The Leviathan summon in Final Fantasy 7 Remake was included specifically as a reference to the original game's demo.

In a Square Enix blog post, Remake's co-director Naoki Hamaguchi explained the logic behind why each specific summon made an appearance in the game.

"At an early stage of development we looked over the line-up of summons in the original FFVII and decided to go with Ifrit, Chocobo and Moogle, Shiva, Fat Chocobo, Leviathan and Bahamut, for a roster of six," Hamaguchi said. "The reason Leviathan was included is because he was featured in the original FFVII demo, so I personally wanted him in the first Remake too."

Hamaguchi went on to explain that the developers had to be pretty certain before development began which summons they were going to include, as it takes a lot of work to even create one.

"It costs a lot of development resources to create a summon, so there weren't any that we planned for but discarded. We strived to be as accurate as possible in the planning and then stuck to that plan until the final version," he said.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake includes some pretty big story changes (and we're yet to see the ramifications of these) but stays pretty faithful to the original game with a number of other Easter Eggs, with this Leviathan one now added to the list. The second game in the series, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, is expected to be released in winter 2023.

In anticipation of the Season 3 premiere of DC's hilarious Harley Quinn adult animated series on HBO Max on July 28, IGN has an exclusive poster reveal featuring Batman, King, Shark, Bane, and more.

Check out the poster below:

Here's how HBO Max describes the upcoming third season of Harley Quinn: "The mayhem and madness continue in season three of this biting and uproarious adult animated comedy series. Wrapping up their 'Eat. Bang! Kill. Tour,' Harley Quinn (Kaley Cuoco), and Poison Ivy (Lake Bell) return to Gotham as the new power couple of DC villainy. Along with their ragtag crew – King Shark (Ron Funches), Clayface (Alan Tudyk), and Frank the Plant (JB Smoove) - 'Harlivy' strives to become the best version of themselves while also working towards Ivy’s long-desired plan of transforming Gotham into an Eden paradise."

Harley Quinn Season 3 features another impressive lineup of voice actors, including Kaley Cuoco (Harley Quinn), Lake Bell (Poison Ivy), Ron Funches (King Shark), JB Smoove (Frank the Plant), Alan Tudyk (Clayface/The Joker), Matt Oberg (Kite Man), Christopher Meloni (Commissioner Gordon), Andy Daly (Two-Face), Diedrich Bader (Batman/Bruce Wayne), James Adomian (Bane), Sanaa Lathan (Selina Kyle), Briana Cuoco (Batgirl/Barbara Gordon), and Harvey Guillen (Nightwing).

What do you think of the poster? Let us know in the comments. And for more on the world of DC, check out our exclusive first look at Mondo's Batman and Joker collectibles at SDCC, Black Adam's villain is revealed in a toy, and the trailer for Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons.

Harley Quinn Season 3 debuts with three episodes on Thursday, July 28, on HBO Max, followed by one episode weekly through September 15.

David Griffin is the Senior Editor, Features and Content Partnerships for IGN. Say hi on Twitter.

In anticipation of the Season 3 premiere of DC's hilarious Harley Quinn adult animated series on HBO Max on July 28, IGN has an exclusive poster reveal featuring Batman, King, Shark, Bane, and more.

Check out the poster below:

Here's how HBO Max describes the upcoming third season of Harley Quinn: "The mayhem and madness continue in season three of this biting and uproarious adult animated comedy series. Wrapping up their 'Eat. Bang! Kill. Tour,' Harley Quinn (Kaley Cuoco), and Poison Ivy (Lake Bell) return to Gotham as the new power couple of DC villainy. Along with their ragtag crew – King Shark (Ron Funches), Clayface (Alan Tudyk), and Frank the Plant (JB Smoove) - 'Harlivy' strives to become the best version of themselves while also working towards Ivy’s long-desired plan of transforming Gotham into an Eden paradise."

Harley Quinn Season 3 features another impressive lineup of voice actors, including Kaley Cuoco (Harley Quinn), Lake Bell (Poison Ivy), Ron Funches (King Shark), JB Smoove (Frank the Plant), Alan Tudyk (Clayface/The Joker), Matt Oberg (Kite Man), Christopher Meloni (Commissioner Gordon), Andy Daly (Two-Face), Diedrich Bader (Batman/Bruce Wayne), James Adomian (Bane), Sanaa Lathan (Selina Kyle), Briana Cuoco (Batgirl/Barbara Gordon), and Harvey Guillen (Nightwing).

