Rocket League is getting a limited-time deathmatch mode.

Developer Psyonix is removing the ball in its new Knockout Bash mode as destroying other players becomes the only objective.

The eight-player free-for-all mode was revealed in a PlayStation Blog post and will introduce new mechanics including attack, block, and grab.

The event will only run for two weeks from April 27 to May 10, but features a number of tailor-made maps with various obstacles such as giant spiky pillars.

Maps also feature a "kill zone" where players must force their opponents in order to win using the new attacking, grabbing, and blocking mechanics, inspiration of which was taken directly from fighting games.

"We thought it would be fun if each move set juked another, like rock, paper, scissors," said Psyonix programmer Sky Breen, who was part of the team developing Knockout Bash. "This way, it would allow players to outsmart others if they can predict what move someone else plans to use."

Psyonix is "definitely breaking the rules" with the new mode, Breen said, "but we are hoping players will really love all the changes and new additions we have made."

Rocket League was first released in 2015 and has featured countless updates since, including the addition of new modes that take a step away from its football-based roots.

It's done ice hockey, basketball, and even American football, but Knockout Bash is the first time Psyonix has stepped away from sports altogether by not including any ball or goals.

In our 9/10 review, IGN said: "Rocket League is an energetic mashing of arcade driving and sports, with a sky-high skill ceiling and endless personality."

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

Rocket League is getting a limited-time deathmatch mode.

Developer Psyonix is removing the ball in its new Knockout Bash mode as destroying other players becomes the only objective.

The eight-player free-for-all mode was revealed in a PlayStation Blog post and will introduce new mechanics including attack, block, and grab.

The event will only run for two weeks from April 27 to May 10, but features a number of tailor-made maps with various obstacles such as giant spiky pillars.

Maps also feature a "kill zone" where players must force their opponents in order to win using the new attacking, grabbing, and blocking mechanics, inspiration of which was taken directly from fighting games.

"We thought it would be fun if each move set juked another, like rock, paper, scissors," said Psyonix programmer Sky Breen, who was part of the team developing Knockout Bash. "This way, it would allow players to outsmart others if they can predict what move someone else plans to use."

Psyonix is "definitely breaking the rules" with the new mode, Breen said, "but we are hoping players will really love all the changes and new additions we have made."

Rocket League was first released in 2015 and has featured countless updates since, including the addition of new modes that take a step away from its football-based roots.

It's done ice hockey, basketball, and even American football, but Knockout Bash is the first time Psyonix has stepped away from sports altogether by not including any ball or goals.

In our 9/10 review, IGN said: "Rocket League is an energetic mashing of arcade driving and sports, with a sky-high skill ceiling and endless personality."

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

An Elden Ring fan is travelling 30 years back in time by creating a Game Boy demake of the FromSoftware open world hit.

Twitch user shintendoTV is streaming the game's development live after announcing their plans in a Reddit post (below), where they said the game will be designed to work on real hardware – presumably the likes of Analogue Pocket, rather than an original Game Boy.

While they're currently unsure how much of the game they'll recreate (as Elden Ring is truly massive) Shintendo is at least hoping to make the complete opening area of Limgrave.

The demake is being made in GB Studio 3.0, something Shintendo calls "a really impressive and brand new piece of software" that's still in development itself.

This means that certain features such as enemy pathfinding (enemies chasing after the player) aren't available yet, but Shintendo is hoping to have a playable version of Limgrave completed, alongside a demo, by the end of May.

The demake is set to feature iconic locations and characters from Elden Ring including the Church of Elleh, where players will encounter Melina, who simply asks: "No Maidens?"

Shintendo said on stream that there's "no real plan" behind development but they're just going to make one tile after another, each featuring pixel-art versions of various parts of Elden Ring.

It's not the only FromSoftware game demake that fans of the series have made, with the Bloodborne PlayStation 1 demake perhaps being the most famous example. Developer Lilith Walther has even announced a spin-off in the form of Bloodborne Kart.

It becomes the latest wacky way players are choosing to enjoy Elden Ring. One player, Let Me Solo Her, is letting himself be endlessly summoned to fight one of the game's toughest bosses, while a speedrunner has now beaten the game in under seven minutes.

In our 10/10 review, IGN said: "Elden Ring is a massive iteration on what FromSoftware began with the Souls series, bringing its relentlessly challenging combat to an incredible open world that gives us the freedom to choose our own path."

To make those choices with the best available information, check out our guide that features everything you could ever hope to know about Elden Ring, including collectible locations, boss strategies, and more.

