Hideo Kojima has responded to the rumors and fan theories that he was involved in the development of Blue Box Game Studios' Abandoned and that it was secretly the next entry in the Silent Hill franchise. Kojima has confirmed he has no involvement and calls rumors of any connection to Blue Box a "nuisance."

“Well, this one, I really didn’t understand at first," Kojima said. "Users just kept sending me pictures of this Hassan. They still send me collages and deep fake images - like 20 a day. It’s really quite a nuisance. This has been going on for almost two years now. And Geoff, you remember when we did that Moby Dick thing? You were in on the whole thing, and that was pretty fun. But people should know that I wouldn’t do the same thing twice."

Kojima was speaking to The Game Awards' Geoff Keighley on his Spotify podcast Brain Structure and discussed the situation that began when Abandoned was announced in April 2021 on PlayStation.Blog.

There was little known about the studio and the internet quickly started theorizing that this was a secret project by Kojima as there were some aesthetic similarities to P.T. Furthermore, Kojima had done something like this before with the reveal of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain when it said to be a new game from a new studio called Moby Dick Studio.

Following the reveal and initial hype by fans hoping for some big Kojima surprise, it was confirmed that this was not a Kojima Productions game but in fact a game by the actual Blue Box Game Studios and director Hasan Kahraman. The whole situation became a mess and the game has yet to be released save for a "realtime experience patch" that was simply a four-second tease.

Kojima was taken by surprise as much as anyone when this was all going on, and he is still dealing with the fallout of this game being falsely linked to him. He also shared that his fans should know better and realize he would never play the same hand twice.

Alongside saying he has yet to speak with Hassan, Kojima shared some words of advice for the director and encouraged him to let his work do the talking.

"I don’t think there’s much he can do or say at this point, but if he releases the game, then people might understand," Kojima said. "So, maybe he should just hurry up and release it? It will die down after that. Plus, I’m not involved with it in any way. I don’t know who started this rumor, but ... I think this is fake news based off of users' wishes and hopes.

"So, Mr. Hassan, I’m sure things weren’t easy and, as a creator, I think it’s ok to dismiss it completely. But now that there’s been a buzz and things have gone viral, you should take advantage of it. If you create something good and share it with everyone, they will learn the truth. I think maybe that’s what you should do.

"Fake news is a bad thing, but now that we’ve both gained attention from all of this, let’s boost morale and create something good. Once they have made something, the users who play it will understand it’s not Silent Hill and I’m not involved, but they will still grow to love their game. I think there is a way to turn fake news around positively. I say this, but I’ve never met the guy."

While Kojima may not have been involved in Abandoned, he has begun teasing his next projects. Alongside saying one of his new games is "almost like a new medium" and has the potential to change the video game and film industries, he's also confirmed that Elle Fanning and Shioli Kutsuna will be part of one of them.

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

25 years after his untimely death, comedy legend Chris Farley is becoming the subject of a new biographical comic book from Z2 Comics. Growing Up Farley will explore the Saturday Night Live star's childhood and formative years, as related by his brother and fellow comedian, Kevin Farley.

Growing Up Farley is co-written by Kevin Farley and Frank Marraffino (Marvel Zombies), with art by Ryan Dunlavey (Action Philosophers). The book centers around both Farley brothers as they struggle to work their way up the standup comedy ranks of the Midwest, from their earliest summer camp performances up to the elder Farley's big break at Chicago's Second City Theatre (where he would go on to develop his iconic motivational speaker character Matt Foley). The book also reveals the pivotal role their father, Thomas John Farley, Sr., played in steering his sons into comedy.

IGN can exclusively reveal Dunlavey's cover for Growing Up Farley below:

“Laughter was always a big part of Growing Up Farley,” Kevin Farley said in a press release. “I’m excited to partner with the team at Z2 Comics to share all the humor and humanity of growing up with my brother, Chris, in 1970s Madison, Wisconsin and the huge influence our Dad had on our decision to go into comedy.”

“Every Saturday at 11:30 my friends and I would drop everything to watch Chris Farley and the gang on Saturday Night Live,” Marraffino said. “Chris always inspired us. He offered a perpetual masterclass in the art of comedy: exuberant and boisterous, but also genuine and heartfelt. I couldn't be more excited to chronicle the journey of the Farleys!”

Growing Up Farley will be offered in both standard and deluxe hardcover editions. The Deluxe Edition features an exclusive cover and three art prints by Dunlavey, Craig Rousseau and Fred C. Stresing. Z2 is also releasing a Platinum Edition version that comes packaged in a slipcase and includes a Scotch Oil-branded hat and pens (Scotch Oil being the Farley family's oil business). All versions are slated for release in Fall 2023.

