Mark Ruffalo doesn't think there are too many Marvel shows or movies, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe actor wasn't as kind to Disney's other mega franchise, Star Wars. Speaking to Metro, Ruffalo was asked if he thinks there's too much Marvel content out there. In his response, the actor defended the MCU, saying each project has its own flavor.

"It’s not something I worry about," Ruffalo said. "I understand that these things run their course and then something else comes along. But the thing Marvel has done well is that, inside the MCU, just as they do with comic books, they let a director or an actor sort of recreate each piece to their own style, their likeness. Marvel generally lets them bring that to the material."

However, Ruffalo then went on to compare the MCU to that galaxy far, far away, speaking of Star Wars in a way some fans might not be happy about.

"If you watch a Star Wars, you’re pretty much going to get the same version of Star Wars each time. It might have a little bit of humour. It might have a little bit of different animation. But you’re always, really, in that same kind of world. But with Marvel you can have a whole different feeling even within the Marvel Universe."

These comments from Ruffalo come after Lost creator Damon Lindelof said fewer Marvel movies would make each one more special. Ruffalo has been a part of the MCU since Phase 1, appearing as Bruce Banner/The Hulk in all four Avengers movies and a handful of other projects. The actor has never appeared in any Star Wars media.

From a pure volume standpoint, it's not even a contest. Marvel has around 30 currently announced upcoming projects, compared to around 15 for Star Wars. To be fair, the MCU has been in the swing of things for a while, while Star Wars is still pivoting its strategy after the mixed reception to the sequel trilogy.

Mark Ruffalo is set to appear next in Marvel's She-Hulk Disney+ series later this month, where he's set to pass "the Banner" to Tatiana Maslany. In the most recent clip shown for the series, Ruffalo's Banner and Maslany's Jennifer Walters are shown discussing Captain America's sex life before a giant spaceship forces them off the road.

She-Hulk is set to debut on August 18. To get yourself ready for the premiere, you can check out a behind-the-scenes look at the upcoming Marvel show and a look at She-Hulk’s history and how she got her powers.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Splatoon 2 players eagerly awaiting the release of Splatoon 3 on Nintendo Switch will be rewarded with a ton of bonuses to speed up their gameplay progression.

A blog post on Nintendo's website revealed that players who have save data for Splatoon 2 stored on their Nintendo Switch will be given somewhat of a head start in the new game.

Three main weapons can be unlocked immediately instead of having to wait until a certain level has been reached, meaning players can keep battling with their favourites from Splatoon 2 without having to rank up a ton first.

Anarchy Battles - Splatoon 3's new ranked mode - will also be available from the start, and players will be matched in all modes with players who shared a similar skill level in Splatoon 2. Nintendo also states that these players will start the game with a higher rank depending on their rank in the second game, but didn't specify if the level would be matched exactly, if players would be granted a few bonus ranks, or whatever else.

"Five out of five Squid Research Lab scientists recommend transferring data from Splatoon 2 if you have it," the post said.

While all of these features will eventually be available to brand new Splatoon players, it appears Nintendo's intention is to allow veteran players to get straight back into the competitive action they experienced in the five year old Splatoon 2.

This system also stops these veteran players from matchmaking with new ones, meaning there should be a more even playing field for everyone involved when Splatoon 3 is released on September 9.

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

Portkey Games has announced that Hogwarts Legacy will be released on February 10, 2023.

The newly announced date, posted to Twitter, means that Hogwarts Legacy has been pushed back by several weeks; while we were never given a concrete release date, the original plan was to release Holiday 2022.

Hogwarts Legacy will launch on February 10, 2023 for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. The Nintendo Switch launch date will be revealed soon. The team is excited for you to play, but we need a little more time to deliver the best possible game experience. pic.twitter.com/zh0EsOvDb7

— Hogwarts Legacy (@HogwartsLegacy) August 12, 2022

The delay affects the PlayStation, Xbox, and PC versions. The Nintendo Switch version launch date "will be revealed soon", the official Twitter account promises.

"The team is excited for you to play, but we need a little more time to deliver the best possible game experience," the tweet says.

While we've seen a few gameplay trailers for Hogwarts Legacy, there still have been no hands-on preview sessions or extended looks at the game. We have seen its PS5 features, though, as well as character customization. We've also had a glimpse at the villains of the story.

