Chris Hemsworth announced today via Twitter that filming has begun for Furiosa.

Furiosa is a prequel to the hit post-apocalyptic film Mad Max: Fury Road and will follow Imperator Furiosa, a role originated by Charlize Theron but played by Anya Taylor-Joy this time around.

A new journey in the Mad Max saga begins #FURIOSA pic.twitter.com/nhxqRXB73z

— Chris Hemsworth (@chrishemsworth) June 1, 2022

Theron has expressed her excitement for the film but shared she was heartbroken to not be asked back. Last year she told The Hollywood Reporter, “I really love that character, and I’m so grateful that I had a small part in creating her. She will forever be someone I think of and reflect on fondly.”

Anya Taylor-Joy from The New Mutants will be taking over the role in this origin story. Director George Miller said Taylor-Joy’s performance in Last Night in Soho helped secure her spot on the role as a young Furiosa, and that her audition included performing the iconic "I'm Mad As Hell" speech from Sidney Lumet's 1976 film Network.

Hemsworth will step into the villain role opposite Taylor-Joy. This is much different for the usual charming action hero types he typically portrays. Miller initially saw Hemsworth as a courtesy but quickly fell in love with the idea of him playing “the lead baddie.”

Furiosa was originally meant to be released in 2023, but was delayed to May 24, 2024. The film’s plot is still tightly under wraps. Despite that, Miller has teased that the film’s structure will be quite different from Mad Max: Fury Road.

Mad Max: Fury Road won IGN’s Best Movie of 2015. In our review we said, ”It’s the overriding sense of the film’s uniqueness, its striving to be something more than just another action movie, that is most impressive.”

You can look forward to seeing Hemsworth in the upcoming film, Thor: Love and Thunder which is out this summer on July 8, 2022.

Casey is a freelance writer for IGN. You can usually find him talking about JRPGs on Twitter at @caseydavidmt.

Chris Hemsworth announced today via Twitter that filming has begun for Furiosa.

Furiosa is a prequel to the hit post-apocalyptic film Mad Max: Fury Road and will follow Imperator Furiosa, a role originated by Charlize Theron but played by Anya Taylor-Joy this time around.

A new journey in the Mad Max saga begins #FURIOSA pic.twitter.com/nhxqRXB73z

— Chris Hemsworth (@chrishemsworth) June 1, 2022

Theron has expressed her excitement for the film but shared she was heartbroken to not be asked back. Last year she told The Hollywood Reporter, “I really love that character, and I’m so grateful that I had a small part in creating her. She will forever be someone I think of and reflect on fondly.”

Anya Taylor-Joy from The New Mutants will be taking over the role in this origin story. Director George Miller said Taylor-Joy’s performance in Last Night in Soho helped secure her spot on the role as a young Furiosa, and that her audition included performing the iconic "I'm Mad As Hell" speech from Sidney Lumet's 1976 film Network.

Hemsworth will step into the villain role opposite Taylor-Joy. This is much different for the usual charming action hero types he typically portrays. Miller initially saw Hemsworth as a courtesy but quickly fell in love with the idea of him playing “the lead baddie.”

Furiosa was originally meant to be released in 2023, but was delayed to May 24, 2024. The film’s plot is still tightly under wraps. Despite that, Miller has teased that the film’s structure will be quite different from Mad Max: Fury Road.

Mad Max: Fury Road won IGN’s Best Movie of 2015. In our review we said, ”It’s the overriding sense of the film’s uniqueness, its striving to be something more than just another action movie, that is most impressive.”

You can look forward to seeing Hemsworth in the upcoming film, Thor: Love and Thunder which is out this summer on July 8, 2022.

Casey is a freelance writer for IGN. You can usually find him talking about JRPGs on Twitter at @caseydavidmt.

Sony has revealed the PlayStation Plus games for May 2022 are God of War, Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker, and Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl.

Revealed on the PlayStation Blog, all three games will be made available at no extra cost to all PlayStation Plus subscribers on June 7.