What do you think of the poster? Let us know in the comments. And for more on the world of DC, check out our exclusive first look at Mondo's Batman and Joker collectibles at SDCC, Black Adam's villain is revealed in a toy, and the trailer for Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons.

Harley Quinn Season 3 debuts with three episodes on Thursday, July 28, on HBO Max, followed by one episode weekly through September 15.

David Griffin is the Senior Editor, Features and Content Partnerships for IGN. Say hi on Twitter.

A new report has suggested that Elon Musk's plan to buy Twitter is in "serious jeopardy", with the billionaire believing that the social network's spam account figures are not verifiable.

According to The Washington Post, Musk and his team have doubts over the figures Twitter has provided in regards to how many spam accounts are registered on the service. The publication's sources say Musk's belief that these figures are not verifiable means that he does not have enough information to evaluate Twitter's prospects as a business venture. It is expected that Musk will take "potentially drastic action" in response.

Starting in May, Musk threatened to walk away from his Twitter buyout if the platform didn't meet his demands over spam accounts. He initially said that he would not purchase the social network unless it could confirm less than 5% of accounts were fake or spam bots, and while Twitter itself claims that the number does indeed hover around 5%, Musk appears to be unsatisfied with their data.

While Musk may well take "drastic action" and attempt to step away from the deal, it will not be a clean break. As The Washington Post reports, Musk has agreed to complete the buyout unless something "major" happens to Twitter's business, and it is believed that this fake accounts issue would not legally qualify as such. Experts also believe that Twitter will fight for the deal to go through; while the company initially tried to fend off Musk's takeover, it is expected that Twitter will weaken should the deal collapse, and so it's in Twitter's interests to see the deal through.

If Musk should somehow be able to terminate the deal based on the fake accounts, he will still be expected to pay a $1 billion "breakup fee".

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO began his buyout with an offer of $44 billion back in April, which was accepted soon after by Twitter. Since then, the deal has seen a variety of ups and downs, including Twitter founder Jack Dorsey claiming Musk is "the singular solution I trust" and Musk sending Twitter's current CEO a poop emoji.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Features Editor.
Blogroll image credit: Patrick Pleul/Pool/AFP via Getty Images.

A new report has suggested that Elon Musk's plan to buy Twitter is in "serious jeopardy", with the billionaire believing that the social network's spam account figures are not verifiable.

According to The Washington Post, Musk and his team have doubts over the figures Twitter has provided in regards to how many spam accounts are registered on the service. The publication's sources say Musk's belief that these figures are not verifiable means that he does not have enough information to evaluate Twitter's prospects as a business venture. It is expected that Musk will take "potentially drastic action" in response.

Starting in May, Musk threatened to walk away from his Twitter buyout if the platform didn't meet his demands over spam accounts. He initially said that he would not purchase the social network unless it could confirm less than 5% of accounts were fake or spam bots, and while Twitter itself claims that the number does indeed hover around 5%, Musk appears to be unsatisfied with their data.

While Musk may well take "drastic action" and attempt to step away from the deal, it will not be a clean break. As The Washington Post reports, Musk has agreed to complete the buyout unless something "major" happens to Twitter's business, and it is believed that this fake accounts issue would not legally qualify as such. Experts also believe that Twitter will fight for the deal to go through; while the company initially tried to fend off Musk's takeover, it is expected that Twitter will weaken should the deal collapse, and so it's in Twitter's interests to see the deal through.

If Musk should somehow be able to terminate the deal based on the fake accounts, he will still be expected to pay a $1 billion "breakup fee".

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO began his buyout with an offer of $44 billion back in April, which was accepted soon after by Twitter. Since then, the deal has seen a variety of ups and downs, including Twitter founder Jack Dorsey claiming Musk is "the singular solution I trust" and Musk sending Twitter's current CEO a poop emoji.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Features Editor.
Blogroll image credit: Patrick Pleul/Pool/AFP via Getty Images.