In other comic book news, Marvel's Star Wars: Revelations #1 will reveal the future of the franchise in 2023, and Jim Lee just debuted an epic cover for Batman Spawn #1.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

Ubisoft has revealed fresh details on the upcoming Season Pass for Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, including a new combat game mode and the first look at Rayman, who will be a playable character in the third DLC offering.

Davide Soliani, the creative director for Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, first revealed that the game would receive three packs of DLC content during a Ubisoft Forward event in September earlier this year. Now, thanks to an official press release posted on the company's website, we finally have some concrete information as to what form the post launch content will take.

The first piece of upcoming DLC - entitled Tower of Doooom - is set to release early next year and will be exclusive to gamers who have purchased the $29.99 season pass. Tower of Doooom will see Mario and the gang clean out Madame Bwahstrella’s multidimensional tower, all while storming through a series of "highly strategic battles" as they attempt to rescue the returning Rabbid character Spawny.

The second DLC pack, which is due to drop in mid-2023, will take the heroes to an entirely new and “enchanted” world featuring its own colorful cast of characters, enemies, environments and mysterious secrets.

Lastly, the later part of 2023 will see the release of the third and final DLC offering included in the season pass, which will see Rabid Mario and Rabid Peach team up with Rayman to explore “a new and mysterious place”.

Unlike the first piece of DLC which is exclusive to the season pass, players will be able to buy the second and third expansions separately.

Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope - which released on to Nintendo Switch consoles on October 20 - retains the intelligent XCOM style of combat from the original 2017 game, albeit reimagined to have a more dynamic and free flowing feel. For a more complete breakdown of what we think of the zany sequel’s over world, customization options and other qualities and foibles, be sure to check out IGN’s full review.

Anthony Wood is a freelance science writer for IGN.

Square Enix has officially announced Symbiogenesis, a new NFT collectible art project that’s coming in Spring 2023 alongside a free browser service.

"Symbiogenesis is brand-new entertainment content set in a self-contained world where a wide cast of characters symbiosis, all of which can be collected as digital art; an interactive story and a dedicated community," Square Enix says in a statement. "The art can be used for social media profile pictures (PFP) and as a character in a story that takes place in an alternate world where the player can ’untangle’ a mystery by completing missions that revolve around questions of the monopolization and distribution of resources. With each strategic move players make, more of the story unfolds."

NFT Collectible Art Project
SYMBIOGENESIS
Untangle the Story
Spring 2023#SYMBIOGENESIS #symgeNFT #NFT #NFTProjects pic.twitter.com/Kk1JvMdQx4

— SYMBIOGENESIS (@symbiogenesisPR) November 3, 2022

Not much else is known about this Web3 project, but last month, Square Enix trademarked Symbiogenesis in Japan. It was rumored to be some sort of Parasite Eve revival due to the word Symbiogenesis meaning a process where two separate organisms combine to create one. Notably, this process is the basis for Parasite Eve’s story.

Those who were hoping for a new Parasite Eve game will undoubtedly be disappointed. Square Enix already mentioned it was interested in dabbling in blockchain games. Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda ushered in 2022 with a New Year’s letter explaining how the metaverse would be an upcoming hot topic within the games industry and for the company. And then earlier this year, the company also sold a Cloud Strife figure that doubled as an NFT.

The last Parasite Eve game was The 3rd Birthday, which was released in 2011 for the PlayStation Portable.

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. He's been writing about the industry since 2019 and has worked with other publications such as Insider, Kotaku, NPR, and Variety.

When not writing about video games, George is playing video games. What a surprise! You can follow him on Twitter @Yinyangfooey

Tuca & Bertie has been canceled once more, this time by Adult Swim — the network that swooped in and picked the series up after it was axed by Netflix.

Series creator Lisa Hanawalt announced the show's cancelation in a heartfelt post on Twitter, writing: "To all our fans – we love you and can't thank you enough for your support over the years. Please never stop making weird fan art (and dressing up as the characters for Halloween!), it brings me endless joy.

Goodbye to Tuca & Bertie, for now :( pic.twitter.com/fVodONC4mY

— Lisa Hanawalt (@lisadraws) November 2, 2022

"Working with Adult Swim was very creatively fulfilling, our execs were all smart and thoughtful, and I'm grateful that we got the space to make all these wild and heartfelt episodes about things that matter to me very much," she added, giving a shoutout to her talented coworkers and collaborators.