God of War is the 2018 reboot of one of PlayStation's signature franchises that took the world by storm with its story-focused, third-person action. Follow Kratos as he deals with his troubled past and complicated future as he tries to raise a son while being attacked by half the gods and monsters of Norse mythology.

In our 10/10 review, IGN said: "God of War’s outstanding characters, world, and combat come together to form an unforgettable adventure."

Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker is an online multiplayer game where teams of four ninjas compete against each other, bending the timeline of the Naruto anime and its follow-up Boruto to include a ton of fan-favourite characters.

Last but not least, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl brings another collection of characters together in a colourful fighting game that pits Spongebob Squarepants against Avatar's Korra and Nigel Thornberry.

In our 7/10 review, IGN said: "Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is definitely more than just Nickelodeon Smash Bros., but you'll need to be willing to overlook some pretty substantial flaws to find the surprisingly nuanced fighter underneath the surface."

These three new games will be available for free until July 4, while last month's games - which include FIFA 22 (PS5 & PS4), Tribes of Midgard (PS5 & PS4), and Curse of the Dead Gods (PS4) - will be available until June 6.

Sony has begun rolling out its new PlayStation Plus tiers across the world with the service coming to the U.S. on June 13 and Europe on June 23.

The lowest-cost Essential tier is practically the same as the current PlayStation Plus service while its middle and highest tiers feature extra benefits including a ton of games from throughout PlayStation's history.

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

After seeing a limited theatrical release in Japan, the Fruits Basket prequel film, titled Fruits Basket -prelude-, is finally making its way over to theaters in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom this summer.

After the Japanese premiere of Fruits Basket -prelude- in February, both subbed and dubbed versions of the film will open in select theaters in the United States and Canada on June 25, 28, and 29. Tickets go on sale June 3.

The film will then see a theatrical release in the United Kingdom on July 20 where only the dubbed version will be available. Tickets for the UK release will go on sale June 24.

According to the film’s press release, Fruits Basket -prelude- “officially concludes” high school student Tohru Honda’s story, taking viewers back to before she joined forces with the cursed Soma family and focusing on the life of Tohru’s parents, Kyoto and Katsuya Honda, before they died.

The official synopsis of the film reads:

Directed by the series’ director Yoshihide Ibata and with a screenplay written by fellow Fruits Basket veteran Taku Kishimoto, the film is animated by TMS Entertainment and 8PAN, which also animated the 2019 series. The 88-minute long film will be distributed by Crunchyroll.

The Fruits Basket franchise has been running since the manga began in 1998 — the most recent addition to the beloved series was the final season of the 2019 anime reboot, which hit streaming services last year. We named the 2019 revival of Fruits Basket one of the best anime series of the year.

Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN. Find them on Twitter: @ameliazollner.

Discord announced today that it is finally adding text chats to voice channels. Meaning you no longer have to worry about making sure your text message is sent to the wrong text channel on your Discord server while on a voice call.

The new feature is similar to text chats available on video communication services, such as Google Meet or Zoom. Previously, if you were on a Discord voice chat and wanted to send a message, you had to go out of your way to either message the one or multiple people on Discord DMs, create an entirely new text channel, or share the message in a text channel on a Discord server. In some cases, you probably used an entirely different messaging app like Twitter or WhatsApp to send the message.

As you can see in the gif below, a new Chat bubble icon will appear when you enter a Voice channel, which opens the text chat. Every time someone sends a chat message in the Voice channel, a little preview will pop up at the top right-hand corner of the app itself. Discord even told us that messages sent in a Voice chat channel will still be there even after the call ends.

A new category in the Voice Chat permissions will also be introduced, allowing you to moderate what users can do in the voice channel chat, such as enabling permissions to attach files, embed links, and add reactions.

Discord notes the press release that each Voice channel will have its own text chat; those in that specific Voice channel will have the option to send text messages, such as sending a link to a funny YouTube video or someone who had to mute their mic for whatever reason can still communicate with others on the call.