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

The Northman director Robert Eggers has confirmed that CG genitals were added to the naked swordfight scene with Alexander Skarsgård to prevent any accidental injuries.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Eggers opened up about the challenging filmmaking process behind The Northman as he admitted that certain shots called for some digital movie magic in order to achieve the desired effect, especially the nude battle between Skarsgård's Amleth and Claes Bang's Fjölnir, which required both actors to wear protective thongs.

"We actually had to add things digitally because they were wearing thongs [instead of being naked] because no one wanted to get their bits chopped off," he explained. "So, we actually had to add some CG genitals for certain shots so that they didn't look too Ken doll-ish. You've got to make it look real, so I'm sure we did some full-body scans of Alex. They're out there."

In the same interview, Eggers offered his point of view on method acting, which has become a topic of much debate recently, as he was asked to clarify the reason why, in his own words, nobody method acts on his sets. The filmmaker asserted that he doesn't enforce any rules for method acting, but rather he just needs the actors to turn up and follow the script.

"If someone wants to be Method, they're more than welcome to be Method," Eggers said. "But my main direction is don't blink, don't move your face, and say your lines. When you have an archetypal story with archetypal characters — Alexander Skarsgård looks like a Viking, is playing a Viking, on a mountain and dressed as a Viking — just say your lines."

Eggers previously spoke to IGN about the process of making his "Viking Hamlet" movie, considering the massive scale of his new film. He also discussed his approach to directing action, striving for historical accuracy while also folding in the supernatural elements of Viking mythology, and just how much metal was on his playlist while he worked on the project.

And if you love action-packed Viking films, our review of The Northman would suggest this is the perfect movie for you. With dramatic music and top-tier performances from a star-studded cast, it's an epic historical feature you won't want to miss and we have all of the details on when and where you can watch this tale of Viking vengeance.

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

The Steam Deck's Dock will now have three USB 3.1 ports when it launches.

This comes instead of the previously advertised single USB 3.1 port and two USB 2.0 ports, as revealed on the Steam Deck's tech specs page and spotted by Review Geek.

The upgraded, faster ports essentially mean that most accessories, including storage drives, will be more compatible and effective.

The tech specs page also clarifies that the Steam Deck dock comes equipped with a gigabit ethernet port to go alongside the three USB 3.1 ports, plus further ports for the power-in USB-C, HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.4 and the USB-C cable to the Steam Deck itself.

The docking station – which allows players to plug their Steam Deck into a TV or monitor and play it like a more traditional PC – missed the hardware's official launch but shouldn't be too far away, with developer Valve marking its release window as "late spring".

The dock doesn't give the Steam Deck a performance boost, however, as Valve prioritised its mobile made and built its hardware to be the best possible gaming-on-the-go experience possible.

The hardware itself was released in February but many customers had to wait a little longer for their wave of Steam Decks to be shipped. Valve only confirmed the dock's delay a few days ahead of the launch, when it confirmed the postponement to late spring.

In our 7/10 review, IGN said: "When Steam Deck lives up to its promises, it's sublime, but when it falls short, it falls hard."

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

Dr. Dre was at the centre of Grand Theft Auto Online's The Contract expansion, but the hip-hop icon initially had no intention of getting involved.

Speaking to BET Music, rapper, producer, and GTA Online co-writer DJ Pooh said that Dre, not fully understanding what GTA was, didn't want to make music or appear in something intended for kids.

"Initially it was just 'no', but that's the normal answer you get from Dre," he said. "Dre's not a gamer. He just didn't play any of the games. It's not like he dislikes them or something, he just didn't play them. He was like, 'I don't make things for kids'."

As a big fan of gaming himself, Pooh took his PlayStation to Dre's mansion and showed him the game in action.

"He was blown away. He didn't know you could do all this stuff," Pooh said. "He was like, 'this s**t is awesome', and he's seeing me driving around in a lowrider. We out here putting different rims on the car, getting in a shootout, hanging out with my friends."

Seeing that the game wasn't just a children's toy, and being told about GTA's history with music and its incredible sales figures, Dre was convinced.

The Contract update was released in December and sees Franklin task the player with hunting down new music by Dre that was released specifically for GTA.

The project was heavily rumoured for a while ahead of release with many thinking Dre was making music for GTA 6. That's not to say he won't, but the only thing Rockstar Games has said for sure about the new game is that it's in development.

In our 10/10 review, IGN said: "Preposterously enjoyable, breathtaking in scope and bitingly funny, GTA V is a landmark game."

Our guide is also full to the brim with everything players need to know about GTA V (including cheats and secrets), GTA Online, and the Contract expansion.

