Halo: The Master Chief Collection may be getting microtransactions eight years after it launched.

343 Industries has revealed that it’s currently exploring adding microtransactions to the game, allowing players to purchase “Spartan Points” (currently called “Season Points”) to unlock gear and customizations they may have missed.

“For players who are new to the MCC, or who may not have dedicated much time specifically to unlocking items during the seasonal updates, or are simply completionists looking to catch the last outstanding items they need, we are internally exploring a potential new feature for the future in the form of purchasable Spartan Points,” 343 revealed in a blog post.

Currently items are unlocked with Season Points, and 343 states that it’s still happy for players to unlock items through play in the same way.

“We are happy with the current system of how players earn Spartan Points, by completing challenges and leveling up through play,” they added. “This would be an optional, additive alternative for players who might find the vast scope of content to be an intimidating amount of playtime and want to get ahead on (or skip) the grind, or maybe want to grab specific items they want (we all have our favorites!)”

The option of purchasing Spartan Points then is an added extra – you don’t have to do it. However, the thinking is that it will allow new players to catch up, or older players to grab specific items they want without having to grind for them.

“We wanted to inform you of this exploration in advance and provide assurance that purchasable Spartan Points would be an additive feature. We will have more information to share about this in the future.”

It’s currently unclear if/when these new Spartan Points will become available, but the Halo MCC community is already uneasy about the thought of microtransactions entering the game.

Do not put MTX’s in MCC. If you’re worried about the amount of content being “too much” for new players, give more points out for challenges/progression or allow us to unlock levels in seasons completely non-linearly

— Big Grey Donut | Halo News (@BigGreyDonut) June 23, 2022

Whether or not 343 Industries will find a good middle ground remains to be seen, but selling the new Spartan Points as an “additive” way of gaining your favorite items is certainly a start.

Need some help with Halo: The Master Chief Collection? Check out our guide to all the different games included in the collection, not to mention our cheats and secrets to help you get ahead.

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

Ubisoft’s long-time CEO Yves Guillemot will voluntarily take a $327,000 pay cut for the coming year.

“This is a personal decision by Yves Guillemot, which he took considering that the company had not reached the financial targets that it had publicly communicated to the markets,” a Ubisoft rep told Axios.

Guillemot essentially waived his “annual variable compensation”, which is a bonus on top of his usual salary that fluctuates based on the financial performance of the company.

Guillemot’s pay cut was not announced by Ubisoft, but instead tucked away in the fine print of a recent company filing. However, it follows a disappointing year for the company, which saw its operating profit fall by around 14 per cent last year.

The €310,607 ($327,000) pay cut equates to about a third of his annual compensation, reducing his compensation for the following year to around $656,000. This does not include stock awards that won’t be available until after 2023.

The majority of Guillemot’s voluntary pay cut was linked to the company’s financial performance, meaning that even if he hadn’t voluntarily given up this amount, it’s unlikely he would have seen an amount anywhere near what he’s used to.

However, it’s also tied to “the execution of internal reforms meant to address issues stemming from the company's sexual misconduct scandals” that have come to light in recent years.

Despite the commercial success with the recent Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Ubisoft has struggled to match the successes it experienced in the past. The company’s sales revenue fell by 5 per cent, and its stock value tumbled by 50 per cent in the last year. Considering the bomb that was Ghost Recon Breakpoint and the lackluster attention around games like Immortals Fenyx Rising, Ubisoft isn't experiencing the best of times.

Ubisoft is also preparing to fight off a takeover bid from several private equity firms. Alongside a Skull and Bones leak that showed a game that’s still very in-development, it’s not looking good for the beleaguered video game studio.

This isn't the first time a major games executive has taken a pay cut following poor results; last year Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick took a cut and gave up bonuses in the wake of the sexual misconduct allegations against his company. Going back further into games industry history, then-Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata took a 50% cut to his salary in 2011 when Nintendo messed up the 3DS launch and resorted to an emergency price cut just months later. In 2014, Iwata would once again take a 50% pay cut due to poor hardware slaes.

Find out more about Ubisoft’s upcoming releases, as well as its recent addition of Ubisoft+ to the PlayStation Plus service.

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

According to Cuphead co-creator Maja Moldenhauer, the original Cuphead game still has undiscovered Easter eggs.