This delay won't be the only talking point around Hogwarts Legacy. The game has stirred up discussion over its connection to Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, who has become notable in recent years for her transphobic comments. Warner Bros. has said the author is not directly involved with the game, but leadership has said "she's entitled to express her personal opinion". Reports have since suggested that the game will allow for transgender characters to be created.

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

D-Pad Studio, creators of the 2016 gem Owlboy, have annnounced their next project: Vikings on Trampolines. It's in development for both PC and consoles, and it's a pixel-art, 1-4 player co-op side-scrolling adventure whose primary traversal mechanic is, as the name implies, trampolines. Check out the reveal trailer above and the first screenshots in the gallery below.

The story mode puts you on a quest to stop the villain Balloonie and rescue King VI (with numerous boss fights along the way, D-Pad Studio promises), while the party-game-esque competitive Versus modes will pit up to four friends against each other.

“Vikings on Trampolines began life as one of our small experimental projects, which won the first Nordic Games Indie Sensation Award back in 2011,” said D-Pad Studio’s Jo-Remi Madsen. “After releasing Owlboy, we’ve since returned to the idea and developed it into a fun, fully-fledged, co-op adventure!”

IGN will have more on Vikings on Trampolines at Gamescom 2022.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

EA has defended its use of lootboxes in FIFA 23 by calling the option to spend money on Ultimate Team packs "fair" and "a part of FIFA that players love".

Speaking to Eurogamer, EA said that its FIFA Ultimate Team mode - in which players can earn packs that may or may not contain good players through gameplay, or buy them using real money - is an integral part of the game that fans of the long-running football franchise want to play.

"We wholeheartedly believe that Ultimate Team and FUT Packs, which have been part of the game for more than a decade, are a part of FIFA that players love," EA said. "Fans love that the game reflects the real-world excitement and strategy of building and managing a squad. Giving players the choice to spend if they want to is fair."

It added: "It's worth saying that spending is entirely optional in our game, and we do not encourage spending over earning rewards through gameplay. FUT Packs work in just the same way whether they are paid for or earned, and most players don't spend in game at all. For example, nine out of 10 FUT Packs opened in FIFA 22 were earned."

Lootboxes have proved more and more controversial in recent years however, with EA often finding itself at the centre of debate. Leaked documents from October last year revealed that the publisher seeks to "funnel" players towards Ultimate Team despite denying that this was the case publicly.

Countries including the Netherlands and Belgium have both banned lootboxes, with the former doing so following an investigation that looked specifically at FIFA 18 amongst other games. Lootboxes are deemed to be gambling in these countries, given that a player can spend pennies and receive a top-rated player or hundreds and receive very little of value, and as a result have seen other controversial games such as Diablo: Immortal passed over completely.

An investigation from the Norwegian Consumer Council in June (that was backed by 18 European countries) also found lootboxes to be manipulative and exploitative, but just last month the UK opted not to introduce lootbox laws.

Blizzard has announced that it will no longer be selling lootboxes in Overwatch, with these coming to an end completely as of August 30. The same seemingly isn't happening for FIFA anytime soon, however, or at least EA's new football franchise, as an executive commented last year that they can't see the monetisation model being changed.

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

It looks as though Google has begun integrating Cloud Gaming services into its search results.

The Nerf Report's Bryant Chappel noted in a series of Tweets (below) that the new feature appears to be rolling out across the search giant’s results pages. It gives users the ability to directly launch a cloud game from the search results using Google Stadia, as well as other cloud services.

The addition of a “Play” button to select search results allows you to launch the game you searched for directly from Stadia – provided it exists on the platform. And that’s a neat step forward when it comes to integrating cloud gaming across the Google platform.

It looks like the Google search engine has a new update for cloud gaming platforms!!!

When searching for a game players can now launch a game directly from the search results utilizing @GoogleStadia. pic.twitter.com/xblOsBpF6O

— Bryant Chappel (@BryantChappel) August 11, 2022

It certainly feels like a natural progression for cloud gaming – reducing the time taken to go from looking up a game to actually playing it.

Considering we’re talking about Google here, integrating cloud gaming features across its other services is a neat move, but it’s not just Google products being integrated here. It turns out, that this also works for Xbox Cloud Gaming, and some other services, too.