Stranger Things actor David Harbour has said method acting, through which actors fully embrace their characters by effectively playing them in real life too, is "dangerous" and "silly".

Speaking to GQ, Harbour explained that he was trained in classical American method acting but, as he's grown older, he's decided that it's not effective at all.

"When I was younger — it’s so embarrassing — but I remember playing that famous Scottish king and being like, ‘I’m gonna kill a cat’ or something. 'I’m gonna go murder something to know what it feels like to murder'," he said. "I didn’t actually do it, obviously. Not only is that stuff silly, it’s dangerous, and it actually doesn’t produce good work."

Harbour also spoke of Daniel Day-Lewis, who's perhaps the most famous example of an actor who uses method acting. "He’s an extraordinary actor who I’m captivated and fascinated by [but] when he explains his process it sounds like nonsense to me," Harbour said.

Harbour joins a number of other actors speaking out against method acting in recent months as back in April Mads Mikkelsen, Will Poulter, and Samuel L. Jackson all criticised it.

"It's bulls***," Mikkelsen said plainly. "But preparation, you can take into insanity. What if it's a s*** film, what do you think you achieved? Am I impressed that you didn't drop character? You should have dropped it from the beginning. How do you prepare for a serial killer? You gonna spend two years checking it out?"

Jared Leto is also well known for method acting, which caused extended downtime on the set of Morbius as he insisted on using his character's crutches at all times, which pushed bathroom breaks to 45 minutes. When the film was released, IGN said it was mediocre in our 5/10 review.

Thumbnail Image Credit: Netflix

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer whose coverage of day-to-day news means he writes about everything from Thanos's butt to political movements within the industry, but mostly about video games. Ryan has six years of journalism experience and before IGN wrote mostly for national newspapers in the UK including The Times, i, and The Scotsman. Find him on Twitter @thelastdinsdale.

Stranger Things actor David Harbour has said method acting, through which actors fully embrace their characters by effectively playing them in real life too, is "dangerous" and "silly".

Speaking to GQ, Harbour explained that he was trained in classical American method acting but, as he's grown older, he's decided that it's not effective at all.

"When I was younger — it’s so embarrassing — but I remember playing that famous Scottish king and being like, ‘I’m gonna kill a cat’ or something. 'I’m gonna go murder something to know what it feels like to murder'," he said. "I didn’t actually do it, obviously. Not only is that stuff silly, it’s dangerous, and it actually doesn’t produce good work."

Harbour also spoke of Daniel Day-Lewis, who's perhaps the most famous example of an actor who uses method acting. "He’s an extraordinary actor who I’m captivated and fascinated by [but] when he explains his process it sounds like nonsense to me," Harbour said.

Harbour joins a number of other actors speaking out against method acting in recent months as back in April Mads Mikkelsen, Will Poulter, and Samuel L. Jackson all criticised it.

"It's bulls***," Mikkelsen said plainly. "But preparation, you can take into insanity. What if it's a s*** film, what do you think you achieved? Am I impressed that you didn't drop character? You should have dropped it from the beginning. How do you prepare for a serial killer? You gonna spend two years checking it out?"

Jared Leto is also well known for method acting, which caused extended downtime on the set of Morbius as he insisted on using his character's crutches at all times, which pushed bathroom breaks to 45 minutes. When the film was released, IGN said it was mediocre in our 5/10 review.

Thumbnail Image Credit: Netflix

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer whose coverage of day-to-day news means he writes about everything from Thanos's butt to political movements within the industry, but mostly about video games. Ryan has six years of journalism experience and before IGN wrote mostly for national newspapers in the UK including The Times, i, and The Scotsman. Find him on Twitter @thelastdinsdale.

Some Hearthstone players have been offered 150 free booster packs - with a value of $180 - to return to Blizzard's Warcraft-themed card game.

As reported by PC Gamer, various lapsed Hearthstone players have shared that they had been offered huge bundles of cards if they started playing again. The biggest offer was for 75 Standard Packs and 75 Voyage to the Sunken City Packs, which would otherwise cost players at least $179.96.

The offer is "common industry practice," according to Blizzard. "We run many different limited and targeted tests such as this to better determine what drives former, new or current players' interest, which is a common industry practice," a spokesperson told PC Gamer.