IGN interviewed Moldenhauer at Summer Game Fest Play Days, an event at which the game’s long-awaited DLC, The Delicious Last Course, was available to play. Another game that was also at the event was Street Fighter 6.

During the interview, Moldenhauer spontaneously asks if we had the chance to play Street Fighter 6. To some, Moldenhauer’s interest might come as no surprise: One of Cuphead's boss battles is known for its references to the Street Fighter series.

“Street Fighter is definitely one of the core games that influenced us,” Moldenhauer admitted.

​When asked if the DLC will include references as well, Moldenhauer answered with a big yes.

“Oh my goodness, there’s a lot! It’s probably one of the most fun things about creating games. They’re all over the place. This is actually one of Jared’s – one of our co-creators – favorite things to do, as he likes to pay homage to his favorite games. It wouldn’t even necessarily have to be something huge, but maybe just something like a background element. When people find them on their own it’s so fun to watch their expressions,” Moldenhauer says.

'People are sleuths'

Besides Street Fighter, the original Cuphead is known for all sorts of references ranging from Final Fantasy VI to Dragon Quest and even Kirby. Moldenhauer’s comment that “they’re all over the place” made us wonder if there might be any Easter eggs that haven’t been found yet.

“There’s a couple. People are sleuths and they’ve found I’d say 90 percent of them, but there’s a couple that we’ve never heard anybody mention,” Moldenhauer says.

However, Moldenhauer refuses to give us any leads to what these unfound references could be. “No hints! I’m a vault. I love that though. Will we take this to our grave? Will somebody figure it out?”

Have you found any references in Cuphead that haven’t been mentioned before yet? Be sure to let us know in the comments.

Esra Krabbe is an editor at IGN Japan. Beating Cuphead might be one of his life’s biggest accomplishments.

Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter is one step closer to being completed after Twitter's board unaminously voted to approve the pending deal. The proposal will now go to the social media giant's shareholders, who will vote on whether to approve the deal at a special stockholders meeting, according to a new Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] filing uncovered by TechCrunch.

The meeting, which will be held before the end of the year, will allow shareholders to determine whether to approve Musk's $44 billion offer. If they do, Twitter shareholders will be entitled to $54.20 in cash for each share of the stock they own, which was the amount at which it was valued on the last full trading day before Musk disclosed his nine percent stake.

In the filing, Twitter's Board of Directors recommended shareholders vote for the merger agreement while agreeing to the compensation.

Musk, meanwhile, will be that much closer to adding Twitter to his holdings, which includes Tesla and SpaceX. Musk has said that he plans to take Twitter private, roll back moderation efforts, and make the platform more profitable. He also confirmed that he would reverse the ban of former President Donald Trump.

Since making the offer, Musk has complained that Twitter isn't doing enough to reveal the true number of spam bots and fake accounts on the platform, which the company says hovers around 5 percent. Earlier this month, Musk threatened to walk away from the deal, claiming that Twitter was in breach of contract, prompting Twitter to give him access to its "full firehose" of data.

Twitter, for its part, has moved steadily ahead with the deal even as Musk has shown signs of cold feet. It's now closer than ever to being completed, though plenty of regulatory hurdles remain, particularly in areas like Europe.

As for Musk, he's got problems of his own as he works to keep Tesla from going bankrupt amid supply chain issues and other problems.

Blogroll image credit: Patrick Pleul/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.

Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter is one step closer to being completed after Twitter's board unaminously voted to approve the pending deal. The proposal will now go to the social media giant's shareholders, who will vote on whether to approve the deal at a special stockholders meeting, according to a new Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] filing uncovered by TechCrunch.

The meeting, which will be held before the end of the year, will allow shareholders to determine whether to approve Musk's $44 billion offer. If they do, Twitter shareholders will be entitled to $54.20 in cash for each share of the stock they own, which was the amount at which it was valued on the last full trading day before Musk disclosed his nine percent stake.

In the filing, Twitter's Board of Directors recommended shareholders vote for the merger agreement while agreeing to the compensation.

Musk, meanwhile, will be that much closer to adding Twitter to his holdings, which includes Tesla and SpaceX. Musk has said that he plans to take Twitter private, roll back moderation efforts, and make the platform more profitable. He also confirmed that he would reverse the ban of former President Donald Trump.

