Netflix has cast the remaining Endless family members in The Sandman Season 2.
The Sandman is Netflix’s well-received live-action adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s groundbreaking comic book of the same name that premiered on August 5, 2022. It follows Dream, a god-like personification who rules over people's dreams in a realm called the Dreaming. The first season consists of 10 episodes, based on stories directly from the comics. A special, two-part 11th episode was released two weeks after the first season premiered. In our review, IGN awarded The Sandman a 9, calling it an adaptation fans "could only conjure up in their deepest of sleeps."
Season 2 resumed production in November, and now Netflix has announced the cast behind Dream's previously unseen siblings. Esme Creed-Miles (The Doll Factory) plays Delirium, Adrian Lester (Primary Colors) plays Destiny, and Barry Sloane (Revenge, Passenger) plays The Prodigal, aka Destruction. The trio join Tom Sturridge as Dream, Kirby as Death, Mason Alexander Park as Desire, and Donna Preston as Despair, who all return from Season 1.
Barry Sloane will be familiar to Call of Duty fans — he’s the actor behind perhaps the most popular character in the first-person shooter franchise: Captain Price.
Get ready for one Hell of a family reunion. Meet the new faces of the Endless in the next season of THE SANDMAN. pic.twitter.com/EXdkQfRLf3
Other returning characters include Patton Oswalt as Matthew the Raven, Vivienne Acheampong as Lucienne, Gwendoline Christie as Lucifer Morningstar, Jenna Coleman as Johanna Constantine, Ferdinand Kingsley as Hob Gadling, Stephen Fry as Gilbert, Asim Chaudhry as Abel, Sanjeev Bhaskar as Cain, Vanesu Samunyai as Rose Walker, and Razane Jammal as Lyta Hall.
Season 2 does not have a release date or even a release window yet, but given Netflix has started making announcements for it, and the "coming soon" line in the casting announcement teaser, perhaps we won't have long to wait.
Image credit: Raymond Liu/ABC via Getty Images
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Jeff Daniels has recalled his feelings over the infamous toilet scene in Dumb and Dumber, saying he didn't know whether it would ruin his acting career.
Nearly 30 years after the release of the screwball comedy, Daniels has admitted to USA Today he initially had concerns over the scene that saw his character Harry tussle with a non-flushing toilet after he had suffered a bad bout of tummy troubles. He feared the scene could "end" his career but decided to take the plunge.
This is either the beginning of my career or the end of it.
"It's one thing to read the toilet scene, but then the day comes, and we're actually going to do the toilet scene," Daniels said of his apprehension. "I told Jim [Carrey], 'This is either the beginning of my career or the end of it.' Jim, who is fearless, told me, 'It's going to be great. You've just got to go all the way with it.'"
He admitted it took "a couple hours of porcelain gymnastics" to get the scene right, explaining that the "close-up when they pop in tight" on his flushed red face was genuine because he "almost passed out" from filming the now-memorable scene in the lavatory while also heeding Carrey's advice to give it his all.
It was a risk, especially since he had agents warning him that the comedic route could be a wrong move, but one that ultimately paid off because the movie became a box office hit, grossing $247 million worldwide, with praise from fans and peers, including Clint Eastwood, who said he could relate to the scene.
"Clint says to me, 'I just saw Dumb and Dumber and you know, the toilet scene? That happened to me,'" Daniels recalled of his conversation with Eastwood at a celebrity golf tournament. "And then he tells a story about dating this woman that he really wanted to impress, but the shellfish hit him the wrong way from lunch."
Daniels said it made him realise that he had done his job and admitted the toilet scene "will probably outlive us," saying, "It will be funny 40 years from now."
Dumb and Dumber spawned a sequel in 2014, humorously titled Dumb and Dumber To, but people were not as potty about it. IGN's review of the movie said it was "innately enjoyable to see Harry and Lloyd again, but the movie itself never quite stands out" or offers up "enough to make it a truly satisfying film on its own."
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on X/Twitter here.
Dell's Memorial Day sale is on the horizon, but they have some excellent deals to check out in the meantime. Our favorite at the moment is on this Alienware Aurora R15 gaming PC that's been docked (after using the code '10AMD' at checkout) to $2,654.99. It's worth the price tag as well, with an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X processor, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card, 32GB RAM, and a 2TB SSD.
Score an Alienware Aurora R15 RTX 4090 Gaming PC for $2,654.99
Considering RTX 4090 GPUs have an MSRP close to $2,000 on their own, this is a stellar deal to get everything all bundled into one PC that's ready to go for a bit more cash. Not to mention, it offers improved cooling and a 1350W PSU, so it's ready to tackle all of your favorite games right away.
Looking to see even more Dell deals? Make sure to check out our roundup of the best Dell and Alienware deals, which we update regularly with the best discounts available on their site. If you want to look outside of the Dell ecosystem, you can also check out our general roundups of the best gaming PC deals and the best gaming laptop deals to see an overall look at what discounts are available right now.
As stated earlier, Memorial Day weekend sale events are coming up soon as well, and that means plenty more retailers will have a wide variety of deals available. Make sure to check out the roundups listed above for even more gaming PC and gaming laptop deals as they appear, but we'll also update our roundups of the best PlayStation deals, the best Xbox deals, the best Nintendo Switch deals, and the best PC video game deals if you want to see what gaming discounts pop up throughout the rest of the week and into the weekend.
Why Pick a Dell or Alienware Gaming PC?
