The first trailer for Netflix’s action movie The Ice Road has landed, showing off Liam Neeson and Laurence Fishburne as ice road truckers on a perilous journey.
A diamond mine has collapsed in northern Canada, and Neeson and Fishburne take up the call to deliver an essential piece of equipment to rescue them. The only thing is they have to cross a slippery, scary 300-mile ice road to get there, and they only have 30 hours. At the same time, their mission is being sabotaged. None of it’s good, but if the Taken franchise has taught us anything, it’s to never bet against a man with a particular set of skills, whether those skills are murdering people to save your daughter or driving a truck across ice.
The Ice Road is scheduled for release on Netflix on June 25. It’s written and directed by Jonathan Hensleigh, who is no stranger to action movies. He wrote Die Hard: With A Vengeance and Armageddon, while he directed 2004’s The Punisher.
The film also features Benjamin Walker, Amber Midthunder, and Marcus Thomas.
The Ice Road’s story is fictional, but ice roads are real. Known for being dangerous, ice roads inspired the History Channel’s reality TV show, Ice Road Truckers, which ran for eleven seasons until it ended in 2017.
Adult Swim has announced that shortform spin-offs of Rick and Morty, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Robot Chicken, and Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell are in development.
As reported by THR, these four new series are based on characters from or inspired by the previously mentioned shows. Each mini-spinoff will run for 8-10 episodes and will be available across global digital platforms.
The Vindicators is the Rick and Morty spin-off and it stars Supernova, Vance Maxiumus, Alan Rails, Crocubot, and Noob Noob. The series will follow them as they “fight crime, avert genocides and yuk it up without Rick and Morty.” The Vindicators is being executive produced by Erica Rosbe, Sarah Carbiener, Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland.
Alabama Jackson is the Robot Chicken spin-off and it stars Donald Faison as the titular Alabama Jackson, a “smooth-talking time traveler who lands in exactly the wrong place at the wrong time, every time.” If he is able to survive the long enough to get back to the present, he “just might find something he wasn’t looking for – himself.”
Alabama Jackson is a “hilarious, action-packed stop-motion animated series” that is created by Faison and produced by Stoopid Buddy Stoodios.
AquaDonk Side Pieces is the continuation of Aqua Teen Hunger Force and fans “will be bestowed with the gift of learning what happens in the later lives of various side characters and villains such as The Mooninites, The Plutonians, MC Pee Pants, The Frat Aliens, Happy Time Harry, Handbanana and The Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past.”
This series will premiere later this year and was created by Matt Maiellaro and Dave Willis.
Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell: The Animated Series is returning for its fifth season, this time in animated internet shorts. The official description teases that “Cruel boss Satan (Matt Servitto), bumbling demon Gary (Henry Zebrowski), and all your other favorites return in America’s beloved workplace comedy set in hell.”
Fans will be able to expect “more laughs, more gore and maybe a talking animal. Seems like if it’s a cartoon they should add a talking animal. Maybe a fish?” The show is a Williams Street production and it is created by Casper Kelly and Dave Willis.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
Returnal’s next patch, version 1.3.7, is releasing tomorrow, developer Housemarque has announced. The patch should help with some of the game’s remaining crashing issues, as well as a fix that should save you from hearing loss.
The patch notes posted on Housemarque’s website (and below) say it includes “multiple fixes for rare crashes during gameplay,” though it doesn’t specify if there are any specific triggers for that. We’ve experienced some Returnal crashes, ourselves, including one that shut down the PS5 itself, but they’ve been relatively rare.
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Additionally, a “rare audio bug causing loud noises during combat” has been addressed. This bug made an incredibly loud noise–it sounded like the Inception sound effect–blare through your speakers, seemingly at random. What isn’t mentioned is a separate issue that could cause all sound playing through the TV speakers to cut out, even outside the game on PS5, until the game was restarted. We also encountered this issue once.
Other fixes include a black screen during credits or gameplay, getting stuck in certain rooms, issues with Deceased Scouts, and an issue with the Ophion boss disappearing if the Reconstructor is used during the fight.
Patch 1.3.7 will go live on May 20 at 2 PM GMT+3, which is 4 AM PT / 7 AM ET. You can read the full patch notes below, and you can check out our Returnal review and Returnal boss fight guide to help you reach the final ending.
Patch Notes:
Fixed an issue with Deceased Scouts not appearing as often as intended.
