As the controversy over non-fungible tokens (NFTs) continues to rage, Blizzard’s President Mike Ybarra has denied the company is interested in pursuing blockchain technology for its games.

Ybarra was responding to a story from Video Games Chronicle reporting that a YouGov survey asked players about crypto and NFT products in Activision Blizzard games. This sparked speculation that Activision Blizzard itself was polling the players about the controversial technology.

Ybarra tweeted in response, “No one is doing NFTs.”

NFTs are unique digital items that are stored on a digital ledger called a blockchain. While Ybarra’s answer will probably give many players a sigh of relief, other game companies still believe NFTs are the future of gaming.

Square Enix President Yosuke Matsuda ardently believes that adding blockchain technology to video games is worthwhile. He mentioned wanting to “provide incentives” to players who want to create interesting content that will “continue to evolve” using blockchain. Theoretically, this would allow content creators to own parts of the content created for the game.

Ubisoft has been one of the most vocal proponents of NFT games. The company introduced an NFT cosmetics system called Quartz which offers limited-edition cosmetics that can be re-sold for cryptocurrency on third-party marketplaces. Even after the fan backlash over Quartz, Ubisoft Strategic Innovations Lab VP Nicolas Pouard doubled down on the decision saying that gamers simply don’t understand the benefits of NFTs.

Sega initially seemed interested in NFTs, but has remained noncommittal, explaining that they would not implement NFTs if they were only seen as money-making schemes. The backlash from the gaming community has also kept Electronic Arts at bay, with CEO Andrew Wilson reversing a statement that NFTs would be important to gaming.

However, many in the gaming industry do not feel the same way. PlatinumGames executives Atsushi Inaba and Hideki Kamiya publicly called out Konami for their NFT motivations, seeing it as more profit-driven than anything. Inaba added that the concept of NFTs could be important in the future, but early attempts won’t benefit the gamers or developers.

In other Blizzard news, the company is scheduled to reveal the next World of Warcraft expansion soon. Blizzard is also set to unveil a Warcraft mobile game in May.

David Matthews is a freelance writer for IGN.

Super Mario Bros. anime The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach is available to stream or download right now in 4k for the very first time.

A new restoration of the classic 1986 Super Mario Bros. anime is available now on YouTube, with a download available at the Internet Archive.

“This comes from a 16mm reduction print likely used for small, local screenings back in the day when it was released,” says the video description. “It's likely one of the, if not THE only surviving print in the world, and fellow fan Carnivol was able to get his hands on it back in 2016.”

Although the film has been available to watch online for years, this is the best version yet. This new restoration is clean, color corrected, and newly subtitled for the best possible experience.

“We were able to clean it up super nicely (although some scratches were unable to be completely removed),” the team explained. They spent months removing dirt, dust, and scratches. “Thousands of individual pieces of debris were manually removed for this restoration.”

Additionally, the audio has been recaptured using the VHS as a source.

“The VHS was originally released with 2-channel Dolby Surround, which is preserved in the audio capture here,” says Femboy Films. “This reflects most accurately how the film would have sounded in cinemas, as it was released with 4-channel Dolby Stereo there.”

There’s even a brand-new scan of the film’s original art books.

The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach is an animated comedy adventure from 1986 that loosely follows the events of Super Mario Bros.

After escaping the video game world and finding herself in Mario’s world, Princess Peach seeks refuge from the famous plumbers. However, King Koopa (aka Bowser) is hot on her heels – desperately dragging her back to the Mushroom Kingdom. The Mario Bros – now working in a grocery store for some reason – are lured into the Kingdom by Dumpling Dog (!?!) to rescue the princess and save the day.

And it’s about as crazy as it sounds. The film was written by Hideo Takayashiki and directed by Masami Hata.

Although it’s unlikely that we’ll be getting a reworking of this particular film, there are currently a record number of video game adaptations in the works. The upcoming Mario movie will star Chris Pratt as the voice of Mario alongside Jack Black as Bowser.

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

Five years ago Squirrel Girl portrayed by Milana Vayntrub almost made her TV debut before the series was ultimately canceled. Now, Vayntrub will be able to portray the fluffy-tailed Marvel superhero in a new official podcast series written by comic author Ryan North.