Xbox Cloud Gaming (xCloud) games can also now be launched directly via the Google search results page. pic.twitter.com/LeYbBk7SFH

— Bryant Chappel (@BryantChappel) August 11, 2022

Other cloud gaming services that appear in this manner include Amazon Luna and Nvidia’s GeForce Now.

However, when IGN attempted to replicate these results, we didn’t find the impressive new feature. Whether or not this is geo-locked or simply being rolled out across select users for testing is unclear. A likely scenario is that Google is A/B testing across its services, and that means that this new feature may (or may not) eventually be rolled out more comprehensively.

Nevertheless, it’s an interesting new feature that really taps into the potential of cloud gaming. After all, going from search result to playing a game instantly is an impressive leap.

Of course, it’s not quite that simple. You’ll need to be logged in on the service you’re trying to access, so there’s still some friction if you’re accidentally logged out. Otherwise, you’ll be sent to the service’s sign-up page, and that could be a little frustrating.

It also doesn’t appear to work with all games on the cloud gaming services. But since this is a very new feature, it could be that it’s still being rolled out – or is only appearing on select titles currently for testing purposes.

Either way, it’s a neat addition that makes cloud gaming feel even more impressive. Just make sure you’ve got a good internet connection.

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

A veteran Capcom producer who worked on several Resident Evil Games is leaving the company after 27 years to join Chinese mobile game developer and tech firm NetEase Games.

Hiroyuki Kobayashi announced the career shift in a tweet (below), in which he confirmed his new role as a producer at NetEase and said more details would follow at a later date.

pic.twitter.com/o2xyR2X4YP

— 小林裕幸 (@HiroKobaP) August 12, 2022

"After serving 27 years with gratitude, I have departed from Capcom on March 31, 2022, and will officially be joining NetEase Games as a producer," Kobayashi said. "I will strive to continuously create more enjoyable entertainment experiences for everyone at this new company, in this new era."

Kobayashi started at Capcom in 1995 and was a programmer on the first two Resident Evil games, a planner for the original Dino Crisis, and producer on the original Devil May Cry. He was also a producer on Resident Evil Remake, Resident Evil 4, Killer 7, and Dragon's Dogma among other things, and most recently was executive producer on Mega Man 11.

NetEase is currently developing the Harry Potter Magic Awakened virtual trading card game, Dead by Daylight Mobile, The Lord of the Rings: Rise to War, and more. It's also rumoured to be working on a Destiny mobile game with Bungie.

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

The Simpsons showrunner Matt Selman has shared new details about the upcoming season, promising viewers that they will finally find out how the show has managed to predict the future.

In an interview with Deadline, Selman expressed his excitement for Season 34 and offered a tease of what is coming next. He name-dropped a few of this season's guest stars, namely Simu Liu and Melissa McCarthy, before offering a few tidbits about the forthcoming episodes, including one "crazy conceptual episode that explains how The Simpsons know the future."

"It's a conceptual episode with lots of crazy stuff in it," he added. "But it does [offer] an explanation of how The Simpsons can predict the future."

After three decades on air, The Simpsons has developed somewhat of a reputation for its ability to predict the future, causing viewers to occasionally shout "The Simpsons did it!" to actual current events. The latest in a long line of creepy coincidences involves a classic Season 4 episode that somehow managed to predict the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of so-called "murder hornets" in one fell swoop.

Selman and fellow producer Al Jean previously spoke about how The Simpsons has seemingly managed to foresee future events, telling IGN that it's mostly down to the length of time the show has been on air. "If you just do more episodes for more decades than all the other shows, you're gonna get more predictions right," Selman said. "And we really have all the other shows beat when it comes to decades."

While there may not be a complex algorithm behind its future-predicting power, the upcoming season is now expected to offer the best explantion yet, so you won't want to miss it when it premieres next month. Season 34 of the The Simpsons will officially debut on September 25, with an episode that sees Homer get into "a conspiracy cabal while hunting down a missing turtle," according to Selman.

Fox renewed The Simpsons for two more seasons last year, ensuring that the series will remain on the air until at least 2023, bringing the total episode count to 757. "It's a sincere pleasure to announce the Season 33 and 34 pick-ups for The Simpsons. We keep hoping that, eventually, they'll get it right," Fox Entertainment CEO Charlie Collier joked at the time.