Alienware is always one of our top picks for best prebuilt gaming PCs, but especially when they're on sale. Nowadays, prebuilt gaming PCs aren't that much more expensive than building one on your own. In fact, it can sometimes even be cheaper, depending on component demands. And when it comes to prebuilds, Alienware gaming laptops and desktops offer a staggering array of options, all built into a custom chassis that's both easy on the eyes and easy on the wallet. Consistent build quality, available inventory, frequent sales, and solid customer service are the main reasons why Dell is at the top of our buying list.
Hannah Hoolihan is a freelance writer who works with the Guides and Commerce teams here at IGN.
MultiVersus has a new cinematic launch trailer that has revealed two new playable characters: Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th and Agent Smith from The Matrix.
MultiVersus, which launches on May 28, is a free-to-play platform fighter similar in vein to Nintendo’s Smash Bros. series, but with characters from across Warner Bros.-owned properties.
Jason Voorhees and Agent Smith join the MultiVersus roster alongside DC Super-Villain The Joker (voiced by Mark Hamill) as part of Season 1: Puns & Villainy. Jason Voorhees will be available at launch, while Agent Smith will release later in the season.
Other characters we see in the trailer include Wonder Woman and The Joker (DC), Velma (Scooby-Doo), Bugs Bunny and Marvin the Martian (Looney Tunes), Iron Giant (The Iron Giant), Rick Sanchez (Rick and Morty), Stripe (Gremlins), and Finn the Human and Cake the Cat, a variant of Jake the Dog (Adventure Time).
Developed by Player First Games, MultiVersus will be available on May 28 as a free download for PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 consoles, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One consoles, and PC (Steam and Epic Games Store), with full cross-play and cross-progression support.
Announced characters currently include Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Harley Quinn, Black Adam, and The Joker (DC); Shaggy and Velma (Scooby-Doo); Bugs Bunny, Tasmanian Devil a.k.a. Taz, and Marvin the Martian (Looney Tunes); Arya Stark (Game of Thrones); Tom & Jerry (Tom and Jerry); Finn the Human, Jake the Dog, and Banana Guard (Adventure Time); Steven Universe and Garnet (Steven Universe); Iron Giant (The Iron Giant), LeBron James (Space Jam: A New Legacy); Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith (Rick and Morty); Gizmo and Stripe (Gremlins); Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13th); Agent Smith (The Matrix); and an “extraordinary original creature” named Reindog.
In March, Warner Bros. re-announced MultiVersus with a new release date after Player First Games rebuilt the game from the ground up to improve online play and, with a move to Unreal Engine 5, improve visuals. MultiVersus officially shut down in June last year after launching with a battle pass, microtransactions, and DLC characters. This release was considered an open beta, but some expressed frustration at MultiVersus going dark after spending real money on it.
In our 8/10 review of the open beta, IGN said: "MultiVersus may not be a must-play at social gatherings, but its refreshing team-based battles make it a great platform fighter online."
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Target has heavily discounted Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for a limited time on its online store. Those interested can currently save $15 on a 3-month code, bringing its price down from $49.99 to $34.99. 1-month codes are also discounted, and down to just $11.89. Target's price drop is a bigger discount than the previous best offer at Woot, and the lowest price Game Pass Ultimate has been for a while.
Game Pass has gotten some heat since Microsoft decided to close studios like Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin. Larger third-party developers, for instance, have also complained that Game Pass cannibalizes retail sales -- concerns that Microsoft admitted last year were founded. It's something to consider when purchasing even more time on the service. That being said, Game Pass is still one of the better deals in gaming, so if you use it often, this deal could be a good opportunity to stack up some membership time at a discount.
The max you can stack Game Pass is three years (36 months). Buying 12 of these 3-month codes totals $418.88--arguably a lot. However, when you compare it to the MSRP cost of Game Pass Ultimate (36 x $16.99/month) it amounts to $611.64. So you're saving $192.76 on your subscription for the next three years if you invest now, and potentially even more if that price hike comes to fruition.
"Microsoft plans a major shakeup of its video game sales strategy by releasing the coming installment of Call of Duty to its subscription service instead of the longtime, lucrative approach of only selling it a la carte,” WSJ reported. Microsoft declined to comment when contacted by the publication.
DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn has confirmed Clark Kent's parents will be played by Pruitt Taylor Vince and Neva Howell in 2025's Superman.
Revealed in a Threads post, Gunn celebrated the anniversary of his "favorite Kansas farmers" by announcing Jonathan and Martha Kent's castings for the rebooted DC film universe, the DCU.
"Happy anniversary to my favorite Kansas farmers Ma and Pa Kent, who will be played by Pruitt Taylor Vince (an actor I’ve wanted to work with since I saw him in James Mangold’s Heavy in 1995) and the delightful Neva Howell," Gunn said.
Pruitt Taylor Vince has appeared in myriad films such as Mississippi Burning, Jacob's Ladder, and Constantine, while his television roles include The Mentalist and The Walking Dead, in which he played Otis. Neva Howell has appeared in Ghosts of the Ozarks, The Resident, The Originals, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul, and more.
Superman, previously Superman: Legacy, will be the first film in the DCU's Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters, but it's definitely not an origin story and also features a ton of other DC heroes and villains.
Speaking to ComicBook, Marvel's head of streaming, Brad Winderbaum, said season 2 is currently in the animatic stage.
"It's still an animatic phase. Animation takes so long to make as I'm sure you know,” Winderbaum said. “There was a great bit about this in Invincible Season 2. They just nailed it so hard, it is the greatest. And it takes a long time. Because the studio wants to see how successful the first season is before they greenlight the second season there's a lag. We were lucky enough to get the greenlight before we aired so there's maybe less of a lag. People are just going to have to be patient with us.”