After having one of their Deceased Scout corpses scavenged, players will no longer receive a negative-effect parasite on startup. Fixed an issue where the Ophion boss might disappear after a player uses the Reconstructor during the fight.
Fixed a rare audio bug causing loud noises during combat.
Fixed a small number of issues where players might become stuck in various rooms.
Fixed several issues where the player might encounter a black screen during the credits or whilst playing.
When it comes to high-end consumer headphones, it’s difficult to not immediately think of Bose. The audio company pioneered the best noise-canceling headphones for years, becoming a staple for travellers and audio aficionados alike. If you still haven’t heard them for yourself, eBay has an enticing deal on the Bose QuietComfort 35 II Wireless Headphones, which you can grab for just under $182 just $182 today, down from their usual $300 list price (as a point of comparison, they’re still full price at Amazon). The headphones have an initial discount of $214, but when you add them to your cart, you’ll see the full discount applied automatically at checkout.
The QuietComfort 35 II retains the traditional design of the enduring headphone line, albeit with optimizations to make its wireless experience better with your smartphone. The headphones feature a dedicated assistant button that can be paired with anything from Alexa to Siri, as well as physical volume buttons on the opposite ear cup to make it easier to tune your music to your liking.
These QuietComfort 35 II’s are a refurbished pair, but they come straight from Bose itself with the original packaging and all required cables. They also come with a two-year Allstate warranty, which is more than you get when buying a brand-new pair, too. You’ll also get free shipping and eBay’s money-back guarantee as well.
It isn’t a Bose set of headphones without industry-leading noise canceling, though, and the QuietComfort 35 II delivers that in spades. These will be perfect for when you get back to long flights, or if you just want to drown out the world for a few hours. The comfortable and lightweight design will ensure you can wear these cans throughout the day, and you can switch to a wired connection should the battery die.
These QuietComfort 35 II’s are a refurbished pair, but they come straight from Bose itself with the original packaging and all required cables. They also come with a two-year Allstate warranty, which is more than you get when buying a brand-new pair, too.
If you’re looking for headphones with more features suited to gaming, you can check out our guides on the best headsets for PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC. While you’re at it, be sure to check out a great deal Best Buy is running today only on an HDMI 2.1-equipped 4K LG TV.
New images of Matt Reeves’ The Batman have surfaced online, giving fans an up close and personal look at Paul Dano’s Riddler, who was featured in the movie’s first trailer released last year. The design is a distinct departure from Riddler’s traditional green suit, instead featuring what looked like a black balaclava and bulky surplus jacket as he wrapped a victim’s head in duct tape with the message “no more lies.”
Still, the trailer was fast paced and lit in a way that the mask itself was mostly obscured. This isn’t the case for one of the images on the leaked images for a 2022 calendar. Dano’s Riddler is apparently Mr. May. The art brings the design into stark relief, showcasing its very stylized leather mouthpiece, eyes, and even what looks like a neon green “signature” in the form of a question mark-slash-crosshairs design.
For the true crime fans, the parallels to real life serial killer the Zodiac are obvious. Zodiac, who infamously created cyphers and cryptograms (some of which were not cracked until 2020), was active in California in the 1960s and ’70s. He was never caught or identified, and “officially” took the lives of 5 victims, though he claimed to have killed 37. Notably, Zodiac’s communication with police and journalists included a distinctive crosshairs-like signature, which the signature on Riddler’s headshot is clearly nodding to. Also notably, survivors reported that Zodiac wore a bag-like mask to cover his face.
While no photographs of the real Zodiac exist, David Fincher recreated the look based on these reports for his 2007 thriller of the same name.
The connection and inspiration for Reeves’s Riddler is obvious–and clearly in-line with the more gritty, grounded take on the Batman universe he seems interested in making. Reeves has been vocal about his focus on Batman as a detective in this movie, rather than a martial artist or swashbuckling adventurer, so what better way to emphasize his powers of deduction than to pit him against someone taking their cues from a real-life unsolved case?
Still, the departure from the norm here is extreme. While superheroes and villains are no stranger to drastic redesigns, some elements of their costumes become permanent fixtures. For Riddler, who was introduced back in the comics back in 1948, a motif of bright green and question marks has always been part of the deal. He started out wearing a neon green, skin-tight spandex suit covered in black question marks–a design that even made it over to the live-action Batman ’66 TV show. Later, the green spandex was traded for a green suit and bowler hat. Since then, some variation or combination of the spandex and the suit has featured in virtually every major Riddler appearance across any medium. He’s also almost always a redhead (with the major exception of his animated appearance in 2004’s The Batman cartoon, where he was inexplicably goth, complete with makeup and long black hair.)