Variety reports that the six-episode SiriusXM podcast titled Marvel’s Squirrel Girl: The Unbeatable Radio Show will allow Vayntrub, best known for her work on the AT&T commercials, to flex her Squirrel Girl abilities. Vayntrub already voices the character in the animated Marvel Rising series.

The podcast follows Squirrel Girl, aka Doreen Green, as she settles into civilian life at Empire State University after having defeated Marvel villains like Thanos and Doctor Doom. Green starts up a new student radio show and with the help of her best friend Nancy Whitehead and squirrel-friend Tippy-Toe, Doreen is ready to offer the students of ESU advice.

The podcast will also include other heroes like Iron Man, SPider-Man, Chipmunk Hunk, Koi Boi, and Brain Drain.

Squirrel Girl was created by Will Murray and Steve Ditko, but the character came to prominence in 2014 when Ryan North and Erica Henderson launched The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. The four-year comic run introduced the character, who has the heightened agility of a squirrel, to a new generation of fans.

The first episode of Marvel’s Squirrel Girl: The Unbeatable Radio Show is available now on all podcast platforms. For more Marvel goodness, check out IGN’s review of the newest Moon Knight episode and the first trailer for Thor: Love and Thunder.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

Jack Nicholson’s axe scene in The Shining is infamous, and now you can own that very bit of movie history. Appearing in some of The Shining’s scariest scenes, the axe is now up for auction at Gotta Have Rock and Roll Auctions with a minimum bid of $50,000.

Expected to fetch over $100,000, the axe is said to be in good condition and comes mounted as part of a display including images of the axe in action.

The Shining was one of Stanley Kubrick’s most successful films, with the axe featuring heavily in its climax as Jack Torrance (Nicholson) stumbles through a snow-covered maze after his son, Danny (Danny Lloyd). Most famously, Jack uses the axe to smash through a wooden door in pursuit of his wife, Wendy, played by Shelley Duvall. He also uses the axe to kill Dick Hallorann (Scatman Crothers).

But this isn’t the only version of The Shining’s infamous axe. A hard foam copy used during production for health and safety reasons during long shots recently went up for sale for $58,000. It’s unknown whether the axe currently up for auction is one of these hard foam copies or a wooden-handled version.

However, the wooden handled prop previously sold for a staggering $211,000 back in 2019. For clarity – the foam version was used during production while Torrence roamed the halls of the Overlook Hotel, with the wooden handled version used only during close-ups such as the pivotal and now iconic scene with Shelley Duvall.

It’s unknown whether the wooden version which sold in 2019 was the one used by Nicholson to break through the door on screen. IGN has reached out to Gotta Have Rock and Roll Auctions or clarity.

Warner Bros. originally produced dozens of hard foam copies for use during filming, but only a handful are now thought to remain. Elsewhere, Ben Stiller is looking to pick up the axe as he eyes the leading role in a stage adaptation of The Shining.

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

Classic ‘90s beat-em-up Streets of Rage looks to be the latest video game to get its own movie. According to Deadline, the upcoming video game adaptation is currently in the works with John Wick creator Derek Kolstad writing the script.

It certainly feels like a good time for SEGA to adapt more of its existing properties, with Sonic the Hedgehog 2 dominating the box office and impressing critics.

Streets of Rage first appeared on the SEGA Genesis back in 1991 and has spawned a number of sequels. The side-scrolling beat-em-up tells the story of two former police officers taking to the streets to bring down a nefarious crime syndicate.

Since the game’s debut, Streets of Rage games have appeared on Xbox One, PS4, and even the Nintendo Switch. Among gamers of a certain age, Streets of Rage is often considered a classic title, so a big screen adaptation from a successful action director feels like a very natural choice.

Streets of Rage will be dj2 Entertainment’s latest video game adaptation, following on from Sonic the Hedgehog 2’s colossal box office performance. The company will also produce an adaptation of the BAFTA Game Award-winning title, It Takes Two.

Meanwhile, Derek Kolstad is busy working on Just Watch Me – the upcoming Gerard Butler heist movie based on Dexter writer Jeff Lindsay’s hit novels. But while John Wick 4 and 5 are currently in the works, they will be moving ahead without Kolstad.

