David Cronenberg’s Scanners, the cult classic horror that you may know for its graphically exploding head, is being turned into a TV show.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the 1981 horror movie is being adapted for television in a new series that’s headed to HBO.

William Bridges, who co-wrote the Emmy award-winning USS Callister episode of Black Mirror, is the show’s writer and showrunner, with Yann Demange directing. The film’s original writer and director David Cronenberg is on board as executive producer.

Scanners was originally released in 1981 and tells the story of a group of people with psychic, telepathic, and telekinetic powers – known as “scanners”. Weapons and security system maker ConSec attempts to seek out these people to use them for their own shadowy purposes. But the rogue scanner Revok (Michael Ironside) wages a war against the company.

That is, until another scanner, Cameron Vale (Stephen lack) is sent to put a stop to him. The results include some famously graphic violence, including a character's head exploding in wild fashion. The TV show will have a lot to live up to on that front.

The film earned just $14.2 million at the worldwide box office but has since become a cult classic. Cronenberg went on to follow it up with Videodrome and The Dead Zone.

Scanners is widely considered to be Cronenberg’s first mainstream success. The upcoming series isn’t a reboot or remake but instead exists within the world of Scanners.

“The series is being described as a visceral thriller set in the mind-bending world of Cronenberg’s film,” said The Hollywood Reporter. “It will focus on two women living on the fringes of modern society who are pursued by relentless agents with unimaginable powers and thus must learn to work together to topple a vast conspiracy determined to bring them to heel.”

The upcoming series has reportedly been in the works for the last five years, while Cronenberg himself was busy making his recent sci-fi body horror flick, Crimes of the Future. Who will be cast in the show’s two leading roles remains to be seen, but this is a great time for fans of head-exploding horror.

Want to read more about David Cronenberg? Check out how Crimes of the Future brings a grim evolution to sex, and why Cronenberg’s latest won’t get a director’s cut.

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

Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands developer Gearbox says the Borderlands spin-off is now the start of a new franchise all of its own.

Gearbox Software has called the Borderlands spin-off a “major victory” after a solid launch, with CEO Randy Pitchford saying that Gearbox now sees this as a new franchise, with “future experiences already under development.”

“Wonderlands shattered all of our target expectations, both critically and commercially,” said Pitchford during the Embracer Group’s annual general meeting, “and I'm thrilled to report that in addition to great financial rewards from this victory that will be coming our way in the coming quarters, we have established a firm beachhead, and we now clearly have a new franchise on our hands.”

Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands was released back in March 2022, adapting the RPG-style action of the Borderlands 2 DLC Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep and turning it into its own standalone game. It was met with positivity from fans and critics alike. Clearly, the game has been enough of a commercial success that Gearbox is keen to make more. Whether that means additional games in the franchise or additional DLC remains to be seen.

IGN’s Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands review gave it 8/10 and said: “Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is a fantastic fantasy take on Borderlands’ tried-and-true looter shooter formula. As spin-offs go, it sticks dangerously close to its past successes which at times felt a bit unoriginal and some of the new stuff it tries, like procedurally generated combat encounters, didn’t pan out terribly well. Luckily, the excellent writing, hilarious performances from an all-star cast, and ridiculous combat continue to shine brightly and make this tabletop-inspired explosion-fest absolutely worth your time.”

Want to read more about Borderlands and Tiny Tina’s Wonderland? Find out everything you need to know about Tiny Tina as well as who will be playing her in the Borderlands movie.

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

Netflix will reveal a slate of new shows and movies this weekend when Tudum returns on Saturday, September 24.

The global event will be a showcase of several highly-anticipated Netflix shows and movies, including The Witcher, Umbrella Academy, Wednesday, and more. And Netflix has shared a list of what you can expect to see at Tudum.

Netflix revealed that over 120 series, films, specials, and games will be introduced at Tudum this weekend, and the company has shared some highlights. Top of the list will likely be The Witcher Season 3, with stars Henry Cavill, Anya Chalotra, and Freya Allen on deck to reveal some updates.