Since making the offer, Musk has complained that Twitter isn't doing enough to reveal the true number of spam bots and fake accounts on the platform, which the company says hovers around 5 percent. Earlier this month, Musk threatened to walk away from the deal, claiming that Twitter was in breach of contract, prompting Twitter to give him access to its "full firehose" of data.

Twitter, for its part, has moved steadily ahead with the deal even as Musk has shown signs of cold feet. It's now closer than ever to being completed, though plenty of regulatory hurdles remain, particularly in areas like Europe.

As for Musk, he's got problems of his own as he works to keep Tesla from going bankrupt amid supply chain issues and other problems.

Blogroll image credit: Patrick Pleul/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.

Hang onto your Cappys, Mario fans, as Chris Pratt is setting high expectations for his upcoming role as Mario in Illumination's Super Mario movie. In an interview with Variety, Pratt said his take on the famous plumber will be "unlike anything you've ever heard."

“I worked really closely with the directors and trying out a few things and landed on something that I’m really proud of and can’t wait for people to see and hear,” Pratt said. “It’s an animated voiceover narrative. It’s not a live-action movie. I’m not gonna be wearing a plumber suit running all over. I’m providing a voice for an animated character, and it is updated and unlike anything you’ve heard in the Mario world before.”

Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri is also hyping up Pratt's performance as Mario, saying, "When people hear Chris Pratt’s performance, the criticism will evaporate," in a recent interview.

We still haven't heard even a peep of Pratt's take on Super Mario, but we do know the character won't have an Italian accent.

Pratt's not the only A-list star in the Mario movie, as the bonkers cast also includes Anya Taylor-Joy as Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, and Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong. It'll be a while until we see this all-star cast take their best shot at Nintendo's iconic characters, as Illumination and Nintendo delayed the movie to April 2023.

In addition to Mario, Pratt is also tackling the role of Garfield for Sony Pictures' upcoming animated movie, and the internet doesn't quite know how to handle it. For more, you can check out our list of 40 upcoming video game adaptations.

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

Hang onto your Cappys, Mario fans, as Chris Pratt is setting high expectations for his upcoming role as Mario in Illumination's Super Mario movie. In an interview with Variety, Pratt said his take on the famous plumber will be "unlike anything you've ever heard."

“I worked really closely with the directors and trying out a few things and landed on something that I’m really proud of and can’t wait for people to see and hear,” Pratt said. “It’s an animated voiceover narrative. It’s not a live-action movie. I’m not gonna be wearing a plumber suit running all over. I’m providing a voice for an animated character, and it is updated and unlike anything you’ve heard in the Mario world before.”

Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri is also hyping up Pratt's performance as Mario, saying, "When people hear Chris Pratt’s performance, the criticism will evaporate," in a recent interview.

We still haven't heard even a peep of Pratt's take on Super Mario, but we do know the character won't have an Italian accent.

Pratt's not the only A-list star in the Mario movie, as the bonkers cast also includes Anya Taylor-Joy as Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, and Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong. It'll be a while until we see this all-star cast take their best shot at Nintendo's iconic characters, as Illumination and Nintendo delayed the movie to April 2023.

In addition to Mario, Pratt is also tackling the role of Garfield for Sony Pictures' upcoming animated movie, and the internet doesn't quite know how to handle it. For more, you can check out our list of 40 upcoming video game adaptations.

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

Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin has revealed details about the Jon Snow spin-off, confirming that the rumored project is real. According to the 73-year-old author, the working title is “Snow,” and it was all Kit Harington’s idea.

“Our working title for the show is SNOW,” he said in a blog post. “There are four live-action successor shows in development at HBO… SNOW has been in development almost as long as the other three, but for whatever reason it was never announced and it never leaked… until now.”

The upcoming Jon Snow spin-off was confirmed just a few days ago, with Kit Harington returning as the iconic Game of Thrones character.

And it looks as though Harington has his own creative team working on the show.

“It seems as though Emilia Clarke has already mentioned that SNOW was Kit’s idea in a recent interview,” he added. “So, that part is out. Yes, it was Kit Harington who brought the idea to us. I cannot tell you the names of the writers/showrunners, since that has not been cleared for release yet… but Kit brought them in too, his own team, and they are terrific.”

Quite who they are remains a mystery, but it looks as though Martin himself will be on board.