Discord said Voice channel chat is free for all users, and rollout for the feature will begin today, further noting that by June 29th, all servers, including Community servers, will have access to Voice channel chat.

Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

The cover star of Madden NFL 23 is the late coach and commentator, John Madden himself. The legendary figure will appear on all three editions of the game.

The move pays respect to Madden, who died in December last year. The cover art for this year's digital edition also pays homage to the original John Madden Football game released in 1988 – you can see the old and new art side by side below.

While Madden appeared on every cover throughout the '90s his last appearance was in 2000, when the franchise switched to spotlighting NFL athletes instead of its namesake. This year, however, Madden will feature on each of the game's three covers.

The digital recreation above was made by Philadelphia-based sports artist Chuck Styles while the other two covers, presumably its standard and MVP editions, feature Madden depicted separately as a broadcaster and a coach.

These covers aren't the only homage, though, as an "interactive experience" sees two all-star teams led by Madden face off in the 1970s Oakland Coliseum, while the coach himself commentates the game through remastered audio clips.

The homage to Madden was revealed today, June 1, to coincide with the original Madden game's release date in 1988, and EA is also renaming a renovated football field at its headquarters as "John Madden Field" in a ceremony with CEO Andrew Wilson and members of Madden's family.

Madden was originally brought on to endorse EA's football game in the '80s, but refused to until it was turned from an arcade-style seven-versus-seven game to a more authentic simulation with 11 players on each team.

EA agreed, changing its plans, and finally released John Madden Football in 1988. It acquired the NFL license in 1993 and released Madden NFL '94 as a result, with a subsequent game each year ever since.

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

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet will include four-player co-op in addition to its regular trading and battling multiplayer.

Announced on the games' website following the unveiling of its release date in a new trailer, Scarlet and Violet promise "a deeper experience with multiplayer gameplay".

"You will be able to explore the various locations of the region in these games with other players," the site reads. "You can discover new Pokémon and explore unfamiliar areas with your friends and family, opening the door to an adventure more previous and fun than ever."

While details haven't been offered – we don't know if there are specific multiplayer areas, for example – the move would seem to go hand-in-hand with the games' more open structure. Scarlet and Violet will be open world games, and players will be able to visit areas in any order, without the story gating progress. The trailer (above) seems to back this up as a feature of multiplayer, seemingly showing four players in a single game, exploring very different areas simultaneously.

In past games, trading and battling are typically done through a dedicated multiplayer area, requiring players to travel to a Pokémon Center before being able to interact, and transferring Pokémon between regions has required a similar process (such as the Pal-Park in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl).

It's not clear how those traditional multiplayer elements will be be affected by co-op either. It seems very possible that Pokémon Scarlet and Violet may allow players to join each other's games not just to explore, but also battle and trade. However, we do seem to see remote trading taking place in the trailer, too.

While there's plenty more still to discover, including basic gameplay elements that have the community divided, IGN will have full coverage of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet between now and its November 18 release date.

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

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet will be released on November 18, as revealed in a new trailer. The game will feature a new open world structure, and four-player co-op for the first time.

The trailer (below) shows off a lot of the new mainline Pokémon game's world, and introduces two new legendary monsters, Koraidon (who appears in Scarlet) and Miraodon (in Violet). "These two Pokémon are said to have powers that far surpass those of other Pokémon," reads a description on the Pokémon website, "but details about Koraidon and Miraidon are still shrouded in mystery."

We'd already gotten a look at the game's starters – the Grass Cat Sprigatito, the Fire Croc Fuecoco, and the Water Duckling Quaxly – but this trailer reveals a number of new regular monsters too, including a teary-eyed truffle pig called Lechonk, a a grass/normal type based on an olive called Smoliv, and Pawmi, a new electric mouse Pokémon.

The trailer also included a look at two new Pokémon professors Sada and Turo – who appear in Scarlet and Violet respectively. We also got a look at Nemona, the player-character's new friend, who is an "experienced Pokémon Trainer and serves as a reliable guide for you on your adventures."

