Former Nintendo developer Giles Goddard is probably best known for his work on Star Fox, or for Super Mario 64‘s stretchy Mario face, but it turns out he had a hand in the earliest days of Zelda on the Nintendo 64 too. In a new interview with MinnMax, Goddard reveals that he worked on an early Zelda tech demo that had Link navigate Hyrule Castle through a series of portals.

Goddard starts out talking about the Shoshinkai 1995 demo, a brief clip of Link fighting a metallic enemy, which he created to show off the potential for a 3D Zelda and the capabilities of the then-unreleased Nintendo 64 console.

While this short demo was designed to be shown to the public, and has survived since then in a number of YouTube videos, Goddard went on to mention another demo that has never seen the light of day.

Intended to push the limits of what the Nintendo 64 was capable of, the unreleased demo showed a version of Hyrule Castle filled with portals, which players could look through to see a completely different part of the map. When asked why the concept never made it into the full game, Goddard says that the team working on Ocarina of Time probably never even saw his portal-filled tech demo.

Sadly Goddard has said he can’t share this gem with the internet as it’s still Nintendo’s property, but it’s still interesting just to know it exists. The former Nintendo dev recently hosted an AMA on Reddit, which is full of even more interesting tidbits from his time working on games like Star Fox, Super Mario 64, and 1080 Snowboarding.

From the GTA series’ famous curated radio stations to the launch of virtual nightclubs that featured real resident DJs in GTA Online’s After Hours update, Rockstar is now taking its musical ambitions to the next level with the launch of a music label in collaboration with CircoLoco.

Rockstar has teamed up with the infamous party brand CircoLoco, known for its Monday morning parties at Ibiza’s DC10, to launch CircoLoco Records. The label will debut a series of EPs, leading up to the release of its first compilation album, Monday Dreamin’. With a focus on dance music, the label will showcase some of the best talent from CircoLoco’s decades of parties, including DJs like Dixon who have appeared in GTA Online’s nightclubs.

It seems that Rockstar’s involvement in the label may lead to more integration of up-and-coming musical talent into GTA Online’s various virtual hangouts, especially after it “[expanded] the possibilities for in-game social spaces and music discovery with the release of The Cayo Perico Heist.” GTA Online is finally releasing as a standalone game for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S on November 11 this year, opening its online world up to a whole new audience.

CircoLoco Records’ first EP is called Monday Dreamin’ Blue EP, which is due to release on June 4. Other EPs are then due out between then and July 9, which is when the compilation album will drop in full.

Last month, Konami dropped a surprise announcement that 1987 platformer Getsu Fuuma Den was being remade by indie studio GuruGuru as GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon. A new interview with Konami producer Shin Murato, who worked with GuruGuru on the remake, has teased that there are more outsourced projects involving Konami IPs on the horizon.

In an interview with JPGames, as quoted by Video Games Chronicle, Murato said that Konami had approached GuruGuru with the project as it was familiar with the indie studio’s work. “They had been exploring new approaches for graphical design and thought they would be a great fit for this IP,” Murato explained. “It also helped that there were fans of the original GetsuFumaDen game within the GuruGuru team.”

“In terms of other collaborations, please wait for future projects like this!” Murato teased, but wasn’t ready to reveal anything more specific. Sadly, with Konami pulling out of E3 2021 due to being in “deep development on a number of projects”, it doesn’t seem like we’ll see these new collaborations announced soon, either.

Rumors about Konami’s biggest IPs abound, however, including hints that two new Silent Hill games may be in production with third-party developers. A report from earlier this year suggested one game was in the works with an unnamed Japanese developer, while hints from The Medium developer Bloober Team have led some to speculate that the Polish studio’s next game will be in the Silent Hill franchise as well.

Another report claimed that Until Dawn developer Supermassive Games had been approached by Konami to develop a Silent Hill game, but that the collaboration ultimately came to nothing.

The month has nearly run its course but there’s still plenty of May Madness in the old girl yet. Case in point(s): The Gamesmen doing a clearance sale on Cyberpunk 2077, Steam losing Control of its pricing department, plus a whole bunch of amiibo and essential AAAs going for cheap, too.

Purchase Cheaply for PC

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Notable Sales for Nintendo Switch

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As theaters reopen and the North American box office regrows, studios are continuing to experiment with new release strategies for films. Universal will simultaneously release The Boss Baby: Family Business on Peacock and in theaters. The animated sequel will debut on July 2, over two months earlier than the initially slated premiere date of September 17.

According to NBCUniversal, Peacock has garnered more than 42 million subscriptions since its soft launch in April 2020. The Boss Baby: Family Business will be available to Peacock’s Premium and Premium Plus subscribers for no extra fee. Peacock also has a free subscription model that includes a limited library and ad-supported programming.