Tuca & Bertie is a comedy about the friendship between two 30-something female birds who live in the same apartment building — Tuca, a cocky, carefree toucan, and Bertie, an anxious, daydreaming songbird. Its first season aired on Netflix in 2019, but the steaming service dropped it after just one season. Adult Swim then picked it up for a further two seasons.

Hanawalt expressed her desire to give the series a proper ending, saying: "I still have a beautiful and weird ending to T&B in mind, hopefully someday we'll get a chance to finish the story. In the meantime, I'm not done creating. I've witnessed so many people connecting with this show on a profound level, and I intend to keep telling stories like this, no matter what."

As shown by the sudden disappearance of numerous films and shows from the HBO Max library, Warner Bros. Discovery, the owner of Adult Swim, has been aggressively cleaning house as part of its efforts to cut costs following a very expensive merger. However, Hanawalt did not indicate whether Tuca & Bertie's cancelation came as a result of these changes.

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

One of the most controversial parts of Halo Infinite has been its approach to progression, as originally it would only reward players with XP for completing challenges and not for how they performed in a match. This is all about to change as Halo Infinite's Winter Update will add match and performance-based XP when it is released on November 8.

As detailed on Halo Waypoint, the Match XP Beta is part of 343 Industries' mission to address player feedback in regard to progression. With Match XP, "players will be rewarded for playing whatever mode they want, and your performance in those matches will tie into those rewards." Furthermore, the "majority of XP" will come from Match XP as opposed to Challenges.

On November 8, Match XP will award players with XP for such things as completing matches and being on the winning team as well as rewarding them with more XP for where they stand on the end-of-match placement.

343 has said it is calling this "Match XP Beta" as it is going to "be monitoring the values for each reward category, adjusting them as we move forwards with this new model." This means the values will not be final when Match XP arrives and will be adjusted accordingly.

Match XP will be the main driver in progressing the Battle Pass, and Challenges will provide a "bonus boost" to gaining those tiers. The purpose of Challenges, according to 343, is being "redirected" and they will now "primarily serve as the path towards earning customization items each week through the Ultimate Reward." There will still be XP rewards, but Match XP will be the main source of progression.

343 is updating how Challenges work, and the three "main points" of change are as follows:

• We are reducing the number of Challenges required to hit the Ultimate Challenge from 20 to 10
• All Challenges in regular weekly decks can be completed in any playlist
• Challenges are more “general” overall

The Winter Update will also be the first step in making it so "all challenges will be playlist agnostic." This means that, for now, Event Challenges can still only be completed in Event Playlists, but that will all change in the future.

How do these changes sit with you? Be sure to let us know how you are feeling about the future of Halo and what you'd like to see adjusted.

Alongside Match XP, Halo Infinite players will also be able to look forward to the official launch of Forge Mode on November 8 and the full release of online campaign co-op. Unfortunately, split-screen co-op has been canceled entirely.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Santa Monica Studio has revealed the graphics modes for God of War Ragnarok on PS5, PS4 Pro, and PS4.

Santa Monica Studio shared these modes on Twitter, and the news follows a report that stated God of War Ragnarok would have a 120hz performance mode on PS5. This appears to still officially be the case with the Favor Performance + HFR (High Frame Rate) mode and the Favor Performance + HFR + VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) mode. As always, achieving 120hz requires a TV or monitor that supports HDMI 2.1.

You can check out the full range of graphics modes below in the image and the bulleted list below to get an idea of how you may want to play God of War Ragnarok when it is released on November 9.

• PS5
  • Favor Performance
    • 1440-2160P
    • 60 FPS Target
  • Favor Performance + High Frame Rate
    • 1440P
    • Unlocked 60 FPS
  • Favor Performance + High Frame Rate + Variable Refresh Rate
    • 1440P
    • Unlocked 60 FPS
  • Favor Quality
    • 2160P [Native 4K]
    • 30 FPS Target
  • Favor Quality + High Frame Rate
    • 1800-2160P
    • 40 FPS Target
  • Favor Quality + High Frame Rate + Variable Refresh Rate
    • 1800-2160P
    • Unlocked 40 FPS
• PS4 Pro
  • Favor Performance
    • 1080-1656P
    • Unlocked 30 FPS
  • Favor Quality
    • 1440-1656P
    • 30 FPS Target
• PS4
  • Standard
    • 1080P
    • 30 FPS Target

For more on God of War Ragnarok, check out the hilarious Japanese trailer that's much happier than it has any right to be and one starring John Travolta, Ben Stiller, LeBron James, and their kids.