"People are just going to have to be patient with us.
X-Men ‘97 Season 2 has no release window yet, but the hope is it will avoid a similar gap between Season 1 and 2 that Prime Video's Invincible suffered. Invincible Season 1 and 2 saw a gap of more than two years, fueled by the pandemic.
What we do know, however, is fired X-Men '97 creator Beau DeMayo’s involvement with Season 2. Responding to questions from fans following the Season 1 finale, DeMayo said that while he wrote “a lot” of Season 2, he will not be heavily involved in the production of it.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Ghost of Tsushima’s PC release is a certified hit. According to official numbers provided by Valve, it became PlayStation’s biggest single-player game launch on Steam, hitting a peak concurrent player count of 77,154 on May 19. God of War’s all-time peak is 73,529, achieved when Sony Santa Monica’s action adventure hit Steam two years ago. If you want to jump into the game on PC, the best deal is $50.99 via Green Man Gaming, $9 off the MSRP.
This is a reasonable discount for a new PC release, and well worth considering if you're planning on picking up the action-adventure game anytime soon. It's also one of the best PC video game deals available right now, with our other top picks including discounts on Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, Dragon's Dogma 2, and the latest Humble Choice bundle that includes Hi-Fi Rush, among other games, for just $11.99.
We have a few other deals roundups worth checking out right now as well, including the best Xbox deals, the best PlayStation deals, and the best Nintendo Switch deals. In each of those, you can find a wide variety of great discounts on physical media like games alongside deals on hardware, accessories, and sometimes even memberships. Another great spot to look for the latest sales is in our Daily Deals roundup, where we highlight the best deals available right now. Currently, we have some great video game deals listed alongside Nintendo Switch OLED and CRKD Nitro Deck discounts.
In 2021, Sony acquired Nixxes Software, a PC port specialist, that handled the highly praised PC version of Ghost of Tsushima. Sucker Punch, the game's developer, expressed gratitude to Nixxes on Twitter, praising their exceptional work on the port. "Your technical expertise has been invaluable in making our first-ever PC release a reality," they stated. "We couldn't have asked for a better partner."
With the success of Ghost of Tsushima, God of War, and Spider-Man on PC, there's growing speculation about which high-profile PlayStation exclusive will be ported next. A recent report suggests that God of War: Ragnarok will be the next PlayStation exclusive to debut on PC, while fans of Bloodborne remain hopeful.
Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.
Whether you’re on the go or looking to add some magic to your home office, we’ve determined some of the best current PC video game deals available from Steam, Humble, Fanatical, and more. Plus, just because we're nice, we've also found some top discounts for laptops, accessories, PCs, and more that can help enhance your experience. We monitor this space with the best deals as they come in, so you’ll want to keep coming over to check for the newest installments.
TL;DR - Best Steam Deals
Best Ghost of Tsushima Deal on PC
Ghost of Tsushima’s PC release is a hit after it became PlayStation’s biggest single-player game launch on Steam. According to official numbers provided by Valve, Ghost of Tsushima hit a peak concurrent player count of 77,154 on Sunday, May 19. God of War’s all-time peak is 73,529, achieved when Sony Santa Monica’s action adventure hit Steam two years ago. If you're looking to jump into the game, the best deal right now is $50.99 via Green Man Gaming, $9 off the MSRP.
Humble Choice May Bundle for $11.99
Hi-Fi Rush is a part of the Humble Choice Bundle for May, alongside Yakuza Like A Dragon, Steel Rising, and more. You can join Humble Choice for $11.99/month, collecting all these PC games to keep permanently, and you can skip a month or cancel anytime. To top things off, each code included is for Steam.
Final Fantasy Games Get a Big Limited Sale on PC
There's a huge sale right now for a pretty huge chunk of Final Fantasy games on PC. These are all Steam codes, but the sale can be found at trusted retailer Green Man Gaming which has slashed the prices on its whole Final Fantasy catalog.
This includes the original Final Fantasy 7, its Remake (Intergrade), Crisis Core, X/X-2 Remaster, Stranger of Paradise, Lightning Returns, and so much more as well. We'll leave our favorites in the sale just below, but it's worth checking out everything available as it's a mighty impressive sale for fans of the franchise.
This is a huge deal after the brilliance of the Fallout TV Show on Amazon. There's a great deal on the Fallout Bundle at Fanatical. Down to just $25, this includes the Fallout Classic Collection (Fallout, Fallout Tactics, Fallout 2), Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, Fallout 4, and Fallout 76.
Best Steam Video Game Deals
With the current deals, old-school and new-school gamers are in for a treat. Our selections for the best PC games out right now feature superheroic tales, wizards doing mass pew-pew, and multiple fighting games to keep you entertained while the world falls apart. The games we selected allow you to play these things solo or paired with a friend -- so go nuts! If you're checking out any games at Fanatical, double check to see if the FANATICAL17 promo code works out as well.
Alienware Aurora Ryzen RTX 4090 Gaming PC $2899.99
Do you prefer to play on a dedicated tower? Navigating the options online can be a lengthy ordeal. Desk space (or lack of desk space), portability, and price point are often factors in the decision. Utility, function, and fun little extras like RGB capacities or sound-enhancing add-on devices to pair with your PC often make up the list of desired needs.
