Month: January 2021

Constantin Liétard has created a way for Twitter to play Pokemon Red through his profile picture.

Much like how Twitch Plays Pokemon let the world comment and control a game of Pokemon, Liétard’s pinned tweet asks for people to comment either Up, Down, Left, Right, A, B, Start, or Select to control an emulated game of Pokemon Red.

Comments are pulled every 15 seconds, according to Liétard, and the most commented input is sent to the game. The current game state is then automatically made into Liétard’s 400×400 Twitter profile picture.

As of this writing, Liétard’s level 6 Spearow is battling a level 11 Oddish. Unfortunately, Spearow is currently losing, so hopefully Twitter can find a way to work together to save the bird Pokemon. Oh, and in case you were curious, Twitter did somehow pick Squirtle as the starting Pokemon.

Liétard has restarted the game a few times to add more features as it rises in popularity, and Liétard logs on manually to the game each night to save and ensure progress isn’t lost. There is also an official Discord server that allows those interested to chat about the progress in this particular game of Pokemon Red.

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There have been over 30,000 comments so far, and it will be very interesting to see how many it takes to triumph over the Elite Four.

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

According to multiple reports, Warner Bros. is working on deals for new payments to filmmakers and their crews because of the studio’s unprecedented move to make all 17 of its theatrically-released movies for 2021 available concurrently for a one-month exclusive window on HBO Max.

The deals will be based partly on HBO Max streaming fees and, as stated by Bloomberg, will “guarantee payment regardless of box-office sales and to increase the odds of performance-based bonuses.”

Per the Bloomberg piece, “anyone entitled to a bonus will receive one at half the box-office revenue that would normally be needed to trigger a payout. And if more theaters close down, the threshold will fall further — a stipulation called the ‘Covid-19 multiplier.'”

“Those who would normally participate in profits from box-office receipts will continue to do so, as well as benefit from on-demand and online sales.”

Cast, crew, and profit participants will get paid out from the fee that HBO Max will pay Warner Bros. for a particular movie’s “31-day window.”

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This new payout structure may work to appease monetary gripes, but it mostly likely won’t assuage the creative objections levied by directors like Christopher Nolan and Dune’s Denis Villeneuve, as the latter has accused Warner Bros. of having “no love for cinema” and former called HBO Max “the worst streaming service.”

Right now, according to THR, Legendary’s Godzilla vs. Kong, which will release on HBO Max and in theaters on May 21, is at the heart of the current negotiations.

According to Forbes, Warner Bros. recently blocked a deal that would have seen Legendary sell the film to Netflix for $225 million right before the announcement was made that the studio’s 2021 film slate was headed to HBO Max.

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In other streaming news, Marvel’s Moon Knight series, which will air on Disney+, has just added two directors while Roku has officially acquired Quibi’s library of content, less than three months after the bite-sized entertainment streaming service shut down.

Awesome Games Done Quick 2021–better known as AGDQ 2021–came to an end early Sunday morning, and the speedrunning marathon managed to raise big numbers to support the Prevent Cancer Foundation. In total, over $2.7 million was donated during the week-long event, and we saw some truly marvelous feats in a variety of games.

The final donation total for AGDQ 2021 was $2,760,516.03, to be precise, with more than 25,000 different people and organizations contributing. Of these, the largest donation total came from the Games Done Quick organization itself, which donated a little over $187,000, while the shirt website The Yetee donated $160,000 in total.

There were about 150 total runs during the week, including particularly enthralling rushes through games like Hades, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and Cuphead. One of the most impressive runs was for Super Mario 64, as runner Bubzia managed to complete a challenge while blindfolded. That game can be hard enough to beat the traditional way.

Some of the runs were races between multiple participants, too, as was the case with Sekiro. They have it down to such a science that at certain points, their screens looked virtually identical. Only a few mistakes can be the difference between winning and losing.

With any luck, next year’s AGDQ event will hopefully be held as an in-person marathon. SGDQ–short for Summer Games Done Quick–was also moved online in 2020 due to the pandemic, and a special Corona Relief Done Quick event was also held last April to raise money for those affected by the virus.

Sony has “retired” the Killzone franchise website, but it has promised that this change will not affect any online multiplayer modes.

As reported by VGC, visitors to Killzone.com are now greeted with a message by developer Guerrilla Games that begins by saying, “The official website for the KILLZONE franchise has retired. Going forward, visitors to Killzone.com will be directed to PlayStation.com.”

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The message also mentions that while this change does not impact online multiplayer modes of Killzone games, player statistics or ranking data for Killzone Mercenary and Killzone Shadow Fall, it is “now no longer possible to create or manage clans in Killzone Shadow Fall.”

Guerrilla ends by thanking “Killzone.com’s many fans and visitors throughout the years for their enthusiasm and support.”

While this doesn’t necessarily mean that the Killzone franchise is gone forever, it has been over seven years since Killzone Shadow Fall was released as a launch title for the PlayStation 4, and Guerrilla has since moved on to Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West.

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PS2’s Killzone began the series in 2004 and PSP’s Killzone: Liberation followed in 2006. The PS3 had two entries – 2009’s Killzone 2 and 2011’s Killzone 3, and 2013 saw the release of Killzone: Mercenary on Vita and aforementioned Killzone Shadow Fall.

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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.

Marvel’s upcoming Moon Knight series for Disney+, which will star Oscar Isaac (if you go by series cinematographer Gregory Middleton’s Instagram post), has now added additional directors.

Joining Egyptian filmmaker Mohamed Diab are, per THR, Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, the duo behind behind sci-fi horror movies The Endless and Synchronic (which starred Jamie Dornan and Anthony Mackie).

“It is understood that Benson and Moorhead will direct several episodes,” THR stated, while Diab is also set to helm several chapters and The Umbrella Academy’s Jeremy Slater will serve as head writer.

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Moon Knight revolves around Marc Spector (Isaac), a former soldier of fortune, whose encounter with an Egyptian god of vengeance and moon deity, Khonshu, inspires his transformation into a costumed vigilante.

The series will begin shooting in Budapest in March.

Looking for a deeper dive into Moon Knight, here’s everything you need to know about “Marvel’s Batman” from the comics.

The MCU’s first official Phase 4 offering, and Marvel’s first Disney+ series, WandaVision, will premiere Friday, January 15 with two episodes.

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