Month: February 2021

In the Heights and Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu is set to direct the film adaptation of Wicked, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Chu is replacing Stephen Daldry (director on The Crown, Billy Elliot), who exited the project back in October after scheduling changes conflicted with Daldry’s commitments.

Chu departed from his role as director on Disney Plus’ Willow sequel series in early January.

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The Wicked film, based on the hugely popular Broadway musical that itself is a retelling of the Wizard of Oz from the point-of-view of the witches, was originally set to release on Dec 22, 2021. Universal has since delayed the movie to an indeterminate date due to ongoing COVID-19 closures for theaters and production sets.

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Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/man behind the curtain for IGN.

EA Sports has rolled out a new Instagram effect that allows fans to get involved with the drama and excitement of predicting a winner for this year’s Super Bowl.

The Madden Prediction effect created by EA Sports cycles through a series of scores for the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers before settling on a final score, with confetti raining down to cap it off. On my first try, I got a score of 56-3 in favor of the Chiefs. I think they have a good chance of winning the game, but that margin seems excessive. It’s just a silly game, after all, and you’ll probably get something different and potentially more believable.

The whole idea, anyway, is to get people to share their results and convince their friends to do the same to drum up interest for EA’s eventual official Madden Super Bowl LV prediction. That has yet to be released, but with the Super Bowl coming up very soon, it should happen any day.

Super Bowl LV takes place on Sunday, February 7, and there will be lots of advertisements, commercials, and trailers. Plenty of brands have already released their ads–watch them here.

In other news, Madden NFL 21 just got a big update on console and PC. It fixes a number of bugs and makes a series of gameplay changes–you can check out the full patch notes here.

The Madden series continues to expand as well, with Madden NFL 21 just recently launching on the Google Stadia streaming service. The game’s arrival is not impacted by Google’s recent announcement that it’s closing two Stadia studios.

Outside of the Madden series, EA also just recently announced that it’s reviving its college football series, but the NCAA is not involved so there will be no player names or likenesses.

The Dark Aether storyline may be a product of its predecessors, but in a new look at the upcoming Firebase Z map for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, the Zombies team explained how this part of the Call of Duty universe will be coming into its own.

Firebase Z, the map announced last year, is set in Vietnam, and players will be able to explore two separate areas. One is, of course, the firebase where scientists and soldiers carried out experiments and mined dark aether. The other is a village where the scientists slept and did their research. Because of all the scientific equipment lying around, players will be able to interact with some things mechanically, though we’ll have to wait until the map drops to see what all is possible.

The way you played the game’s previous Die Machine mode might not translate into how you take on Firebase Z. Lead level designer Anthony Saunders described the flow and level design of Firebase Z as similar to the Moon, in that you start in the village and eventually take a teleporter over to the firebase itself. Once you arrive at the outpost, there will be a hub of sorts with different paths you can choose from to navigate the area.

New rounds called Assault Rounds have also been added to Firebase Z’s gameplay loop. Assault Rounds will ask you to hold your ground and survive, while still requiring a bit of movement and fluidity. Managing your artillery and napalm strikes for crowd control will be key. But that’s not all you’ll have to worry about while taking on the base.

The Mimic is also making its debut in Zombies. It’s an ambush-style enemy that disguises itself as ordinary objects and then pounces when a potential victim comes close enough. With multiple tentacles and a nasty set of teeth, this creature will do a number on you if you come within its range. Beware high-level items and equipment that have gone unclaimed.

Don’t worry though, the Zombies team hasn’t left you defenseless. A new gun called the RAI-K84 is also coming to the game, and packs a wallop all its own. It’s composed of AK-74 parts and experimental technology, based on a Russian prototype weapon that never actually saw the light of day.

All of this is planned to culminate in an explosive expansion to the Dark Aether story, and to let players and writers really explore the character of Samantha Maxis. To see how the next installment of the Dark Aether storyline pans out, be sure to check out the free Zombies update dropping on February 4.

In recent years, LEGO has released two gorgeous buildable sets based on Batman, the 1989 film by Tim Burton. The first set, released in 2019, was the Batmobile, and it’s still available to purchase. Then, last year, LEGO released a Batwing set, though it was initially only available to LEGO Store VIP members. The iconic flying vehicle has finally made its way to Amazon. You can grab it for yourself right now.

LEGO Batman 1989 Sets

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The LEGO Batwing is comprised of 2363 pieces. It has a removable canopy, with all kinds of details hidden in the interior. It also comes with three minifigures. The first is Batman, outfitted as he appeared in the suit worn by Michael Keaton. Next is an exclusive figure of Joker, clad in his mime outfit from the film. Last is another exclusive-to-this-set minifigure: Boombox Goon (aka Lawrence). Little-known fact: it was illegal to make a movie in the 1980s without someone holding a boombox.

The finished Batwing set is made to be displayed, so it comes with a mounting bracket you can use to hang it on your wall. It also includes an angled stand so you can set it on your desk or shelf, plus a nameplate that presents Batwing facts like wingspan, maximum speed, engines, and weapons.