Starting this week, Dell has just dropped the price of this powerful Alienware Aurora R15 equipped with a GeForce RTX 4090 GPU for only $2899.99 shipped. This is the best Alienware deal on an RTX 4090 equipped gaming PC right now. RTX 4090 GPUs are currently difficult to find at MSRP; right now, a 4090 GPU on Amazon sells at a $300-$500 markup. If this is the GPU you really want, you might actually save money buying a prebuilt PC like this one instead of sourcing your own parts and going the DIY route.
Budget to Best: Gaming PC Laptop Deals
Gaming PC laptops are getting more powerful in smaller sizes, but they come at a price for their portability. A dedicated laptop will offer less customization than its stand-alone PC counterparts but will often be much more accessible, as you won’t have to search several places and wait for your parts to build your rig and get yourself on the go. While on the go, though, some considerations remain when picking up a gaming laptop. Portable computers equipped with the components to play the latest games are often substantially heavier than ones used for other purposes.
Budget to Best: PC Gaming Accessory Deals
For those staying at home, accessories that add to your home experience are everything. Speakers can be great accessories to add to your home PC, but if your monitor and devices can support it, soundbars can turn up your dedicated home gaming time.
You can score some soundbars separately or sometimes in packaged deal bundles with speakers, subwoofers, cables, mounting kits, and controllers to make those linked devices work with just a few clicks. If you’re on the go, though, you’ll want to find a headset that matches your personal brand. Like portable PC laptops vs. less portable PC home-based towers, headsets vary by price point and desired utility.
Jennifer Stavros is a contributing freelancer for IGN, covering everything from comics, games, technology, and nerd culture. She has over 15 years of experience in the gaming industry, including testing and writing for Wired, Inverse, and more. Follow her on Twitter or watch her on Twitch under the handle @scandalous
15 minutes into Prey, the 2017 sci-fi thriller crafted by Arkane Austin, protagonist Morgan Yu shatters their apartment window with a wrench. As hundreds of glass shards fall away, a newly revealed truth changes Morgan’s life forever. This genuinely shocking, perspective-pivoting opening is one of the most incredible introductions to a game world ever made.
Seven days into May 2024, Microsoft took up its own metaphorical wrench and shattered Arkane Austin. A veteran of immersive sims – those first-person, highly interactive games where RPG, simulation, and action systems interlock – it was one of the casualties of Xbox’s brutal dismemberment of Bethesda Softworks.
This is a heartbreaking situation. Staff laid off from Arkane Austin have been thrown into the toughest conditions the games industry has ever seen. But, if you’ll permit me to search for the light in this darkness, the soul of the studio has already proven itself incredibly resilient. This is not the first time that financials and parent companies have dictated the course of the immersive sim in Austin, Texas. Despite multiple hardships, the genre always finds a way to survive in this city.
First, let’s reflect on what has been taken. The messy and misguided co-op shooter Redfall may be Arkane Austin’s most recent release, but the studio is built on a rich history of single-player innovation. It crafted two timeless classics: the eldritch stealth sim Dishonored (built cooperatively with Arkane’s surviving Lyon studio) and Prey, a modern day reinterpretation of the brilliant System Shock. And according to Bloomberg, before Microsoft’s guillotine fell, Arkane Austin was already drawing up the blueprints for a new single-player game that drew on the team’s proven skills.
It’s impossible to know what that game would be, but if Dishonored and Prey are evidence of anything, then we’ve lost something with incredible potential. Dishonored demonstrates Arkane Austin’s talent for deeply interactive game worlds that respect and reflect player experimentation. Prey’s sprawling space station, meanwhile, is testament to the team’s vision when it comes to environment and campaign structure. Its roguelike DLC Mooncrash, with its overlapping stories of five protagonists, allows for inspired use of a single space depending on both who you play as and the order that you play their stories in. Both games also showcase Arkane’s unrivalled art design and fierce, anti-injustice narrative prowess – strengths even Redfall benefits from.
Arkane Austin's soul is a community; a growing collective of immersive sim designers that have endured success and hardship in the city of Austin for three decades.
Arkane Austin's approach to game design was genuinely beautiful – an elegance matched by few other studios. And, in a drive for soulless corporate number counting, Microsoft has destroyed it.
In Microsoft’s own multi-part documentary Power On: The Story of Xbox, a segment discussing the company’s woeful mistreatment of Lionhead Studios saw Phil Spencer say “You acquire a studio for what they’re great at now, and your job is to help them accelerate how they do what they do, not them accelerate what you do.”
You’d assume, then, that Xbox would want to foster Arkane Austin. To help it overcome the failure of Redfall and resume – to quote Xbox’s own Matt Booty – “making impactful and innovative games”. But if a highly profitable corporation worth over $3 trillion has no interest in absorbing one mistake and finding a way to shepherd its artists to success, then one thing is clear: that promise to help studios “accelerate” what they’re good at is empty.
Arkane Austin may be gone, but the people still remain. And that brings me back to the studio’s soul. That soul is a community; a growing collective of immersive sim designers that have endured success and hardship in the city of Austin for close to three decades.
The city’s link to immersive sims began in 1995. Looking Glass Studios, the East coast-based creator of the genre’s formative trio – Ultima Underworld, System Shock, and Thief – tasked System Shock producer Warren Spector with opening a new office in Austin, Texas. But while Looking Glass’ games proved critical hits, financial difficulties eventually saw the company collapse in 2000. The design language it established proved indestructible, though, and had already fled the nest.
Spector had been coaxed away by John Romero, the rockstar designer of Doom. Recently fired by id Software, Romero had set up his own studio, Ion Storm, and he wanted Spector to take charge of the Austin office to make, well, pretty much whatever he wanted. That project was the landmark immersive sim Deus Ex. Hired to help Spector craft this conspiracy thriller were designers Harvey Smith, Steve Powers, Monte Martinez, and Ricardo Bare.