"This was a region-specific test for Hearthstone in the UK and France for a subset of relevant players who were first randomly sorted into groups before being assigned a corresponding offer between 20 and 150 packs."

Nevertheless, the test has caused some complaints within the Hearthstone community as the game has received criticism for its microtransaction market. Reddit user Lichnaught, who received the full 150 packs, asked "why grind gold daily when you can just not play for a couple of months?"

Other users complained in the comments that they also recently returned after taking a break but didn't receive any packs, while others said they've played Hearthstone every day for years and never received anything like this. Given that Blizzard was testing free packs for lapsed players, that potentially could become a more set reward in future.

Hearthstone recently nerfed its infamous Drek'Thar card – which could only be bought for $25 – and offered refunds to the players who already bought it. The Diamond Drek'Thar was released in early April to significant player outcry due to its high price tag.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer whose coverage of day-to-day news means he writes about everything from Thanos's butt to political movements within the industry, but mostly about video games. Ryan has six years of journalism experience and before IGN wrote mostly for national newspapers in the UK including The Times, i, and The Scotsman. Find him on Twitter @thelastdinsdale.

Some Hearthstone players have been offered 150 free booster packs - with a value of $180 - to return to Blizzard's Warcraft-themed card game.

As reported by PC Gamer, various lapsed Hearthstone players have shared that they had been offered huge bundles of cards if they started playing again. The biggest offer was for 75 Standard Packs and 75 Voyage to the Sunken City Packs, which would otherwise cost players at least $179.96.

The offer is "common industry practice," according to Blizzard. "We run many different limited and targeted tests such as this to better determine what drives former, new or current players' interest, which is a common industry practice," a spokesperson told PC Gamer.

"This was a region-specific test for Hearthstone in the UK and France for a subset of relevant players who were first randomly sorted into groups before being assigned a corresponding offer between 20 and 150 packs."

Nevertheless, the test has caused some complaints within the Hearthstone community as the game has received criticism for its microtransaction market. Reddit user Lichnaught, who received the full 150 packs, asked "why grind gold daily when you can just not play for a couple of months?"

Other users complained in the comments that they also recently returned after taking a break but didn't receive any packs, while others said they've played Hearthstone every day for years and never received anything like this. Given that Blizzard was testing free packs for lapsed players, that potentially could become a more set reward in future.

Hearthstone recently nerfed its infamous Drek'Thar card – which could only be bought for $25 – and offered refunds to the players who already bought it. The Diamond Drek'Thar was released in early April to significant player outcry due to its high price tag.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer whose coverage of day-to-day news means he writes about everything from Thanos's butt to political movements within the industry, but mostly about video games. Ryan has six years of journalism experience and before IGN wrote mostly for national newspapers in the UK including The Times, i, and The Scotsman. Find him on Twitter @thelastdinsdale.

Netflix has added support for spatial audio on a number of its original shows and movies.

Stranger Things, The Witcher, The Adam Project, the Fear Street trilogy, and Castlevania are among the small selection of Netlfix projects that now have spatial audio. The upcoming Resident Evil show will also support it.

Spatial audio, sometimes known as 3D audio, helps increase immersion by creating a 'sphere' of sound, enabling noises and effects to be heard from more precise locations, rather than simply just left or right stereo channels. Importantly, this is still provided through a stereo speaker set up, so your regular TV, soundbar, or headphones should work just fine with this new audio system.

Netflix has teamed up with Sennheiser to provide spatial audio on streamed movies and shows, so the streaming giant is definitely working with a company renowned in the world of sound.

"Netflix spatial audio helps to translate the cinematic experience of immersive audio to any stereo, so the work creators do to bring you into the story happens no matter what device you use to watch Netflix," the streamer said in an update post.

To find all of Netflix's supported spatial audio content, simply type 'spatial audio' into Netflix's search bar to see a list of all of the movies and shows that have been upgraded.

Netflix said that spatial audio will roll out "starting" now, and so it seems like we can expect more shows and movies to be upgraded in the future.

Elsewhere, 3D audio in gaming has become a big part of making next-gen games feel more immersive, and was a selling point for the PS5.

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