With that in mind, it’s probably too soon to assume that the costume seen in the calendar image and trailer are the only Riddler looks we’ll be seeing in The Batman–after all, both the coat and the mask seem pretty bulky and not the most conducive to blending into a crowd or running away from a man in a super advanced Bat costume. Paul Dano probably won’t show up wearing a leotard at some point in the movie, but a suit coat might not be out of the question–we’ll just have to wait and see.
The Batman is slated to hit theaters on March 4, 2022.
Stadia exclusive Outcasters is still a Stadia exclusive, but it’s no longer published by Google. Stadia players received a strange email a few days ago informing them of the change, stating that Outcasters is now published by Warchest, the publishing arm of Outcasters developer Splash Damage.
“Starting on 31 May 2021, the publisher of Outcasters will change from Google LLC to Warchest Ltd. and the Warchest Terms of Service and Privacy Policy will apply,” the email reads. “Please take a look at both documents. Nothing else is changing–you can still play the game on Stadia just like before.”
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Now Playing: The Rise And Fall Of Stadia Games And Entertainment
Stadia exclusive Outcasters is now published by Splash Damage instead of Google. I hope there’s room in the future for it to appear on other platforms after Google ditched its Stadia first-party game studios pic.twitter.com/lpRuKx7g5b
While this move hasn’t yet had an impact on Stadia customers, it’s an unusual step in the world of games, where publishers typically fight to hold onto valuable intellectual property. Then again, it’s not exactly surprising to Stadia observers, since Google as a company has moved away from the streaming service in recent months.
Back in February, the company shut down its first-party game studios, resulting in a loss of 150 jobs, including big names like Jade Raymond. Later that month, however, Google published a blog post that stated that “more than 100 games” are coming to the Stadia storefront in 2021, so it isn’t abandoning publishing third-party games on the service. Regardless of Google’s ambitions for Stadia, Outcasters fans can at least keep playing the game, which is more that can be said for other multiplayer shooters like Battleborn, so perhaps this is a win after all.
Members of the fighting game community have revealed The Fighting Game Glossary, a new website that explores, defines and breaks down fighting game terminology for old and new players alike.
FGC veteran Ricky, better known by his handle Infil (@Infilament on Twitter) led the project, and revealed it yesterday via a tweet. Per Infil, the glossary includes, “Over 650 terms carefully explained with 200+ video examples and Japanese translations. Easily search by term or game, share links to terms with your friends, and explore related concepts without losing your place”.
According to a tweet from April, Infil has been working on the guide for 9 months at this point, and it looks like the time spent developing the guide has been well worth it. It’s an easy-to-navigate site and, with the ability to search either by term or game name, users will easily and quickly be able to find the information, guide or advice they’re looking for. There’s even a term of the day on the homepage if you’re just looking for a quick new fighting game fix. Other prominent figures in the FGC, such as Maximilian Dood, have expressed their support for the guide.
Infil is well known in the Fighting Game Community for his work on the excellent Killer Instinct guide. Infil has been focused on breaking down barriers for new players interested in fighting games, as the terminology associated with the genre can often be confusing and off-putting for new players. The Fighting Game Glossary definitely fits that bill.
If you’ve ever struggled to break into the fighting game scene, this might be the go-to guide for you. With Sony’s recent purchase of Evo, it’s likely that fighting games will continue to increase in popularity, so having a guide like this for new players and veterans alike will be useful moving forwards.
The next major fighting game to launch will be Guilty Gear Strive, and it was recently revealed that members of the FGC were very impressed by the game’s netcode. Thankfully, there’s plenty of Guilty Gear content already sitting on The Fighting Game Glossary for those looking to jump in.
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Liam Wiseman is a Freelance News Writer for IGN, and loves all things Final Fantasy and Okami. You can follow him on Twitter @liamthewiseman
Friday nights will become a new battleground for wrestling fans as AEW has revealed that beginning on August 13, TNT will be airing AEW Rampage, a third weekly wrestling show, which will air at 10 PM ET. In addition to the new show, AEW Dynamite will make the move from TNT to TBS in January 2022, and TNT will debut four professional wrestling specials each year. The WarnerMedia networks are going full-force with new wrestling content.