This new Austin studio didn’t just keep the immersive sim recipe alive. When Looking Glass collapsed, Ion Storm’s parent company, Eidos Interactive, secured the rights to Thief and helped Spector relocate many former Looking Glass staff to his Austin studio to continue work on the franchise. But this second home for the immersive sim wasn’t to last. In 2005, financial struggles at Eidos doomed Ion Storm to the same fate as its spiritual predecessor.
Good art transcends board room statistics. And against all odds, the immersive sim has always found a way to bloom in Austin.
The demise of Ion Storm could have been the end of the road for the immersive sim community in Austin. Even worse, the genre was endangered. Few other studios were interested in making this style of game. One that was, however, was Arkane. A French studio founded by Raphaël Colantonio, its first title, Arx Fatalis, was a love letter to Ultima Underworld. And in 2006 Arkane expanded into the US. Austin was an obvious choice.
Arkane Austin became a rally point to reunite key members of the Ion Storm team. Colantonio hired Harvey Smith as co-creative director, and he was soon followed by Powers, Martinez, and Bare. Once again, the city of Austin had another studio in which to foster and grow the creativity and ingenuity that began at Looking Glass Studios.
Thanks to Arkane’s two-studio system, the immersive sim mindset that made its home in Austin now extends across continents. Over at the thankfully unscathed Arkane Lyon, visionaries such as Dinga Bakaba, Sébastien Mitton, and Dana Nightingale are keeping the genre’s values alive, despite many of them not having direct ties back to Ion Storm or Looking Glass. Meanwhile, Raphaël Colantonio’s new company, WolfEye Studios (set up in 2019 following his departure from Arkane after directing Prey) is staffed by a variety of immersive sim veterans, including Monte Martinez, as well as enthusiastic newcomers. And beyond these headline developers, a multitude of indie games inspired by Arkane’s lineage, such as Gloomwood and Ctrl Alt Ego, are adding new voices to the fold. The genre endures because good art transcends board room statistics.
— Raphael Colantonio (@rafcolantonio) May 19, 2024
But what of Austin and its long-surviving immersive sim community? Harvey Smith, Steve Powers, and Ricardo Bare, creatives who have seen the city’s studios live and die, were all at Arkane Austin the day that Microsoft’s destruction order came through. Things are, admittedly, different this time. Arkane Austin’s shuttering wasn’t because of the so-called “immersive sim curse” of the genre being doomed to commercial failure. When a $3 trillion corporation won’t even support a studio whose game is a success “in all key measurements and expectations”, then it’s not about money. It’s sadly just cultural vandalism by capitalism, which is something of a new hurdle for immersive sims to navigate.
But, as I said earlier, good art transcends board room statistics. And against all odds, the immersive sim has always found a way to bloom in Austin. In a thread of thoughts on X/Twitter, Harvey Smith wrote “part of me is also wondering about team size, the role of certain types of creative groups, the role of bigger companies, etc. Maybe there is a sweet spot for the types of games I am driven to make in terms of team size?” Finding that sweet spot might be the first step to whatever comes next.
We can’t ignore that 2024 is the worst time for video game creatives in history, and Arkane Austin’s former staff face an uphill battle that can’t be solved with simple faith in the genre’s resilience. Nonetheless, the soul of Arkane Austin has roots that have been proven to be seemingly indestructible. And history does have a knack of repeating itself.
Matt Purslow is IGN's Senior Features Editor. Header art: Fred Augis, Arkane Studios / Bethesda
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire has surpassed $560 million at the global box office, putting it on track to become the MonsterVerse's highest-grossing installment.
As reported by Collider, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, the fifth film in the Monsterverse franchise, has grossed $194 million in the U.S. and Canada, with another $366 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $561 million, which puts it $7 million behind Kong: Skull Island's $568 million lifetime box office haul.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire arrived in theaters on March 29 and opened to a titanic $80 million weekend box office stateside while bringing in $114 million overseas. The movie was released on digital platforms on May 14 for those wanting to watch it at home, but it has continued to perform at the box office.
Its strong box office takings put it in touching distance of the $200 million that Gareth Edwards' Godzilla film, the first in Legendary's Monsterverse franchise, earned throughout its theatrical run at the U.S. box office, which means Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire could smash a few more records before it leaves theaters.
The film has already eclipsed the worldwide box office totals for Godzilla: King of the Monsters ($383 million), Godzilla vs. Kong ($470 million), and Godzilla ($529 million), making it a strong MonsterVerse entry despite mixed reactions from critics, including IGN's 6/10 review that called it a hollow "textbook visual thrill ride."
A sequel to Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is already in development, with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings screenwriter Dave Callaham tapped to write the script. It is currently unclear whether Adam Wingard, the director behind the latest movie and 2021's Godzilla vs. Kong, will return to helm the follow-up.
Disney is bringing back the Marvel Television banner in an attempt to tell fans they can "jump in anywhere" in the increasingly complex Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
Speaking to Comic Book, Marvel Studios head of TV, streaming, and animation Brad Winderbaum said Avengers: Endgame "maybe" caused fans to feel obligated to watch everything in order to keep up with the MCU's interwoven storylines.
Marvel Television, a banner previously used for separate productions like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and what were once Netflix shows like Daredevil (which are now MCU canon anyway), was folded into the overall Marvel Studios brand in 2019.