Michelle Yeoh, Sophia Brown, and Laurence O’Fuarain will also be there to talk about the spinoff The Witcher: Blood Origin.

Other highlights on the series side include a sneak peek of season 2 of Shadow and Bone, a trailer for season four of Manifest, an exclusive clip for Wednesday, a first look at the Bridgerton spinoff, Queen Charlotte, and appearances from the cast of Squid Game.

On the film side, Netflix will share a trailer for Enola Holmes 2, an exclusive clip from Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, a look at Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio, and appearances from the cast of The Old Guard 2.

Netflix will also have some game announcements on deck when Jamie Foxx introduces a first look at Oxenfree: Netflix Edition.

Tudum will premiere at 10 am PT/1 pm ET on Saturday, September 24. Check out IGN for all the latest news, trailers, and reveals from the event.

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

Video game YouTuber Dunkey is starting an indie game publisher.

The popular gaming YouTuber Jason Yevgeniy Gastrow (aka Dunkey) has announced Bigmode – a new game publishing company that will help indie games “stand out” from the crowd.

“I’ve been on YouTube for eleven years now and one of the core themes of my channel has always been to slam dunk soulless cash grabs into the garbage can and lift up and praise the truly inspired works of art in this medium,” said Gastrow. “For years and years, I have always sought out the very best indie games out there and have tried to do them justice, putting millions of eyes on the games that actually deserve attention.”

Gastrow has amassed over seven million subscribers and several billion views. That’s quite a built-in audience for any indie game developer thinking of signing up for his new publisher. However, he explained that Bigmode will be a continuation of his channel:

“A lot of games out there understand how to emulate the look of your favorite games but don't deliver where it actually counts. Many of the true games out there are being drowned out in a sea of mediocrity. You need someone who can help you be seen.”

Bigmode is founded by Gastrow along with his wife, fellow YouTuber Leah “Leahbee” Gastrow.

“Me and Leah aren't just the face of this company; we are the company,” he explained. “This is our vision and our number one priority is to publish some of the very best games out there. In today's indie landscape, buying a game can be like buying a loot crate in Counter-Strike: you don't know what you're going to get but you're probably going to be sad.”

Dunkey wants to be involved in Bigmode's games' development, but says he knows what works due to his countless hours playing them.

“I understand what kind of ideas always work, what ideas never work, what kind of ideas are fresh or need to come back, and what is extremely played out,” he added. “I'm hyping myself up a lot in this video but Bigmode will be all about building up the games and the developers. We've put a lot of effort into making the most developer-friendly contracts possible. I think we're going to bring insane value to the table and the bottom line is: help good games succeed and help them continue to succeed into the future.”

One aspect that seems to be a real crowd pleaser, is that Bigmode will not publish any games containing NFTs, blockchain, or crypto. Developers can already get in touch with Bigmode to submit their games for consideration.

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

A prominent Spider-Man modder has worked on an experimental first-person mode for the game, showing off web-swinging from the (slightly nausea-inducing) perspective.

YouTube user jedijosh920 first released gameplay of the mod with a fixed camera perspective, meaning the first-person view is steady as Spider-Man swings around New York.

This version is probably more comfortable to use but does come with some caveats, as when the player performs tricks and flips in the air, the fixed perspective meant his body will flash up in front of the camera instead of reacting more naturally.

Spider-Man First Person Mod... do you want a Spider-Man FPS mode in Spider-Man 2? pic.twitter.com/9BJqzmyEtX

— Chaos (@Chaosxsilencer) September 20, 2022

Fans therefore called for the fully accurate version, where the camera would move exactly with Spider-Man's eyeline and, for better or worse, jedijosh920 delivered. The next video they released does exactly that, showing every movement of the head as Spider-Man climbs up walls, dives from skyscrapers, and flips and twists in the air.

The result is pretty impressive, (presumably) recreating exactly what it looks like to be the superhero swinging around New York. That being said, it's also a tough watch for those who get motion sickness easily, so viewer beware.