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

The director of the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron series wants to see a lot of Nintendo Wii features in any remaster for Switch.

A conversation was sparked on Twitter (below) after a fan asked Aspyr - the developer behind other Star Wars Switch remasters, including Jedi Knight II and The Force Unleashed - if it would ever make a new version of Rogue Squadron.

Aspyr said it would love to if fan demand was there, prompting Rogue Squadron series director Julian Eggebrecht to reel off his wishlist for the ultimate version.

Glad you enjoyed our games - we loved making them for all Star Wars fans out there! To round this off, it should include a remastered Rogue Squadron N64/PC with the high detail ship models from the Wii, and updated textures & shaders. The Force would be strong with that one.

— Julian Eggebrecht (@JuEggebrecht) April 21, 2022

It includes a lot of features from the unreleased Wii version of Rogue Squadron, the fourth and final iteration that was in development but cancelled due to legal issues between LucasArts and its game developers.

"The one for Switch should be the ultimate Rogue using every last bit of the Wii." he said. "All controller from Pro to wheel, all levels from Leader and Strike in one as intended, fixed and remixed."

That's not all though – Eggebrecht also wants to see multiplayer modes, 1:1 gyro lightsaber combat, 60fps, plus an additional remaster of the N64 game "with the high detail ship models from the Wii, and updated textures and shaders."

IGN was a big fan of the arcade-style dogfighting gameplay in Rogue Squadron. We said the first and third games were great, while the second one was amazing.

In our 9/10 review, IGN said: "Rogue Leader is a bigger, badder and visually much more dazzling version of the N64 Rogue Squadron before it."

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

It's been a long time since a teacher took control of the fourth grade at Springfield Elementary. Bart's class has had a rotating roster of teachers since the death of Marcia Wallace, who played Edna Krabappel through Season 25 of The Simpsons. That's changing with the upcoming April 24th episode of The Simpsons, with the fourth grade being taken over by Ms. Rayshelle Peyton.

Starting with the episode "My Octopus and a Teacher," Ms. Peyton will be the new teacher for Bart Simpson. The character will be voiced by Scandal and Little Fires Everywhere actress Kerry Washington. Washington will be a recurring role in the animated comedy, and unlike Ms. Krabappel it seems she's trying to be a positive influence in her students' lives.

Bart has never had a teacher like her.

Will @kerrywashington be able to get through to him this Sunday? pic.twitter.com/BDZSzzKnlT

— The Simpsons (@TheSimpsons) April 21, 2022

"She's a great teacher," Washington told Entertainment Weekly. "But like all the best teachers, she knows that her students have just as much to teach her as she has to teach them. And teaching Bart is a job filled with growth opportunities."

"We're not going to feel like, 'Oh, this is a new Krabappel," added series co-executive producer Carolyn Omine. "Most of our teachers are kind of burnouts, and it's just a function of comedy. But we thought, 'Let's just make this different, let's make her a good teacher.' Sometimes it's hard to find comedy in people that are good, but then you think about people like Leslie Knope. They're just a bit too much, but they're good at their job. We wanted to have that kind of teacher."

In the episode, Bart will have "complicated feelings" when he feels like he knows his new teacher from somewhere. Ms. Peyton wants to help her student, but Bart has to open up first.

"She's really good at figuring out what the kids need, but she can't really figure out what his problem is until he finally comes clean," Omine explained.

Springfield Elementary's fourth grade hasn't had a permanent teacher since 2013. Edna Krabappel voice actress Marcia Wallace died at the age of 70 earlier that year, following a long career as an actress on The Merv Griffin Show, The Brady Bunch, and The Bob Newhart show. Her first appearance on The Simpsons was in the second episode, all the way back in 1990.

The show officially retired the character of Mrs. Krabappel after a brief tribute, but would eventually bring her back for a 2021 episode that executive producer Al Jean described as a chance to say a “proper goodbye.”

Since Edna's death, the fourth-grade class has been taught by the antagonistic Jack Lassen, played by Willem Dafoe. Lassen was fired for his rivalry with Bart in the same episode, becoming a prison warden afterward. Other substitutes include Carol Berrera, an Army soldier who quickly left to serve in Afghanistan, played by Sofia Vergara, and even Ned Flanders.

The team at The Simpsons felt it was time for the role to be filled on a more permanent basis.

"I don't know why we've been putting it off," said Omine. "I do miss our dear Marcia, and I think there was a little sadness and reluctance to do it, but it's been nine years. We would have a conversation at least once a year, maybe every other year. We couldn't really decide, and we couldn't really agree. There just wasn't the inspired thought — until we came upon this."