The most recent Streets of Rage game arrived in the form of Streets of Rage 4 back in 2020 and was met with plenty of hype.

IGN’s own review said: "Streets of Rage 4 delivers the greatest hits of the classic series and is at its best when played with at least one friend. If the primary focus was delivering a traditional Streets of Rage experience with a modern coat of paint, it absolutely succeeds. But while it layers on a few new and interesting mechanics, it’s still a very conservative update to the quarter-century-old format that feels like a slave to the past."

How this will translate to the big screen remains to be seen.

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

Former Xbox vice president Ed Fries says that he tried to buy Blizzard multiple times back during his tenure at Microsoft before he left in 2004.

In a podcast with XboxEra, Fries implied that the acquistion would have made sense given Microsoft's history with the PC platform, saying, "I was a huge Blizzard fan. If you think about the roots of our PC gaming business, it was real-time strategy...Warcraft, of course, was their biggest product."

ICYMI:

The latest XboxEra Podcast is now available on demand!

Sik and Nick were joined by former Xbox Team and Microsoft legend Ed Fries and it's a chat you won't want to miss!#Xbox #Gaming #Podcast https://t.co/hgO6qiP3MH

— XboxEra (@xboxera) April 17, 2022

Back in 1994, learning software company Davidson and Associates acquired Blizzard (which was named Chaos Studios back then). In 1996, Davidson and Associates was acquired by Cendant Software, which Fries recalls losing out on, saying, "I just got outbid by a time-share camping business?"

Cendant was then put on sale, along with Blizzard, in 1998, which was when Vivendi bought the PC gaming studio. "Blizzard gets put up for sale a second time. And I bid again, and this time I get outbid by a French water utility," Fries explains. This French water utility company had made strategic inroads into gaming, and acquired shares in developers like Ubisoft, though Vivendi sold all of its Ubisoft stock in 2018 following a failed takeover.

Fries says that once Blizzard made World of Warcraft, the studio was impossible to buy. However, the string of events has come back around and Microsoft finally bought Activision-Blizzard for 68 billion in January 2022.

Other studios Microsoft almost bought include Westwood Studios, the company behind Command & Conquer. He was putting a deal together to acquire the company and then went off on his honeymoon. Once he returned, EA managed to step in and buy Westwood instead of Microsoft.

The studio closed down in 2003 after it had merged with EA Los Angeles. Fries says, "I still think Westwood would have been better with Microsoft, but that one didn't happen."

Warner Bros.' troubled Minecraft movie is reportedly negotiating with Aquaman star Jason Momoa to voice the main protagonist.

According to The Ankler, Warner Bros.' rights to Minecraft expire in January 2023, meaning the studio must start production on the movie before then.

In addition to Momoa, the film has also apparently tapped Jared Hess to direct. Hess is best known for directing Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre.

The report also states Warner Bros. is looking to turn the Minecraft movie into a franchise if the first movie can get off the ground. Recently, the Sonic the Hedgehog movie franchise has successfully proven a video game movie series can work, with two hits at the box office, a third on the way, and a spinoff streaming series in development. It seems Warner Bros. is hoping Minecraft can be next in line to continue that trend.

The Minecraft movie's troubled development dates back nearly a decade when Night at the Museum director Shawn Levy left Warner Bros.' Minecraft project over creative differences in 2014. Levy was replaced by It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia co-creator Rob McElhenney, but McElhenney also dropped out.

In 2016, the movie was in its scripting stage, and producers said the movie was targeting the same audience as Jurassic World.

Since then, the movie has had multiple release dates come and go, directors drop out, and at one point included Steve Carell. Most recently, the movie was to be directed by Raising Victor Vargas' Peter Sollett with a release date of March 4, 2022.

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

Thor: Love and Thunder is set to be full of celebrity cameos, and the movie's first trailer gave us our first look at Russell Crowe's portrayal of Zeus.

Zeus represents the introduction of Greek mythology to the Thor series, expanding from the trilogy's roots in Norse mythos. You can see a quick look at Crowe's character below.

The 90-second trailer features just a quick look at Crowe, who appears to grab a lightning bolt before taking in the applause of a large arena that could end up being Olympus, the city of the Greek gods. Although, whether or not Zeus and Thor are actually literal "gods" in the MCU is up for debate, thanks to new revelations in Disney Plus' Moon Knight.