"We want to make sure that Marvel stays an open door for people to come in and explore," Winderbaum said. "On the heels of Endgame, I think there was, maybe, a little bit of an obligation to watch absolutely everything in order to watch anything."
"I think there was, maybe, a little bit of an obligation to watch absolutely everything.
Winderbaum said that comics are designed to be entered from anywhere and explored at the reader's discretion, and Marvel wants the same to apply to its film and TV show franchise.
"Part of the rebranding of Marvel Studios, Marvel Television, Marvel Animation, even Marvel Spotlight is to, I think, try to tell the audience: 'You can jump in anywhere.'" Winderbaum said. "They're interconnected but they're not. You don't have to watch A to enjoy B. You can follow your bliss. You can follow your own preferences and find the thing you want within the tapestry of Marvel."
This Marvel Television announcement has already caused a bit of confusion among the fan base, however, as Disney released Echo under the Marvel Spotlight banner to indicate the same thing. Winderbaum himself said "our audience doesn’t need to have seen other Marvel series to understand what’s happening in [Echo]," and any show created with the same idea would similarly receive the Marvel Spotlight banner.
Marvel has struggled to keep fans interested post Endgame as the amount of MCU content has increased exponentially. While the original Phase 1 lasted just 12 hours and 24 minutes, for example, Phase 4 lasted 54 hours and 40 minutes. And that's before Marvel made the 160 hours of Netflix shows canon too.
Star Wars fans finally have a first look at the main cast of Skeleton Crew, the upcoming Disney+ series starring Jude Law.
The reveal doesn't come through an official trailer or poster from Disney, however, but instead through an early piece of merchandise that reveals the four children at the heart of the Goonies-inspired show.
Available through Fanatik, the Skeleton Crew Official Ingot features an engraving of the group, but its box provides a proper look at their live-action characters. Only three of the four appear human, as the fourth is an elephant-looking alien not unlike Max Rebo from Star Wars: Episode 6 - Return of the Jedi.
"An epic tale of friendship and determination awaits," reads the official blurb of the ingot, though it doesn't offer any more details about the show itself. The engraving features what appears to be a droid character too, but it's impossible to garner anything more (and the Star Wars Celebration 2023 preview already showed Law's character as human).
Disney may reveal more about Skeleton Crew and its release window upon completion of The Acolyte, the upcoming High Republic set show debuting June 4, 2024, but fans will otherwise just have to wait patiently for an official announcement (or more leaks) to hear more.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
Skeleton Crew
Releasing on Disney+
<br>
<br>
That’s right, there are two Star Wars projects that we don’t know a ton about slated to definitely, maybe, probably debut in 2024. Skeleton Crew seems to be the polar opposite of The Acolyte, however. While the former will be filled with Sith-y goodness, Skeleton Crew, as far as we currently know, will have a very limited focus on the Jedi. Currently, all we know is that four kids are going to bite off more than they can chew and get lost in deep space, and that Jude Law and Kerry Condon’s characters are going to find themselves involved somehow.
Activision has confirmed a Gundam crossover is coming to Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone with the launch of Season 4.
Season 4, due to start on May 29, will feature Bandai Namco’s famous sci-fi franchise in some shape or form, as confirmed by the Call of Duty teaser tweet below.
Meanwhile, The Crow crossover is clearly designed to coincide with the upcoming The Crow movie, starring Bill Skarsgard. This is a reboot and a remake of the cult classic 1994 original, and is set to hit theaters in August.
Activision is yet to fully unveil Season 4, but we do know it’s bringing back the popular Kar98k bolt-action rifle. There are also rumors of yet another crossover event with Prime Video's The Boys, this time to coincide with Season 4.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
EA might have canceled a Mandalorian shooter in development at Respawn Entertainment, but one YouTuber has created the next-best thing via Bethesda’s Starfield and over Star Wars 100 mods.
YouTuber DeityVengy used the power of mods to turn Starfield into a cool-looking Mandalorian game, complete with the Mandalorian suit replacing the main character model, Star Wars aliens, weapons, characters, and units. There’s even a Star Wars-themed HUD to make Starfield feel even more in-universe. As for gameplay, we see an AT-ST fight, a blast-off with Imperial Security, a fight with Purge Troopers, and loads more. Starfield’s jetpack movement and shooting lends itself really well to recreating the Mandalorian fantasy.
Starfield with Mandalorian mods feels like my dream game of a new open-world Star Wars Bounty Hunter pic.twitter.com/WL63UBOZeG
DeityVengy said they added pretty much every single Star Wars mod for Starfield as a foundation, then started doing custom editing. “This is still a huge work in progress,” DeityVengy said in the comments. “Everyday I discover a mod or two to add to this as well as new mods releasing everyday. I can't wait to see what the future holds with Bethesda's upcoming Creation Kit. Hope to see you guys again in the future.”
EA does have a number of Star Wars video games in the works, including a Star Wars: Jedi 3 and a Star Wars strategy game. But there’s no known Mandalorian video game in the works, leaving Starfield modders as fans’ only hope. Bethesda has said Starfield will get a Creation Kit update, which will add official modding support and of course increase the game’s longevity. There’s no timeframe for its release, however.
Image credit: DeityVengy / YouTube
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace released in theaters on May 19, 1999, almost 16 years after the premiere of Return of the Jedi. But its trailer, which you can view in the video below and in a higher resolution on YouTube, was put together so early it doesn’t have “The Phantom Menace” in the title during the end card.
Still, we see a number of iconic moments from the film, including podracing, the final lightsaber duel, and Jar Jar Binks getting into trouble. The teaser revolves around the mystery of Anakin, who Liam Neeson’s Qui-Gon Jinn believes is particularly strong in the Force. What could possibly go wrong?
