Month: August 2020

Robert Pattinson Tried to Hide His Batman Audition from Christopher Nolan

The way production for both Christopher Nolan’s Tenet and Matt Reeves’ The Batman lined up, actor Robert Pattinson actually had to make up a story to get time away from the Tenet set so that he could go screen test for the role of Batman. Something which he tried to keep secret from Nolan.

While chatting with The Irish Times, Pattinson admitted that his sneakiness didn’t work and that Nolan, who was no stranger to the Caped Crusader, immediately figured it out.

“It’s funny because Chris is so secretive about everything to do with his movies,” Pattinson said. “And then I had to be really secretive about Batman stuff. So I had to lie to Chris about having to go for a screen test – I said I had a family emergency. And as soon as I said ‘it’s a family emergency’ he said: ‘You’re doing the Batman audition, aren’t you?’”

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The Batman, which paused production due to COVID-19 last March, was one of several films that got cleared to resume shooting soon.

A few weeks ago, it was announced that Warner Bros. had ordered a TV spinoff to The Batman – a prequel series focused on the members of the Gotham City Police Department that will be exclusive to HBO Max.

Dave Bautista tried his best to win the role of Bane in the film, but he wound up not getting the gig.

The Batman will be a part of DC’s FanDome event on August 22.

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Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

A Mother Recovers the $20K Her Son Spent on Twitch Donations in 17 Days

A teenage boy secretly spent $19,870.94 on Twitch donations in just 17 days by using her debit card. Luckily, she was able to recover mostly all of it.

As reported by Dot Esports, the donations, which wiped out “years of savings” for the mother, were made to such streamers as Tfue, Gorb, Ewokttv, Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kurt Benkert, and Miami Heat’s Meyers Leonard.

The mother, who chose to remain anonymous, claimed she had a tough time getting in touch with Twitch and “hitting a brick wall” with them was “the most frustrating thing of all.” She said no one would respond and there was no way to get in touch with anyone at the streaming company.

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She tried filling out an online help form with Twitch, sending registered mail to Twitch CEO Emmett Shear and Amazon’s legal team, and more, but had no luck getting any response.

Fortunately, she got a tip from a now-deleted Reddit post that she should contact Xsolla, the paying service company that’s partnered with Twitch.

She used the company’s online chat feature and was able to get a refund on the condition that the account it “permanently blocked to prevent future unauthorized charges.”

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The mother claims the son is “remorseful” and is going to counseling. He is also limited to only one hour of monitored daily playtime “with the stipulation that he must do positive activities throughout the day, get exercise, and interact with the family in a positive manner.”

Hopefully this will be of some help or a tale of caution for those who ever find themselves in a similar situation.

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Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

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

Teenager Spends Nearly $20,000 In Twitch Donations Using Mother’s Debit Card

It’s something of a nightmare for parents these days: You wake up only to discover your bank account has been drained by your children spending money online. We’ve seen it happen with microtransactions in games, but one teenager managed to spend close to $20,000 through Twitch donations.

Speaking to Dot Esports, the teenage boy’s mother revealed that over the course of two weeks in June, he donated more than $19,870 in Twitch donations using her debit card, and these donations went to both career Twitch streamers as well as professional athletes like Falcons quarterback Kurt Benkert.

Nearly all of the money was returned to her bank account by contacting the firm Xsolla, which Twitch uses for payments. The son is now limited to an hour of gaming per day and must also pursue activities outside and with his family.

Children’s easy ability to spend small amounts of money over time, which turn into huge bills, is hardly new. Back in 2014, Apple agreed to pay at least $32.5 million in refunds as a result of children making in-app purchases. A few years later, Microsoft refunded parents for an $8,000 bill after their son racked up charges playing FIFA on Xbox.

Daily Deals: Save $1000 on this TCL 4K HDR TV

Welcome to Sunday. We’ve got a nice little bundle of deals for you today, and kicking things off is a TCL 4K HDR TV that’s $1000 off right now. That is a giant amount of savings, on a very good TV. If that’s not for you, check our the other sales happening across the web, including some amazing Sennheiser earbuds, the Sega Genesis Mini and more.

Deals for August 9

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More Video Game Deals

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X-Men: The Animated Series Producer Has Had ‘Talks’ with Disney About a Revival

During a virtual Wizard World panel last Friday, X-Men: The Animated Series producer and director Larry Houston addressed the lingering rumors of there being a possible decades-later revival of the series on the horizon.

“We’ve had talks [with Disney], but that’s about it,” Houston shared. “We’ve made conversation and it’s up to them to make the decision, but we’ve let them know that we’re all available for whatever they want to do in the future.”

Houston, who is retired at the moment, added that he would love to return “if we could do a special, a one-off episode, or a five-part episode. Whatever they wanted to do if we had all the original team. That’s what I would come out of retirement for.”

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X-Men: The Animated Series is arguably the most beloved version of the X-Men on TV. As a FOX Kids animated series, it had a successful five-season run from ’92 to ’97 and featured a core team similar to that of the ’90s comics: Wolverine, Gambit, Beast, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, Rogue, and Jubilee, in the uniforms that fan favorite artist Jim Lee created for them.

Last year, Marvel was sued over the show’s theme song, for copyright infringement due to the song’s similarities to the theme of a Hungarian cop show from the ‘80s called Linda.

All five seasons of X-Men: The Animated Series can be viewed on Disney+.

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Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

Disturbing Myths & Folklore That Inspired The Witcher 3 | Lorescape

Lorescape tells the stories behind video games that you never may have noticed had a deeper meaning or a real-world influence. Whether we’re exploring mythology or political figures that inspired games like BioShock, The Last of Us’s mysterious Ish, or the family conspiracies in The Sims, Lorescape will always bring new surprising, interesting, or unsettling meaning to your favorite games.

The first episode of Lorescape dives deep into some of the most unsettling and disturbing legends and real stories that inspired The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, including Botchlings, Alps, Plague Maidens, and Noonwraiths.

WB’s Gaming Division, With Rocksteady and NetherRealm, May Not Be For Sale

A new statement from WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar could suggest that the Warner Bros. Interactive gaming division, which includes studios like NetherRealm, Avalanche, and Rocksteady, may not be sold, for now.

Kilar sent out a WarnerMedia organization update on Friday, August 7, and he gave extensive updates as to the future plans of the company, as well as to who will be leading certain divisions.

In the letter, he mentioned that “Warner Bros. Interactive remains part of the Studios and Networks group.” Furthermore, speaking to Deadline, Kilar also stated that, “we have a very strong interactive team of about 2,000 software developers that tell interactive stories; the opportunity to go global with that is very, very big as well.”

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It’s important to remember that this could change at any time and this could just be Kilar talking up the gaming division to make it look good to potential suitors, but it could also be taken as WarnerMedia valuing what its gaming division can bring to the company in the future.

Warner Bros. Interactive and its fans have a lot to look forward to in the near future, as Rocksteady has begun teasing the big reveal of its Suicide Squad game that will take place at DC FanDome on August 22, 2020.

Additionally, there are reports that Warner Bros. Games Montreal’s next Batman game will also be shown at DC FanDome, and that it will feature the Court of Owls. WB Games Montreal has also been slowly teasing their new game, but no official announcement has happened as of yet.

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Alongside these new DC games, a Harry Potter RPG is also reportedly in the works.

If the sale were to go through, a potential buyer would not own characters like Batman or Harry Potter, but they would be able to negotiate licensing deals so the studio’s could continue to develop games based off the beloved IP.

Some potential interested parties include Microsoft, EA, Activision, and Take-Two.

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Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

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