We first learned that Crowe was joining the Thor 4 cast last March. Reports originally described his role as a "fun cameo" that was intended to be kept a secret until the film's release. Just a month later, we learned Crowe would play Zeus, the sky and thunder god of ancient Greek religion.

Thor, who is the god of thunder in Norse mythology, has been known to face off against Zeus in the comics, so we'll have to wait and see how big of a role Crowe plays in the movie.

One character noticeably absent from the trailer is the film's villain, Christian Bale's Gorr the God Butcher. According to the film's official synopsis, Love and Thunder sees Thor working with King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Korg (Taika Waititi), and Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) to stop the God Butcher's conquest for revenge. Jane Foster is wielding Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, a story that originated in the comics.

After a delay, Thor: Love and Thunder is set to hit theaters on July 8, 2022. There's certainly plenty more waiting to be revealed, as director Taika Waititi has called the movie the "craziest thing I've ever done."

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

After a long wait, Marvel Studios released a brand-new Thor: Love and Thunder trailer this morning featuring among other things a glimpse of Natalie Portman as The Mighty Thor. In addition to the trailer, Marvel also released a synopsis that revealed how Thor: Love and Thunder will follow the God of Thunder’s quest for inner peace as well as Christian Bale’s role as the villain.

The synopsis reads:

The film finds Thor (Chris Hemsworth) on a journey unlike anything he’s ever faced – a quest for inner peace. But his retirement is interrupted by a galactic killer known as Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), who seeks the extinction of the gods. To combat the threat, Thor enlists the help of King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Korg (Taika Waititi) and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), who – to Thor’s surprise – inexplicably wields his magical hammer, Mjolnir, as the Mighty Thor. Together, they embark upon a harrowing cosmic adventure to uncover the mystery of the God Butcher’s vengeance and stop him before it’s too late. Directed by Waititi (“Thor: Ragnarok,” “Jojo Rabbit”) and produced by Kevin Feige and Brad Winderbaum, “Thor: Love and Thunder” opens in theaters July 8, 2022.

Gorr The God Butcher is not featured in the new trailer, but the synopsis offers a pretty good glimpse of what to expect from the villain. Gorr the God Butcher was first revealed in Thor: God of Thunder #1 in 2013. You can read our full explainer here.

The trailer itself heavily features Thor and the Guardians of the Galaxy as they hop across the galaxy. Set to the tune of “Sweet Child of Mine,” it seems like it will combine the best elements of the Guardians of the Galaxy films and Thor Ragnarok.

Thor: Love and Thunder will be released July 8, roughly two months after Doctor Strange in the Multiverse. A lot of Marvel content is coming this summer to both theaters and Disney Plus, so be prepared. While you wait, check out our explainer on how Jane Foster becomes the Mighty Thor in Love and Thunder.

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.

Activision Blizzard has stated that its CEO Bobby Kotick and Microsoft have not yet discussed what his employment status will be following Microsoft's acquisition of the company.

As spotted by Axios' Stephen Totilo, Activision added a line to its United States Securities and Exchange Commission filing about the planned sale to Microsoft that made clear these talks have not happened yet.

"No discussions or negotiations regarding post-closing employment arrangements with Microsoft occurred between Microsoft and Mr. Kotick prior to the approval and execution of the merger agreement and the transactions contemplated thereby, or have occurred subsequent to such approval and execution, through the date hereof," the filing reads.

A big question following the announcement of Microsoft's intent to purchase Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion was whether Kotick would be coming along with the deal or not. Reports have come out saying that he is set to leave after the deal closes, but nothing has been confirmed one way or another.

Kotick is at the center of the fallout of a lawsuit filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing that alleged Activision Blizzard fostered a "frat boy" culture in which female employees were subjected to sexual harassment, unequal pay, and more.

Another report claimed Kotick knew about these allegations "for years" and over 1,000 Activision Blizzard employees reacted by signing a petition for the removal of Kotick from the company.

The Activision Blizzard and Microsoft deal is not set to close until "sometime in Microsoft's fiscal 2023 year ending June 30, 2023," which means many details are obviously still being worked out.

Blogroll Image Credit: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

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.