“I am involved, just as I am with THE HEDGE KNIGHT and THE SEA SNAKE and TEN THOUSAND SHIPS, and all the animated shows,” he confirmed. “Kit’s team have visited me here in Santa Fe and worked with me and my own team of brilliant, talented writer/consultants to hammer out the show.”

Martin also confirmed that Snow, along with the other spin-offs, is still in the script stage. That means it’s unlikely we’ll see the show heading into production anytime soon.

“Outlines and treatments have been written and approved, scripts have been written, notes have been given, second and third drafts have been written,” he confirmed. “So far, that’s all.”

Whether or not Snow makes it to our screens remains to be seen – especially after Game of Thrones executives canned a previous spin-off after spending $30 million on a pilot.

Still, a Jon Snow series? With Kit Harington on board? It feels like this one is a dead certainty.

What else is in store for Game of Thrones? Find out everything we know about House of the Dragon as well as the other Game of Thrones spin-offs.

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

Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin has revealed details about the Jon Snow spin-off, confirming that the rumored project is real. According to the 73-year-old author, the working title is “Snow,” and it was all Kit Harington’s idea.

“Our working title for the show is SNOW,” he said in a blog post. “There are four live-action successor shows in development at HBO… SNOW has been in development almost as long as the other three, but for whatever reason it was never announced and it never leaked… until now.”

The upcoming Jon Snow spin-off was confirmed just a few days ago, with Kit Harington returning as the iconic Game of Thrones character.

And it looks as though Harington has his own creative team working on the show.

“It seems as though Emilia Clarke has already mentioned that SNOW was Kit’s idea in a recent interview,” he added. “So, that part is out. Yes, it was Kit Harington who brought the idea to us. I cannot tell you the names of the writers/showrunners, since that has not been cleared for release yet… but Kit brought them in too, his own team, and they are terrific.”

Quite who they are remains a mystery, but it looks as though Martin himself will be on board.

“I am involved, just as I am with THE HEDGE KNIGHT and THE SEA SNAKE and TEN THOUSAND SHIPS, and all the animated shows,” he confirmed. “Kit’s team have visited me here in Santa Fe and worked with me and my own team of brilliant, talented writer/consultants to hammer out the show.”

Martin also confirmed that Snow, along with the other spin-offs, is still in the script stage. That means it’s unlikely we’ll see the show heading into production anytime soon.

“Outlines and treatments have been written and approved, scripts have been written, notes have been given, second and third drafts have been written,” he confirmed. “So far, that’s all.”

Whether or not Snow makes it to our screens remains to be seen – especially after Game of Thrones executives canned a previous spin-off after spending $30 million on a pilot.

Still, a Jon Snow series? With Kit Harington on board? It feels like this one is a dead certainty.

What else is in store for Game of Thrones? Find out everything we know about House of the Dragon as well as the other Game of Thrones spin-offs.

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

In news that is certainly set to raise some eyebrows, Amazon announced an experimental feature for its voice assistant, Alexa, that will let it imitate the voices of dead relatives.

At Amazon’s annual MARS conference, the company showed off a demo in which Alexa reads a bedtime story to a child using the voice of his dead grandmother.

Amazon’s head Alexa AI scientist Rohit Prasad said the feature is meant to highlight Alexa’s “human attributes” which have become more important “in these times of the ongoing pandemic when so many of us have lost someone we love.”

Prasad added that while AI can’t eliminate “that pain of loss” it can carry on the memories of the deceased.

Amazon claims that its AI will be able to imitate someone’s voice after listening to just a minute of their recorded voice.

Details of how this new AI works aside, the internet is already discussing the ethics of such a tool. After all, anything that was the subject of an episode of Black Mirror can’t possibly be something people are clamoring for.

It should be noted that Amazon isn’t the only company experimenting with using AI to memorialize deceased loved ones. In 2021 Microsoft patented a tool that could potentially turn deceased relatives into chatbots users could communicate.

And it’s clear that raising the dead with technology is becoming the norm, as seen with instances in which CGI was used to bring back Peter Cushing’s Grand Moff Tarkin in Rogue One, or Anthony Bourdain’s voice in a recent documentary about the travel author.

Would an AI imitating deceased relatives interest you? Personally, I’d rather not though it doesn’t seem to be stopping tech companies from exploring the field.

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