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As Peacock has not yet launched overseas, Universal will also release the animated movie in some international theatrical markets on July 2.

The Boss Baby: Family Business is NBCUniversal’s first foray into a hybrid theatrical-streaming release, a model that WarnerMedia and Disney have employed during the pandemic. Warner Bros. has continued with its decision to debut its 2021 slate of theatrically-released movies concurrently on HBO Max for a one-month exclusive window. The strategy began with Wonder Woman 1984 in December and will carry through to upcoming blockbusters like Dune and The Suicide Squad.

Meanwhile, Disney will release Black Widow and Cruella in theaters and through $30 rentals on Disney Plus as part of the streaming service’s Premier Access program. The studio is also planning to make Pixar’s upcoming film Luca available to Disney Plus subscribers at no extra cost.

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In the early stages of the pandemic last April, theater owners threatened to boycott Universal’s slate of movies after the studio announced plans to release Trolls World Tour in theaters and on demand simultaneously. An agreement was reached in which Universal would release is theatrical films on video-on-demand services 17 days after their theatrical debut, which led to a respectable $167.5 million global box office gross for The Croods: A New Age last fall.

In our review of The Boss Baby, IGN gave the first animated film a 4.8, saying the movie was filled with “nothing but noticeably subpar moments and emotional beats that are too complicated and nonsensical to ring true in any way,”

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J. Kim Murphy is a freelance entertainment writer.

The cake may be a lie, but here’s the truth: JJ Abrams’ long-rumored adaptation of Valve’s hit game Portal is in active development at Warner Bros. 

During a press day for the home release of Super 8’s 4K Blu-ray, Abrams confirmed the Portal movie’s status to IGN. “We actually do have a script that’s being written for the Portal movie now at [Warner Bros.]. We’re really excited about the take and the pitch, so it feels like that thing’s finally on the rails.” Abrams’ suggestion towards Portal’s long development may remind you that it’s been eight years since he and Valve founder Gabe Newell first announced that Bad Robot and Valve were looking to work together at DICE 2013. 

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Abrams didn’t reveal the writer(s) behind the Portal script, or whether any directors have been approached about the project yet, but he is excited to expand on the fertile storytelling ground of the games. “It’s got enormous potential for a lot of reasons, one of which is because of the limited narrative of the game, as ingeniously told as it is, the potential of it is so huge. It’s gonna be super fun.” That makes it sound like the film may hew closer to the first Portal, which followed silent protagonist Chell, a test subject at Aperture Science who has to escape the (mostly) decommissioned facility using only (only) a gun that creates portals. The story progressed mostly through the dialogue of Aperture Science’s insane AI, GlaDOS. Portal 2 did expand a lot on Aperture Science’s history, and featured an iconic performance from J.K. Simmons as Aperture Science’s founder, Cave Johnson. 

And yes, Abrams acknowledged that there’s likely to be fan outcry for Simmons to return to the role in live-action (hey, Marvel fans got their way in Spider-Man: Far From Home.)

While the relative freedom that a Portal adaptation allows for is clearly a boon for what Abrams and Bad Robot have planned, it seems like the adaptation of the lore-rich Half-Life has been harder to crack. When asked about the status of the Half-Life movie, which Bad Robot was developing as of September 2016, Abrams said “the Half-Life thing, we’re not actively involved with at the moment.” While Portal and Half-Life are part of a shared gaming universe, it sounds like there’s no pressure to establish that world in a live-action Half-Life project first. And so the debate about whether the silent Gordon Freeman should talk in a movie adaptation can be laid to rest. For now.

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This is just one of a number of high-profile projects Abrams has in development at Warner Bros. right now. Since signing a $500 million contract with WarnerMedia in 2019, Abrams has been attached to several projects at the studio, most notably a number of their upcoming DC films and streaming shows. Warner Bros.’s success with video game movies — both Detective Pikachu and Mortal Kombat performed well — make it clear that they’re ready to leverage their budding relationship with Abrams (and by extension, Valve) to continue being a major player in that space. 

Super 8, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, releases on 4K Blu-ray in stores and online on Tuesday, May 25th.

Ubisoft officially announced its E3 2021 event. Dubbed Ubisoft Forward, it will add to the series of digital conferences Ubisoft has held over the last year. This one feels a bit special though, as it’s taking place during a time where many of us expect to see plenty of exciting gaming news. While details about the event itself are thin, here’s when and where you can watch it, as well as some guesses at what Ubisoft might show.

When is the Ubisoft Forward E3 2021 Conference?

Ubisoft’s digital conference takes place on June 12 at 12pm PDT, 3pm EDT, and 8pm BST. If you’re tuning in from Australia, that’s June 13 at 5am AEST. 