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Those who want to pick up the LEGO Batmobile as well will get a great-looking pair of iconic vehicles from the first Burton Batman film. The Batmobile set is made up of 3,306 pieces and comes with minifigures of Batman, Joker, and Vicki Vale. It features a dual-minifigure cockpit with a slide-open cover, as well as two pop-up machine guns. It also comes with a buildable display stand, plus an informative nameplate.

Overall, these are two fantastic sets for Batman fans of a certain age (or any age, really). Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to hop off and listen to some Prince.

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Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert at IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.

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The Mass Effect franchise is brimming with memorable characters, but there are a few who didn’t make it into Shepard’s story but are fascinating in their own right. In a new episode of Audio Logs, BioWare’s Mac Walters talked about some of the ideas that didn’t make the cut, including a Techno-Hippie, among others.

Speaking to GameSpot, Walters said that, during development, BioWare took a “there are no bad ideas” stance for coming up with pitches. This, as a result, led to some interesting submissions.

“There’s a lot of really fun characters in here that eventually didn’t make it for one reason or another,” Walter said, referencing a never-seen-before character ideas document that was shown to GameSpot. “Although I’m sure now that they’re going to be out in the world, people will be clamoring for some of them, like the, you know, the crazy Quarian King.

“I honestly can’t remember whose idea that was,” he continued.. “It feels like it was probably Drew’s [Karpyshyn], but yeah, this idea of someone like the crazy Irishman from Braveheart, you know, kind of just a fun, wild, bombastic character … Oh. And, and of course we had a Techo Hippie at one point anyway.”

Although many characters didn’t make it into Mass Effect 2, aspects of them would be carried forward, according to Walters. The Mad Bomber, for example, was conceived as a demolitions expert and, although they weren’t in the final game, the concept morphed into the convict, who fans will know as Jack. Aspects of the Mad Bomber also informed the design of Zaeed, a mercenary with a penchant for abrupt violence.

Check out the full episode of Audio Logs to learn more about some other cut concepts. You’ll also get to see a bit of the internal documents used for character concepting, and hear how BioWare put together the Suicide Mission.

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition has been given a release date of May 14. The package brings together all three games in the series but updates them with improved visuals and controls, and–in the case of the first entry–even design improvements. You can read more in our rundown on the changes in Mass Effect: Legendary Edition.

When examining why BioWare’s Mass Effect 2 is so beloved, it’s in large part due to its iconic cast. Almost every character in the game has a legion of fans, so the prospect of learning how they were conceptualized is incredibly exciting. And that’s exactly what the latest episode of Audio Logs does. Not only that: The episode digs into the characters who didn’t make it into the game.

In the video, Mac Walters, who has been working on the franchise from the very start and is responsible for creating and writing a number of characters, shows GameSpot never-seen-before documents which catalogue ideas that BioWare had for making up its Dirty Dozen cast. Outside of the developers who worked on the game, very few people have seen concepting documents and, even Walters himself hadn’t looked at them for a few years, so you’ll get the inside story on everything from the creation of Thane to how The Princess Bride influenced the team, and how certain characters are the amalgamation of multiple ideas.

On top of that, Walters explains the process of creating loyalty missions and, ultimately, crafting that ambitious final Suicide Mission that effectively was sending characters to die, if you didn’t play your cards right. This episode is a must-watch for fans of the Mass Effect franchise and the perfect way to get hyped for the upcoming release of Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, which releases in May. For more on that, check out our rundown on all the changes in Legendary Edition.

Breaking: EA Sports is rebooting its college football series for Next Generation consoles.
The announcement ends the hiatus that the game has taken since then-Michigan QB Denard Robinson appeared on the cover of NCAA Football 14. pic.twitter.com/rMniJUDDeW

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 2, 2021

Tech magnate Elon Musk has never been shy about offering his opinions on a variety of topics, and video games are no different. When a fan asked him on Twitter if he enjoys any console games, Musk offered a simple reply: “Only Halo.” The main social media account for the franchise was quick to reply, along with its community director.

This exchange came after Musk tweeted about CD Projekt’s controversial game Cyberpunk, stating that that the game is so buggy that “even the hotfixes literally have hotfixes.” That said, he still apparently feels that it’s a “great game.” Musk’s previous tweets about the game boosted CD Projekt’s stock, and his girlfriend Grimes plays a role in the game. Musk previously stated that he “probably won’t sue” an Bulgarian indie dev who wants to use the SpaceX logo in his Mars survival simulator, and he’s made his love for Overwatch very clear.

Musk announced a hiatus on Twitter on February 2. While he didn’t give a reason for the move, his behavior has attracted controversy in recent days, specifically surrounding the ongoing surge of “meme stocks” like GameStop and AMC. When Discord suspended the WallStreetBets server for “hate speech” and “glorifying violence,” Musk had this to say: “Even Discord has gone corpo…” Musk himself has been accused of union-busting behavior in his own companies in the past.

As for Halo, we still don’t know when Halo Infinite is coming to PC and Xbox Series X. 343 Industries recently announced that the game’s sandbox content is now in the polishing stage. We also recently learned that Infinite will ditch the series’ old shotgun, replacing it with a more balanced weapon called the Bulldog, which fires and reloads faster, though it deals much less damage.