There are 32 seasons of The Simpsons available on Disney+, so you might want to check out IGN's rundown of the 30 best episodes of all time to relive some classic moments before the new season airs.

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

Cover image credit: Fox.

The anti-cheating legal battle prompted by Bungie has escalated as cheats company AimJunkies has accused the Destiny 2 developer's actions of being "ridiculous and absurd".

As reported on Torrentfreak, AimJunkies has denied that its Destiny 2 cheats are illegal or harmful and that Bungie has taken on a "bully mentality" because it is incapable of governing its own players.

Bungie filed the lawsuit last year, saying that AimJunkies violated its copyright laws by producing cheats, but the case was dismissed in May as U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Zilly said there wasn't enough evidence to prove any copyright infringements. Bungie then reworked the accusation, however, and another complaint was filed a few weeks later.

"Do not believe everything you read in their filings," a press release from AimJunkies' parent company Phoenix Digital Group LLC reads. "In fact, do not believe 90% of what they assert in their filings.

"We believe Bungie and their counsel apparently believe the more s**t you throw at the wall, the greater the possibility of something sticking with the court, no matter how ridiculous or absurd it is in the real world.

"Understand cheating is not illegal and the game companies want to make it illegal because they cannot govern their own players. They are looking to the courts to do what they, Bungie, are impotent to do on their own, even with the vast resources and technologies at their disposal. They would rather suffer death by a thousand cuts than admit this is not the way to fix the problem."

The company claims it has offered to work through the problem with Bungie, and said it believes its features should be implemented into the game officially. "But their pride and bully mentality prohibits them from thinking out of the box," it added.

The retaliatory legal action will see AimJunkies subpoena Google, Paypal, and Valve as it seeks to gather evidence against Bungie. Unlike another recent Bungie lawsuit against cheats company Elite Boss Tech - in which it agreed to pay Bungie $13.5 million in damages - this legal battle will likely persist over the following months (perhaps years) as neither side shows intent to step down.

The developer has taken a no nonsense approach to any signs of cheating or misleading in its Destiny 2 community, as evidenced by these two lawsuits and another in which Bungie issued a virtual manhunt for someone who issued YouTubers with fake DMCA takedown, eventually suing the individual for $7.6 million.

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

The upcoming Victorian-style fantasy game Nightingale has been delayed.

A statement from developer Inflexion Games posted to Twitter revealed that Nightingale has been delayed until “early 2023” in order to upgrade to Unreal Engine 5. Unfortunately, no specific release date has yet been set.

“We’ve made the difficult decision to delay Nightingale’s Early Access release to the first half of 2023,” Inflexion revealed. “We’ll have more news on specific timing at a later stage.”

An update on our Early Access release pic.twitter.com/LLFLCP3f6h

— Nightingale (@PlayNightingale) August 11, 2022

The delay to Nightingale’s early access release has been made for two very good reasons.

“The first is an upgrade to Unreal Engine 5,” the studio revealed. “After reviewing the potential UE5 has to offer, we decided on upgrading now rather than waiting until after release.”

“Secondly, Inflexion Games is committed to delivering the best possible experience and fulfilling the promise of what Nightingale’s universe of realms has to offer players. To Achieve that, the additional time will allow the team to make key improvements, bolster content, and polish gameplay.”

Although a new release date has not been set, we can expect Nightingale to debut in early 2023.

“In the coming weeks you’ll see more game and development updates from the team,” they confirmed. “Until then, we thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm for what we’re making. It may take a little longer for the mystical Fae portals to open, but we appreciate you taking this journey with us.”

Nightingale is an upcoming shared-world survival crafting game with a fantasy setting that has a decidedly Victorian twist.

“You are stranded beyond our world, cut off by the sudden collapse of the arcane portal network,” says a brief synopsis. “This catastrophic event has left you - and countless others - fighting to survive in a labyrinth of mysterious and perilous realms. Prepare for a journey of adventure, danger, and discovery - as you search for a way back to the last haven of humanity, Nightingale.”

Want to find out more about Nightingale? Check out this extended look at Nightingale’s gameplay, as well as the creatures, world, and lore explained.

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