Washington's addition follows in the wake of long-time Simpsons voice actor Hank Azaria stating that he would no longer play the voice of Kwik-E-Mart owner Apu, with the Simpsons also recasting Carl Carlson with Alex Désert. Washington tweeted, "Dear animators looking for black voices… I'm avail." Through that simple tweet, a connection was made.

Washington will only appear in a single episode this current season, but the writers of The Simpsons have plans for her in the upcoming season. The upcoming episode will air on April 24 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Fox.

Mike Williams is a freelance writer at IGN.

It looks as though Netflix is cutting loose its animated projects. After highly publicized subscriber losses, Netflix is putting the brakes on its animation efforts, firing executives, and canceling several highly anticipated shows.

According to The Wrap, Netflix’s Director of Creative Leadership and Development for Original Animation Phil Rynda was let go this week along with several of his staff. Not only that but several high-profile animated series’ have now been canceled.

That includes the long-awaited adaptation of Bone, the critically-acclaimed comic from Jeff Smith.

Bone, in particular, is a blow – this off-kilter comic was a prime candidate for adaptation.

Additionally, an animated adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Twits has been canceled, although the project will reportedly live on as a feature film. Lauren Faust’s Toil and Trouble was also canceled.

These cancellations come amid rumors of a changing direction at Netflix Animation. “We want to be the home of everybody’s favorite show,” Rynda originally told creators… but this mantra was replaced by: “We want to make what our audience wants to see,” from Netflix Co-CEO Reed Hastings.

Conversely, Boss Baby is touted as the pinnacle of how animation should perform on Netflix, despite the fact that the animated series isn’t owned by Netflix at all – it’s licensed from DreamWorks.

When it comes to cancellations, or the threat of them, several creators including City of Ghosts director Elizabeth Ito, have complained of Netflix using “staged data” to make their point – using manipulated data to justify lack of funding or cancellation despite critical acclaim for projects.

Equally frustrating for creators has been Netflix’s marketing protocols. Promotion typically doesn’t begin until one month before release and sometimes the title itself isn’t even announced before then. This leaves a very small window to generate hype for projects, which is especially difficult for smaller animated projects which rely on creators generating hype themselves via social media.

Netflix Animation has been side-lined on its official shop, too with not a single item from a Kids & Family animated project.

Centaur World executive producer Dominic Bisignano said that “Netflix is proud of its data.”

And that seems to be where many of the problems lie. Bisignano claims that this approach “brings up a lot of questions.” And after offering the streamer more episodes than originally planned, he was presented with data but not given any context as to what it actually meant. Bisignano asked questions… but was not given any answers and is now at Cartoon Network.

What happens next with Netflix Animation remains to be seen. But it’s not looking good.

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

A new TV series, Straight Man, starring Bob Odenkirk is in the works at AMC.

Straight Man is being adapted by Aaron Zelman and Paul Lieberstein from the novel of the same name by Pulitzer-winning author, Richard Russo.

“I am thrilled that AMC is embracing the unique scenario and characters in Paul and Aaron's adaptation of Straight Man,” said Odenkirk. “I have loved the mix of comedy and drama in Better Call Saul, and this is another story with a unique dynamic, and the kind of closely observed character writing and exploration that AMC has become the touchstone for. It’s going to be fun to play and watch!”

The project was fast-tracked earlier this month and how now been officially greenlit.

Straight Man tells the story of William Henry Devereaux, Jr. (Odenkirk), chairman of the English department in the underfunded Railton College. Going through a mid-life crisis, this first-person story is a tale of one man trying to keep it all together under increasingly difficult circumstances.

“As Better Call Saul begins its epic sixth and final season, we could not be more excited by the prospect of keeping Bob at home on AMC and watching him breathe life into another nuanced, complicated and unforgettable character,” said AMC president of entertainment, Dan McDermott.

Odenkirk is renowned for the role of Saul Goodman in both Better Call Saul and its predecessor, Breaking Bad. However, he also recently became a bit of an action hero with a starring role in the hit action flick, Nobody.

The news comes as Better Call Saul prepares for the return of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman in its final season.

Bob Odenkirk will star in Straight Man, with Peter Farrelly directing the project with scripts by Aaron Zelman and Paul Lieberstein based on the novel by Richard Russo. Zelman and Lieberstein will serve as co-showrunners as well as executive producing alongside Bob Odenkirk, Naomi Odenkirk, Peter Farrelly, Richard Russo, Mark Johnson, and Marc Provissiero.

Straight Man will debut on AMC and the MAC+ streaming platform sometime in 2023.

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