Also, be sure to check out our hands-on preview of God of War Ragnarok and check back today, November 3, at 9am PT/12pm ET/4pm GMT/5pm CEST for our official review.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Post-acquisition, Twitter's $8 verification fee isn’t the only new monetization plan on the horizon, with reports that new owner Elon Musk may also look to add a “Paywalled Video” feature soon.

According to The Washington Post, the paid video feature allows creators to charge for their content and nets Twitter a cut of the fee. The internal emails provided to the Washington Post also highlight legal compliance concerns, and Twitter’s Product Trust Team “identified the risk as high.”

Twitter’s timeline for the feature doesn’t give internal teams long for compliance review, with only three days to assess its risk. Monetization options include pre-set amounts, with options for $1, $2, $5, and $10 to reveal a video. Users can still interact with the content by liking or retweeting, but the video appears blurry until paid for.

The report could not confirm if the paywall functionality was a project launched before or after Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion last week, but Musk hasn’t been shy about changing things up. In addition to those plans for a verification fee, the platform may bring back Vine, and he’s already fired top executives.

On the actual platform, Musk has continued to defend his monetization plans, and said the verification option “will also give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators.”

This will also give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022

Twitter has a few options to monetize a creator’s online presence already, including the Tip Jar and Super Follow. The Super Follow feature is paid as a monthly fee, with the creator providing an “extra level of access and bonus content.” The difference here puts blurred-out videos on user timlines, asking for a one-time transaction to view.

Andrea Shearon is a freelance contributor for IGN covering games and entertainment. She's worn several hats over her seven-year career in the games industry, with bylines over at Fanbyte, USA Today's FTW, TheGamer, VG247, and RPG Site. Find her on Twitter (@Maajora) or the Materia Possessions podcast chatting about FFXIV, RPGs, and any series involving giant robots.

Post-acquisition, Twitter's $8 verification fee isn’t the only new monetization plan on the horizon, with reports that new owner Elon Musk may also look to add a “Paywalled Video” feature soon.

According to The Washington Post, the paid video feature allows creators to charge for their content and nets Twitter a cut of the fee. The internal emails provided to the Washington Post also highlight legal compliance concerns, and Twitter’s Product Trust Team “identified the risk as high.”

Twitter’s timeline for the feature doesn’t give internal teams long for compliance review, with only three days to assess its risk. Monetization options include pre-set amounts, with options for $1, $2, $5, and $10 to reveal a video. Users can still interact with the content by liking or retweeting, but the video appears blurry until paid for.

The report could not confirm if the paywall functionality was a project launched before or after Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion last week, but Musk hasn’t been shy about changing things up. In addition to those plans for a verification fee, the platform may bring back Vine, and he’s already fired top executives.

On the actual platform, Musk has continued to defend his monetization plans, and said the verification option “will also give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators.”

This will also give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022

Twitter has a few options to monetize a creator’s online presence already, including the Tip Jar and Super Follow. The Super Follow feature is paid as a monthly fee, with the creator providing an “extra level of access and bonus content.” The difference here puts blurred-out videos on user timlines, asking for a one-time transaction to view.

Andrea Shearon is a freelance contributor for IGN covering games and entertainment. She's worn several hats over her seven-year career in the games industry, with bylines over at Fanbyte, USA Today's FTW, TheGamer, VG247, and RPG Site. Find her on Twitter (@Maajora) or the Materia Possessions podcast chatting about FFXIV, RPGs, and any series involving giant robots.

Aubrey Plaza looks to be the latest star to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where she is reportedly set to star alongside Kathryn Hahn and Joe Locke in Agatha: Coven of Chaos.

Deadline reports that while Plaza's role is being kept under wraps, she is apparently set to play a villain in the forthcoming WandaVision spin-off. Plaza is currently starring in White Lotus, which recently kicked off its second season.

Agatha: Coven of Chaos will mark the return of Hahn as Agatha Harkness, who was introduced as one of Wanda Maximoff's main rivals in WandaVision. It's one of two WandaVision spin-offs reported to be in development, with Marvel also said to be working on a show featuring Vision.

Plaza found fame on Parks and Rec as April Ludgate, a cynical intern who eventually marries Chris Pratt's character. She later went on to additional roles in Scott Pilgrim and White Lotus.

Little else is known about Coven of Chaos at this point save that it will be released around the end of 2023.

Thumbnail photo credit: Raymond Hall/Getty Images

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.