“It’s a pleasure to be able to help Tony Khan expand his wrestling fiefdom across our networks and bring more content to our fans that fits the thrill ride brand of TNT and good time of TBS,” said Sam Linsky, associate general manager, SVP, programming and operations, TBS, TNT and truTV. “It’s Wednesday. You know what that means.”
AEW’s premiere show is currently Dynamite, which airs on Wednesday nights at 8 PM ET / 5 PM PT on TNT. On May 5, Dynamite was the number one program on cable among the 18-49 demographic. In April, the weekly show hit 1.2 million viewers tuning in, which was the highest performing episode since the show’s launch in October 2019.
Not much else was revealed about the upcoming show Rampage–which has been teased for quite a while now–as it will most likely be more wrestling matches, week to week, and not much more. However, there was a lot of talk about building TBS and TNT. “As a lifelong wrestling aficionado who is privileged to present AEW to longtime and new fans alike, it means a lot to me–personally and professionally–to share the news that All Elite Wrestling will call TBS home beginning in 2022,” said Tony Khan, CEO, GM and head of creative of AEW. “The history of wrestling in the United States cannot be told without acknowledging the contributions of TBS, which as WTBS years ago delivered wrestling to the Southeast and eventually to a massive national audience. TBS has the same passion for wrestling today, but will offer AEW and our fans more prime time programming, content and global opportunities that will establish TBS as the world’s undisputed destination for wrestling.
“And, while we’re looking forward to our arrival on TBS, we’re not saying goodbye to our original and current home of TNT, which will air four new special supercard events annually. Plus, the financial upside to our new agreement will give us the opportunity to continue to invest in and grow AEW to serve the most important people in our industry: our fans, our wrestlers, our staff and our sponsors. With All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite and Rampage taking center stage via our new agreement on TBS next year, and the new quarterly supercards launching on TNT, our exposure and our opportunities to grow AEW are greater than ever!”
New gameplay of the upcoming Metal Slug mobile game–tentatively titled Metal Slug Code J–has been released, giving us a first glance at a classic SNK game’s new modern look.
The trailer shows series regular Marco battling through hordes of enemy soldiers, preserving the classic Metal Slug run-and-gun gameplay. Visual enhancements include full 3D character models for both the heroes and the enemies, along with new stage designs including underground areas and war-torn cities.
The trailer does show a pair of new mechanics, first with Marco instantly gaining weight and slowing down and then with a mummy disguise that allows him to crouch below attacks. Marco also wields a giant hammer to crush an obstacle as well as a parachute to navigate around obstacles during a vertical sequence.
The mobile Metal Slug is the result of a partnership between SNK and TiMi Studios, developers of top mobile titles including Call of Duty Mobile and the upcoming Pokemon Unite. This is not SNK’s first foray into the world of mobile gaming, as The King of Fighters: All-Star put a side-scrolling beat-em-up spin on the classic fighting game franchise.
The Metal Slug franchise has been quiet in recent years, with both Metal Slug Attack for mobile and a PlayStation 4 port of Metal Slug Anthology being the series’ last solo releases back in 2016. Metal Slug 1-5 and X did appear on the MVSX, a home arcade machine featuring over 50 of SNK’s classic games.
A new Portal 2 update–coming about a decade after the game’s release–has removed a file size limit for user-created Steam Workshop maps. This change could have a huge impact on the game’s future, with much more complicated and expansive map designs possible.
Previously, Steam Workshop designs for Portal 2 were limited to 100MB or less. With the new update, this limit is gone. Presumably, there may still be some limit for what the game can handle before it explodes, but it appears that user-created levels can be a lot bigger and it could inject life into Valve’s masterpiece. After all, we still don’t have a Portal 3, with some DLC and spin-offs like Bridge Constructor Portal being basically all fans have received. A prequel that had been in early development was canceled.
What is this? A level for ants?
Other changes in the update include fixes for lighting issues on custom maps, as well as issues with text corruption, demo playback, and the model viewer and face poser not opening.
Though it’s largely viewed as a separate series, Portal is actually part of the Half-Life franchise, with some references between the two series acknowledging the other. Aperture Science and Black Mesa, for instance, both compete for the same government contracts, resulting in a rivalry.
Though we’ve seen little indication that Valve has any new Portal games in the works, it did release Half-Life: Alyx last year. The VR-exclusive game is set before the events of Half-Life 2 and is one of the most impressive virtual reality games we’ve ever played. It ended up taking home GameSpot’s Game of the Year award for 2020, beating out games like Hades and The Last of Us: Part II.