It's not the only mod added to the PC version of Spider-Man, as Stan Lee and other characters including Mary Jane, Vulture, and Kingpin have been made playable protagonists.

Modding is just one of the inevitable consequences of Sony putting Spider-Man on PC, alongside rigorous searching through files that have already revealed what appears to be a scrapped multiplayer mode and plans for a PlayStation PC games launcher.

Other Sony games have received similarly wacky mods after being brought to PC. God of War protagonist Kratos, for example, has been put up against Halo's Master Chief and someone even made a Simpsons Hit and Run mod.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Microsoft has released its September update for the Xbox Series and Xbox One consoles, completely revamping the game library, adding customisable colour options to the Elite Series 2 controller, and more.

The details were revealed on the Xbox Wire, with the updated game library being arguably the biggest change. The My Games and Apps section has been redesigned to give more streamlined access to anything the player is able to play, whether it be in their own library, through Xbox Game Pass, Games with Gold, EA Access, and so on.

Those playing with an Xbox Elite Controller Series 2 can enjoy an extra bonus in the update too, as Microsoft has added the ability to change the colour of the Xbox logo light on the gamepad. The options are pretty diverse too, as the player can not only choose the base colour but also the hue and saturation as well.

The update also brings more flexibility when it comes to storage locations, as the player can now select different installation locations like expansion cards, external hard drives, and so on from the get go instead of having to move things over after they're already installed on the internal hard drive.

A new "Let Xbox Decide" option can also be selected, in which case the console will install the game in the fastest drive with available space.

Party chat noise suppression, while it was added to the Xbox Series X and S earlier in September, has now bee added to the Xbox One and Windows 10 and 11 on PC. The feature basically cuts out all background noise heard on the other side of a party chat, removing heavy breathing, gamepad clicks, and so on.

A couple of minor additions have also arrived in the update, including the ability to share gameplay captures with a link on Windows PCs and start parties on the Xbox app.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

The Splinter Cell remake will be rewritten to be more relevant to a “modern-day audience”.

A job listing for a scriptwriter spotted by PSU has revealed some details about the upcoming Splinter Cell game, and it looks as though it’s going to get a rewrite and update the original.

“Using the first Splinter Cell game as our foundation we are rewriting and updating the story for a modern-day audience,” it reads. “We want to keep the spirit and themes of the original game while exploring our characters and the world to make them more authentic and believable.”

Splinter Cell was originally released back in 2002 and introduced Sam Fisher – an NSA black ops agent who is investigating the disappearance of two CIA officers. As the story unfolds, Sam finds himself in the middle of a plot full of political intrigue as the world teeters on the brink of all-out war. It’s up to Sam to use his stealthy abilities to avert a global crisis.

Now, it looks as though that crisis will have a more modern spin, although it's not clear exactly what form that will take.

“As a Scriptwriter at Ubisoft Toronto, you will join the Narrative team and help create a cohesive and compelling narrative experience for a new audience of Splinter Cell fans,” reads the listing.

There’s been very little revealed about the project since the remake was announced last year.

IGN’s Splinter Cell original review gave it 9.4/10 and said: “The incredible amount of polish, the sleek and developed presentation, the functional nature of everything, the satisfying twist in play that focuses on logically deciphered situations that need to be solved with a keen eye and common sense, and the sheer amount of style, panache, and coolness attached, make Splinter Cell a valid and worthwhile addition to every patient, intelligent gamer's collection."

Want to read more about Splinter Cell? Check out the 18 games currently in development at Ubisoft as well as where to find Sam Fisher in Rainbow Six Seige.

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

Jeff Kaplan (no, not the Overwatch guy) and Ian Springer are reportedly the lead writers for Marvel's upcoming Fantastic Four movie.

Reported by Deadline, the duo has apparently been attached to the project for a while, working with Marvel boss Kevin Feige to fit the film into the wider scope of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Kaplan and Springer are also working together on writing Warner Bros.' Disaster Wedding.