LeAndre Thomas, manager of franchise video assets at Lucasfilm and writer and director for Star Wars: Visions animated film The Pit, tweeted to say Lucasfilm scanned the trailer from the original 35mm negative to remaster it in 4K resolution (it only existed in standard definition before). The Phantom Menace is the only prequel movie shot on film, Thomas added.
The Phantom Menace was the start of a prequel trilogy of films, which included 2002’s Episode II – Attack of the Clones, and 2005’s Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. The sequel trilogy kicked off in 2015 with Episode VII – The Force Awakens and ended with 2019’s Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker. There are a number of new Star Wars films in the works, including a Mandalorian film from Jon Favreau.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Ghost of Tsushima’s PC release is a hit after it became PlayStation’s biggest single-player game launch on Steam.
According to official numbers provided by Valve, Ghost of Tsushima hit a peak concurrent player count of 77,154 on Sunday, May 19. God of War’s all-time peak is 73,529, achieved when Sony Santa Monica’s action adventure hit Steam two years ago.
Of course, Arrowhead's co-op shooter Helldivers 2 remains Sony’s biggest ever game on PC, and indeed the fastest-selling PlayStation game of all-time after shifting an incredible 12 million copies across PS5 and Steam in just 12 weeks, but Sony is sure to be delighted with the PC launch of the single-player Ghost of Tsushima, which launched first on PlayStation 4 in July 2020.
Sony executives have indicated that PC is key to the ongoing success and growth of the PlayStation business. Sony bought PC port specialist Nixxes Software in 2021, and it was Nixxes that handled the well-received PC port of Ghost of Tsushima. In a tweet, Ghost of Tsushima developer Sucker Punch thanks Nixxes for “their outstanding work” on the port. “Your technical expertise has been invaluable in making our first-ever PC release a reality,” the studio continued. “We couldn't possibly have asked for a better partner.”
Of course, given the success of the likes of Ghost of Tsushima, God of War, and Spider-Man on PC, many are wondering which high-profile PlayStation exclusive will get the port treatment next. According to a recent report, God of War: Ragnarok is the next PlayStation exclusive to launch on PC. Bloodborne fans continue to live in hope.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
After nearly half a century in the funny pages, Garfield remains mostly as Jim Davis first drew him: a lazy tabby with a taste for lasagna, a distaste for Mondays, and a droll ambivalence towards his owner, Jon Arbuckle. But if the cat hasn’t changed, everything around him sure has, and you can see evidence of that all over The Garfield Movie, which begins with the world’s most famous kitty ordering his preferred Italian comfort food via a Grubhub-like smartphone app. Everybody in this caffeinated all-ages cartoon is addicted to their little screens. The forever lovelorn Jon (Nicholas Hoult) considers getting on Bumble. A key plot point revolves around an app that can translate meows into human speech. And even the villain – a persian feline fatale voiced by Hannah Waddingham – records and then immediately plays back her jump-scare entrance on a mobile device. Is this the only way to make Garfield relatable to modern kids and their dutifully accompanying parents: by turning him into a phone junkie?
In another respect, The Garfield Movie goes back to basics. After all, it marks a return to full animation after a pair of dire 2000s comedies that inserted an unsightly CGI cat (voiced by Bill Murray with an amusingly transparent indifference) into live-action surroundings. Garfield looks more like Garfield in this version, thanks to computer animation that better mimics the big-eyed, basic-stroke art work of the comic strip. He’s now voiced by Chris Pratt, who adds another animated avatar of intellectual property to his resume after trips to the Mushroom Kingdom and Bricksburg. There’s a certain upside to this casting: Pratt’s delivery is so generic and indistinct that fans can simply project however they think Garfield should sound over his delivery.
The simplicity of Davis’ writing isn’t as easily translated into feature form. On newsprint, Garfield is a repetitive, quotidian gag machine – a daily comedy built around the cat’s basically static deadpan. The Garfield Movie covers that ground in about five minutes, with a greatest-hits montage of naps, binge eating, and playful rapport with Jon’s speechless beagle Odie (whose barks and whimpers are apparently provided by Harvey Guillén, not that you can ever tell). The meat of the movie is a noisier, busier caper, in which Garfield gets roped into a heist with his estranged father, Vic (fellow Marvel paycheck-casher Samuel L. Jackson), who we first see via an opening flashback almost certainly designed to drum up demand for a saucer-eyed, kitten-Garfield plush toy. It’s a strangely sentimental development: At last, we get to see Garfield the cat overcome his abandonment issues!
Much of the action unfolds at the dairy farm the reunited pair are coerced into robbing by Waddingham’s vengeful, formerly impounded Jinx – a location that millennial Garfieldians might recognize as a nod to the barnyard “and friends” half of his late ’80s/early ’90s Saturday morning sitcom. Here, we’re introduced to a stoic bull (Ving Rhames), depressed after a lifetime of playing corporate mascot. Is this a stealth reference to Garfield’s own decades as a cash cow? It wouldn’t be the only joke aimed at the chaperones in the audience; when Rhames’ bovine character is at last reunited with his cow sweetheart, Marvin Gaye kicks in on the soundtrack while the two get freaky off screen.