As previously announced, these will be the first fully open world Pokémon games in the series. However, what we didn't previously know was that Scarlet and Violet would see a very different structure too. The site confirms that the games include "a world that you’re free to explore at your leisure and not in an order dictated by the story."

We also learned that the games would include 4-player co-op alongside the normal trading and battling multiplayer options.

While we see Pokémon out in the wild, the trailer does suggest that we'll be returning to traditional catching mechanics after Pokémon Legends: Arceus offered a new way to snare monsters.

Scarlet and Violet were announced in February (but may have been teased as far back as Sword and Shield). Preorders are open now.

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.

Futurama voice actor John DiMaggio has claimed he "didn't get more money" for agreeing to return to the role of Bender for the show's upcoming revival.

According to SlashFilm, DiMaggio commented on BenderGate during a panel at Phoenix Fan Fusion, telling fans in attendance that he didn't get the pay raise he desired to return to his beloved role as the show's degenerate robot in Hulu's Futurama series but that he ultimately decided to end the contract standoff and join his co-stars for the project.

"People are like, 'I'm so glad you got more money!'" DiMaggio said, referencing the response he received after it was announced that he would be reprising his role as Bender for the 20-episode revival season. He then added, "I didn't get more money. But what I did get was a lot of respect, and a lot of head nods from people who are like, 'Yo bro, I see you and thank you.'"

When the revival series was first announced, DiMaggio was the only voice actor not signed to return and the producers promised to try their best to get DiMaggio onboard or recast the role. However, DiMaggio tried to negotiate with producers for a better contract by asking the studio to pay him and the rest of the voice cast more money for their services.

The saga resulted in a social media campaign called #BenderGate, with fans contending that the series wouldn't be the same without DiMaggio voicing Bender. And so, there was a collective sigh of relief in March when it was confirmed that he would be coming back, though many assumed that he had reached a satisfactory deal for him to return.

DiMaggio has now clarified that there wasn't any more money on the table but that he simply decided to move out of the stalemate situation by signing on for the series. He called it "quite rewarding" to be praised by colleagues for taking a public stance, adding, "Trying to get money out of Disney is like trying to get blood from a stone — you ain't gonna get it!"

"But listen, this was the best thing about that fight: I had Disney, Hulu, I was holding on to their collective testicles so hard that they couldn't, y'know, there was nowhere for them to go," DiMaggio concluded, reflecting on his recent dispute for higher pay. "But there was also nowhere for me to go, and who wants to hold on to those for that long?"

DiMaggio confirmed at Fan Fusion that the show was "planning on using guest stars, [and] they were going to replace Bender's voice each episode" before he agreed to join his other original cast members Billy West, Katey Sagal, Tress MacNeille, Maurice LaMarche, Lauren Tom, Phil LaMarr, and David Herman for Hulu's Futurama revival.

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

Microsoft's latest Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One update finally lets users reveal hidden achievements on the console and official app.

These secret achievements, which are usually veiled by developers to prevent spoilers, would previously tell users "the more you play, the more likely you are to unlock it". For achievement hunters though, this usually meant just looking it up on another device.

As announced on Xbox Wire, the June update smooths out this issue, as users can now choose to reveal the hidden achievement, unveiling details including its title, description, and how much Gamerscore will be awarded.

The achievement can be hidden again or kept open, and this feature will be simultaneously added to all Xbox consoles and apps on PC, mobile, and so on.

Xbox was lagging behind a little with this feature as PlayStation received the option to reveal hidden trophies a few years into the PS4's lifecycle, in 2016. Microsoft first added Achievements to its games in 2005 when it released the Xbox 360, and the designer behind the system (alongside Game Pass and other features) departed the company in April.

The June update also makes downloading updates more efficient on Xbox, as game patches will apparently now be detected more reliably and downloaded more quickly than before.

For all your achievement hunting needs, be sure to check out IGN's Wiki for guides on maximising your Gamerscore through games including Halo Infinite, Forza Horizon 5, and more.

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