itself, a carrying case, set of 6 thumbsticks (2 x Standard, 2 x Classic, 1 x Tall, 1 x Wide Dome), set of 4 paddles (2 x Medium, 2 x Mini), set of 2 D-pads (Standard and Faceted), a thumbstick-adjustment tool, a charging dock, and a USB-C cable.
Want to check out even more Xbox Series X|S controllers? Here’s our guide to the best budget Xbox controllers, as well as a good look at the Halo edition controller.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
Someone Added Shadow of Mordor’s Nemesis System to Skyrim
A modder has put Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor's genius Nemesis System into Skyrim, which means you can now set yourself up for revenge against dragons (or mudcrabs, or anything else) that kill you.
Syclonix's Shadow of Skyrim: Nemesis and Alternative Death System mod turns almost any enemy that defeats you into a nemesis. This nemesis gains a unique name, grows in stength, steals your weapons (and may even use them), and inflicts a debuff on you. The only way to remove that debuff and gain back your equipment is to seek your nemesis out and kill them. Handily, the mod creates a quest in your log so that you can easily track your revenge.
The mod's design attempts to thread together situational stories with your nemesis. For instance, if you're killed by an Argonian Vampire he may become known as "Breaks-Many-Shields" and be given the Shield-Breaker buff as part of his stats upgrade. The debuff inflicted on you from the encounter may force you to be unable to use shields, too. And then, as part of your revenge quest, your nemesis may be found in a vampire lair, since Breaks-Many-Shields is a vampire.
As the title suggests, the system requires Skyrim to use an alternate approach to death. Rather than being killed and forcing you to reload, death instead respawns you in the world. This means the data on your nemesis isn't lost, and helps keep the system flowing.
You can have up to five nemeses at any one time, although Syclonix has wisely restricted them to enemies within 25 levels of you to prevent you from gaining a nemesis you have no chance of defeating. You also can't turn a quest-related or essential character into a nemesis.
Syclonix notes that Shadow of Skyrim is a "nod" to Shadow of Mordor, rather than a copy of the actual Nemesis system. Their inspiration also includes roguelikes, Crusader Kings, and trait sytems in more modern RPGs. They note that it does not infringe on Warner Bros.' patent for the Nemesis system.
For more cool Elder Scrolls upgrades, check out the Skyrim co-op mod, which has been downloaded more than 80,000 times since its recent release.
Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Features Editor.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Movie Gets December 2024 Release Date
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is on its way, heading to the big screen on December 20, 2024.
The upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog sequel sees the return of our favorite Sega character, with both Tails and Knuckles the Echidna teased alongside him.
“Running faster, flying higher, and punching harder,” said an official announcement via Twitter. “#SonicMovie3 hits theatres on December 20, 2024.”
Running faster, flying higher, and punching harder. #SonicMovie3 hits theatres on December 20, 2024. pic.twitter.com/DcFGbaKUao
— Sonic the Hedgehog (@SonicMovie) August 9, 2022
Thankfully, it looks as though Ben Schwartz will be back to voice the Blue Blur, as he reiterated Sonic 3’s release date announcement.
“HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!” he said via Twitter. “#SonicMovie3 IS COMING TO THEATRES ON DECEMBER 20, 2024!!! AHHH!!!”
Although it’s unknown whether Colleen O’Shaunnessey and Idris Elba will return to voice Tails and Knuckles, it feels like that’s already in the bag. After all, Elba has already agreed to voice the Sonic character in an upcoming Knuckles spin-off.
A third Sonic movie seemed inevitable after the franchise’s success so far. The first Sonic the Hedgehog film was met with critical and box office success, while Sonic the Hedgehog 2 became the highest-grossing video game movie of all time in the US.
IGN’s own review of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 said: “Sonic the Hedgehog 2 improves upon its predecessor in many ways while falling short in a few others. It feels more attuned to the Sonic lore than ever before, and fans of the games should have a great time seeing their favorite characters so lovingly recreated on the big screen. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles are a ton of fun, as is Jim Carrey’s wonderfully over-the-top reprisal of Dr. Robotnik. It doesn’t quite know how to make its other human characters work, however, and is definitely longer than it needs to be. Still, it’s overall a sweet, funny, and action-packed ride that fully embraces its video game roots.”
What Sonic the Hedgehog 3 will be about, remains to be seen, but with Shadow the Hedgehog teased in a post-credits scene, it looks as though we may have already had a pretty big hint.
Want to read more about Sonic the Hedgehog? Check out our guide to all the Easter eggs in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 as well as what will happen to Dr. Robotnik if Jim Carrey retires.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.