WandaVision's Matt Shakman will direct Fantastic Four, after Spider-Man: No Way Home director Jon Watts backed out of the project. According to the report, Shakman, Kaplan, and Springer are aligning their visions for the movie ahead of production.

Fantastic Four is poised to be a big moment for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as we recently learned the movie will kick off Phase 6 of the MCU when it launches on November 8, 2024. Phase 6 will wrap up with Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars, bringing the MCU's Multiverse Saga to a close.

We don't know much about Fantastic Four's plot, beyond the fact that Feige said it won't be an origin story. For more on Fantastic Four, check out five villains who could appear in the movie.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Jeff Kaplan (no, not the Overwatch guy) and Ian Springer are reportedly the lead writers for Marvel's upcoming Fantastic Four movie.

Reported by Deadline, the duo has apparently been attached to the project for a while, working with Marvel boss Kevin Feige to fit the film into the wider scope of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Kaplan and Springer are also working together on writing Warner Bros.' Disaster Wedding.

WandaVision's Matt Shakman will direct Fantastic Four, after Spider-Man: No Way Home director Jon Watts backed out of the project. According to the report, Shakman, Kaplan, and Springer are aligning their visions for the movie ahead of production.

Fantastic Four is poised to be a big moment for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as we recently learned the movie will kick off Phase 6 of the MCU when it launches on November 8, 2024. Phase 6 will wrap up with Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars, bringing the MCU's Multiverse Saga to a close.

We don't know much about Fantastic Four's plot, beyond the fact that Feige said it won't be an origin story. For more on Fantastic Four, check out five villains who could appear in the movie.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Twitch is removing its best-paying 70/30 revenue split for most of its streamers as it commits to standardising its 50/50 split instead.

Announced in a blog post from Twitch president Dan Clancy, the streaming platform denied a 2020 petition that now has 22,000 votes to provide all of its streamers with at least 70% of subscription revenue.

While the 50/50 split is the most common revenue agreement, Twitch had been offering what it called "premium deals" to some of its top streamers that granted the more profitable 70/30 split instead. These premium deals are no longer being offered, and those on them currently (streamers with bigger audiences, generally) will see their revenue reduced in the future too.

They won't go back to a strict 50/50 deal when these new rules come into place on June 1, 2023, however. The streamer will still be on a 70/30 split until $100,000 is earned through subscription revenue, and afterwards will be reduced to 50/50.

"In an ideal world all streamers would be on the same set of terms regardless of size," Clancy said. "However, instituting that policy would have a negative impact on the streamers currently on these terms, many of whom were instrumental in helping us build the Twitch we know today. These streamers have come to depend on the additional revenue split to maintain their standard of living."

Clancy said Twitch would not be switching to 70/30 because of the amount of money it invests in the products and services that lead to streamer growth, things like Prime Subs, Community Gifting, Hype Train, and the Ads Incentive Programme.

The fact twitch’s solution to monetary problems is to cut creator pay rather than facilitate a better platform so more viewers visit the live-streaming site is incredibly worrying. Give us the tools + info we need so we can make more engaging content, don’t soft cap our earnings. https://t.co/e5aNurzGZc

— eric pointcrow (@PointCrow) September 21, 2022

The cost of running Twitch was also cited, with Clancy saying that "delivering high definition, low latency, always available live video to nearly every corner of the world is expensive." Amazon's self-prescribed cost of streaming is also pricey: Clancy said the cost for a streamer with 100 connected users, streaming for 200 hours a month, costs more than $1,000 a month.

Despite Twitch saying it made the decisions with streamers in mind, as "streamers are and always will be the foundation of our global community," some people who use the platform have spoken out against its decision.

"The fact Twitch's solution to monetary problems is to cut creator pay rather than facilitate a better platform so more viewers visit the live-streaming site is incredibly worrying," said streamer PointCrow in a tweet (above). "Give us the tools and info we need so we can make more engaging content, don’t soft cap our earnings."

Twitch has been in the news a lot in the past couple of days, first for banning gambling streams on the platform and also for reports of child predators using the platform.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.