Animation veteran Mark Dindal orchestrates the hijinks, and there are a few moments that tease a more unleashed slapstick family film in the vein of his delightfully madcap The Emperor’s New Groove. There’s some fun to be had with the bad guys, including a classic Tex Avery big-and-little duo of henchdogs (one of them voiced by Waddingham’s Ted Lasso costar Brett Goldstein) and a Cecily Strong-voiced security officer plainly, strangely modeled on the “Minnesota nice” of Fargo’s Marge Gunderson. Meanwhile, a sequence in the plant involving cheese-related death traps – including a conveyor built that slowly grates away the platform Garfield is standing on – recalls Star Wars: Episode II–Attack of the Clones, of all movies. And Dindal cuts away for a couple of inspired, traditionally animated detours; if you’ve ever wondered what Garfield would look like in the style of Rocky and Bullwinkle, this movie obliges.
Mostly, however, the director seems neutered by the demands of a studio animation project eager to pander to kids and adults alike. The Garfield Movie gets downright Shrekian in its flurry of pop-culture references – another break from the cultural-vacuum quality Davis adopted as a way to make sure his comic strip crossed borders with ease. Was anyone dying to hear Garfield call himself “G-money” or crack jokes about Shark Tank? And what’s with all the Tom Cruise winking, from a direct namedrop to the lazy airing of both the Mission: Impossible and Top Gun scores? Speaking of dopey music cues, The Garfield Movie leans heavily on a single, unremarkable tie-in single by Jon Batiste that it rolls no fewer than three times over a hectic 90 minutes.
Was anyone dying to hear Garfield call himself “G-money” or crack jokes about Shark Tank?
None of this should offend Davis. He’s always been candid, after all, about the cynical motivations behind Garfield, a character he designed to be as marketable and accessible as possible, down to making his most prominent traits – gluttony and laziness – a reflection of universal human needs. The play for lowest-common denominator paid off: His strip is the most widely syndicated in history, and a total merchandise gold mine. In The Garfield Movie, the final stretch slumps shamelessly into a montage of product placement disguised as gags. It’s only then, when singing the praises of Walmart, FedEx, and Olive Garden, that the film taps into the true spirit of its daily source material: a piggy bank in the shape of a grinning house pet.
Welcome to another week of hot deals to keep you warm, indoors, and still rich enough for pizza. Things to note for today include Amazon getting competitive with the preorder price of Assassin's Creed Shadows. I'm also all about hooking up you PC folk with free (with Prime) versions of Dragon Age: Inquisition and The Forgotten City, two titles worthy of any respectable pile o' shame.
In retro news, I'm celebrating the 14th birthday of ModNation Racers, United Front Games' under-loved kart racer classic. I still have very fond memories of sampling the custom tracks built in it by Mr Luke Reilly, as we were both working on the Official PlayStation Magazine at the time. Being the mild bogan that he is, Reilly produced a 1:1 "Baff-erst" with all the eerie meticulousness of Richard Dreyfuss carving a perfect mashed potatoes mountain in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Oh, how we smashed that track in 4P split-screen.
AFK Journey is a free-to-play fantasy RPG where you take control of various Heroes and their unique abilities to journey across the world of Esperia. This game does utilize the gacha system, akin to Genshin Impact and other beloved free-to-play games. Get a headstart on your adventure by grabbing some helpful codes that will fill up your wallets with in-game diamonds and gold.
Below is a list of all the currently active AFK Journey codes that you can use to get some free rewards to spend in the Guild Store for items such as Invitation Letters or in the Arena.
Active AFK Journey Codes May 2024
Redeem the following AFK Journey codes before they expire! The currency contained within these codes can be valuable to get items such as Invitation Letters, Sigils, and Challenge tickets in the Arena.
LILITH11AFKJ (Invitation Letters x11)
AFKJRUBBERROSS (300 Diamonds, 50k Gold)
AFKJLUDWIG (300 Diamonds, 50k Gold)
AFKJLILYPICHU (300 Diamonds, 50k Gold)
AFKJBARRY (100 Diamonds, 20k Gold)
AFKJVOLKIN (100 Diamonds, 20k Gold)
AFKJMTASHED (100 Diamonds, 20k Gold)
AFKJZEEEBO (100 Diamonds, 20k Gold)
AFKJCREATIONFEST (200 Diamonds, 50k Gold)
AFKJUPDATE (100 Diamonds, 20k Gold)
How to Redeem AFK Journey Codes
Once you open the AFK Journey start screen, head over to the Settings cog wheel.
Select the Others tab.
Select the Redeem Code and enter the code.Once you finish writing it, click the checkmark button for your rewards.
Annette is a freelance writer at IGN and has contributed to a number of guides including Stellar Blade, Starfield, and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
Cookie Run: Kingdom is one to pull you in with its delectable castles and various landscapes made out of candy and all sugary wonders. What’s more irresistible, though, is the periodic Cookie Run: Kingdom codes that will award valuable items, such as crystals, rainbow cubes, and much more to speed up your kingdom construction.
Below you will find all the currently active Cookie Run: Kingdom codes that are available for grabs. Make sure to snag them before they expire!
All Cookie Run: Kingdom Codes May 2024
Nada... so far. Check back for more updates!
How to Redeem Cookie Run: Kingdom Codes
You can redeem your codes in-game or via the DevPlay Coupon website. If you are using the in-game option, head over to the right-hand corner menu when not engaged in battle and select the "Coupons" option. This will redirect you to the same Coupon website mentioned before.
Once you have your DevPlay account name and the code you want to use, enter them on their respective sections on the website screen.
Remember: each code can only be used once per account and you must restart the game after entering the code to receive the reward.
Annette is a freelance writer at IGN and has contributed to a number of guides including Stellar Blade, Starfield, and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
Connexion