How to Watch the Ubisoft Forward Conference During E3 2021

Since Ubisoft’s conference is a part of E3 2021 which is also part of IGN’s Summer of Gaming, you can count on us to carry this stream and most other streams related to these events. Here is the list of places you can watch the Ubisoft Forward stream at E3 2021:

• IGN.com
• IGN’s Facebook Channel
• IGN’s Twitter
• IGN’s Twitch Channel
• IGN’s YouTube Channel
• IGN’s iOS App
• IGN’s Android App
• IGN’s PlayStation 4 App
• IGN’s Xbox One App
• Roku
• IGN App for Android TV
• IGN for Amazon Fire TV
• Apple TV
• IGN 1 on Samsung TV Plus
• Pluto TV
• Plex Live TV

What Ubisoft Games Might Be Shown at E3 2021?

When it comes to news on games or other content Ubisoft has planned for its E3 2021 conference, we’re still waiting to hear more. Not much has been revealed outside of the date and time its supposed to air. That said, we can speculate a bit about what could be shown based on recent news.

It’s no secret many of Ubisoft’s games were plagued by development delays over the last year. Many were pushed to this year or later into this year, which could mean we’ll hear more about them come E3. If we look at the lineup of games listed as “coming soon” in the Ubisoft Store, Far Cry 6, Rainbow Six: Quarantine, Riders Republic, and Roller Champions all seem like good candidates for Ubisoft’s conference. The same goes for the recently announced The Division Heartland.

Far Cry 6 was delayed earlier this year but still has a release window of 2021. Rainbow Six: Quarantine was also delayed but is supposed to launch before September 30, 2021 (per a third-quarter earnings call). Roller Champions and Riders Republic were delayed but still have release windows in 2021. The Division Heartland was recently announced and slated for 2021, as well.

Other titles like the Avatar game, Skull & Bones, Beyond Good & Evil, and even Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time could make the cut, but with many of their release windows being a bit further out and/or updates on them being slim, it likely lowers the chances of them being shown. The Avatar game from Massive Entertainment was delayed in late 2020 and now has a window between April 2021 to March 2022. Earlier this year, Skull & Bones was delayed for a third time, in a window between 2022 to 2023. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake was delayed earlier this year and is expected to release before April 2022.

Hopefully, Ubisoft reveals some information about what it intends to show so we can have something concrete to look forward to. We’d love to get some updates on Beyond Good & Evil and Skull & Bones, even if it’s a peek at what the studios have been working on. That said, we encourage you to check back here as we’ll be updating this hub with more details as they come out.

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Felicia Miranda is SEO Editor at IGN. You can find her babbling about retro games at @FeliciaVagabond on Twitter.

Considering its high production value and intensely violent material, it’s no surprise that Game of Thrones secured a reputation as one of TV’s most difficult productions before it concluded its run in 2019. In an interview with Collider, Hannah Waddingham, who played Unella, one of the Septa of the Faith of Seven that served under the High Sparrow, recalled shooting a scene in which her character was tortured that became “the worst day of [the actress’] life.”

In the Season 6 finale, Lena Headey’s Cersei Lannister gets revenge on Unella. Unella had imprisoned Cersei before and shouted “shame” during her walk of atonement in one of the show’s most famous scenes. Unella is last seen being tortured by Cersei before being left in the hands of The Mountain.

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Waddingham recalled receiving updates to the script as she was flying out to film the scene. At first, she was confused by the sudden call for her to wear a wetsuit for the shoot.

“There I was, strapped to a wooden table with proper big straps for ten hours,” Waddingham said. “Other than childbirth, it was the worst day of my life. Lena [Headey] was uncomfortable pouring liquid on my face for that long and I was beside myself. In those moments you have to think ‘Do you serve the peace and get on with it?’ Or do you chicken out and go, ‘No, this isn’t what I signed up for.”

Waddingham went on to recall a later interaction she had with fellow Game of Thrones actor Eugene Simon, who played Lancel Lannister in the show.

“[Eugene] was like, ‘Oh my god, what happened to you today?’ I could barely speak because I’d been screaming through The Mountain’s hand,” Waddingham said. “I had no voice at all to barely whisper, bruises already coming up like I’d been attacked. I was like, ‘I’ve basically just been waterboarded for ten hours.’ And he went, ‘Mate, I’ve just been crawling through sh— for four days on my elbows…’ You haven’t been in Game of Thrones unless you’ve been really, really battered around.”

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Waddingham can now be seen as a main cast member on Apple TV+’s comedy series Ted Lasso. In our review of Season 1, IGN gave Ted Lasso a 9 and said “Waddingham brings comedic nuance” in the role of Rebecca, the owner of the show’s central English football club.

In other Game of Thrones news, HBO’s first spin-off series House of the Dragon recently entered production. For a rundown on what Westeros lore the prequel show could dive into, read our explainer on the upcoming project.

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J. Kim Murphy is a freelance entertainment writer.