With word from Battlefield 2042 developer DICE that cloud computing will soon level up the capabilities of first-person shooters, we discuss what we’d like to see and what we think we’ll see. Plus: what we hope the studio formerly known as DICE LA will be up to next, Dark Souls 3’s new FPS Boost on Xbox Series, and more!

Subscribe on any of your favorite podcast feeds, to our new YouTube channel, or grab an MP3 download of this week’s episode. For more awesome content, check out the latest episode of IGN Unfiltered, featuring an interview with The Elder Scrolls Online boss Matt Firor about his RPG roots, the future of the popular MMORPG, and what else the studio is working on as part of the Xbox Studios family:

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Oh, and you can be featured on Unlocked by tweeting us a video Loot Box question! Tweet your question and tag Ryan at @DMC_Ryan!

For more next-gen coverage, make sure to check out our Xbox Series X review, our Xbox Series S review, and our PS5 review.

Warning: Full spoilers for all six Season 1 episodes of Marvel’s Loki follow…

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Now that the dust has settled on the mind-bending Season 1 Loki finale, which signals a major shift for the entire MCU, we’ve got a handful of questions. That’s right, the theories aren’t exactly flowing as freely following Episode 6, but in true TV cliffhanger fashion, we have a ton of stuff we want answered. Yes, the questions have been flying fast and furiously in the IGN Loki Slack channel. Especially since the events of Loki directly affect a long-running mega-movie franchise you may have heard of called the MCU.

“For All Time. Always.” ended with Sylvie, not heeding a pretty big warning about evil Variant Kangs arriving to kick off a new Multiversal War, sending Loki through a time portal and killing He Who Remains. Instead of taking He Who Remains up on his offer to dual-rule the TVA with Loki, she opted for revenge and now the entire timeline has been thrown into chaos. With MCU movies on the horizon featuring the multiverse, like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of you know what and Spider-Man: No Way Home, and also a second season of Loki, here are some big looming questions we have about the toppling of the Sacred Timeline.

And if you have your own questions, answers, or tangential theories, hit us up on the board below and let everyone know your ideas! And be sure to vote in our poll at the bottom of the page…

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Question: Why Didn’t Mobius Know Who Loki Was?

With the timeline splintering and a new multiverse sprouting up, of course countless alternative universes now exist to explore. But where did Loki land exactly?

Sylvie sent Loki through a TemPad timedoor before she stabbed He Who Remains. The only thing is, Loki seems to have landed in a timeline other than what was previously referred to as the Sacred Timeline — one where the Mobius native to that universe doesn’t know about all the adventures the Mobius we’ve been following all season just had. Sure, there are elements here meant to trick the viewer so that it’s a surprise when Mobius doesn’t know who Loki is, but does it all line up time-wise? How fast are these new timelines created and why would that TemPad send Loki to a new one?

We could be overthinking this, since Sylvie did use He Who Remains’ special TemPad, and that could be locked into a different set of space/time rules, but it’s certainly noticeably that the Time Variance Authority reality that Loki winds up in is in the midst of dealing with the same multiversal crisis that was happening out at the Edge of Time. Mobius and Hunter B-15 are dealing with the massive calamity, so it connects to the rest of the show. The big difference is that Mobius and B-15 don’t know who Loki is and the big boss statue is now that of Kang himself.

So was this timeline the Sacred one at one point and then it got like a “new timeline” wash-over? One that happened even while Loki was there and searching for people? Or did Loki somehow get sent to a totally different TVA timeline?

Also, what is the rule with the TVA and the multiverse? Are there now millions of TVAs or is the TVA, by nature, exempt from this? The basics of the switcheroo make sense, and Mobius not remembering Loki was a great beat, but digging into the details, as nerdlings are wont to do, there are questions.

Question: What Were the Files He Who Remains Gave Ravonna Renslayer?

Okay, so this one is actually meant to be a full-fledged answered-later mystery, but it’s still got us stumped.

What were the new files that He Who Remains sent to Renslayer? The ones Miss Minutes remarked would be more useful to her. And then following that, where did Renslayer escape to? She told Mobius that she was off “in search of free will” even though she actually was kind of against the idea of free will. Sure, she wanted to know who was behind the TVA but she also fell in line with all of it. She convinced herself that it all had to mean something and that their work was both important and necessary.

We assume that her destination was in the files and that it was a place Kang wanted her to explore. So where is that, and what did that Kang Variant want her to find there?

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Question: How Many Kang Variants Will We See Going Forward, and How Big a Villain Will Kang Be?

He Who Remains is gone, as loopy as he was being a guy who’d lived millions of lifetimes and was alone and secluded at the End of All Things. Now come different versions of him. More power-hungry versions of him that seek ultimate authority and dominion over the multiverse. Kangs that might fall more in line with the Kangs (and there are many versions) we know from the comics. So will we see all those different styles of Kang or will we focus mostly on one main evil Kang (maybe the one now running the TVA)?

Also, from an MCU standpoint, where else will Kang touch down outside of Loki: Season 2 and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania? Will he be a part of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness? Will he show up in other big MCU films? Or will he be mostly a streaming series villain who then goes into Ant-Man? We’re not used to the Ant-Man movies being big game-changers for the MCU, but maybe Quantumania will be the next Civil War/Avengers-type ensemble?

Question: Will Loki Be in Doctor Strange 2 or Thor: Love and Thunder or…

This is sort of similar to the last question, but it also goes with “When will we see Loki: Season 2?” As in, when will this specific story continue, with the Kang and Sylvie of it all, and how will it slot in with the MCU films? If they filmed Season 2 at the same time as Season 1, which is just a bouncy rumor, then maybe Season 2 will pop up at the beginning of next year, after Spider-Man: No Way Home and Miss Marvel but before Multiverse of Madness? Tom Hiddleston hasn’t been confirmed to be in any of the upcoming Marvel movies, including Thor: Love and Thunder, but at the same time it does seem weird for there to be a Thor movie and not have Loki in it…

Basically, we’re headed into huge movies in a few months that will feature the multiverse but we haven’t sorted out the Loki story yet. Will we see the symptoms before we see the actual ailment or will Loki’s arc get delivered before we dive into the movie madness of the multiverse?

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Question: Is There a Crocodile Kang?

Perhaps the most important question of all: What kind of Kangs will we see? Will we get a Crocodile Kang and then get to watch the Alligator Loki battle we’ve always dreamed of? Or will Kang take on a different animal form (a Kang-garoo is currently an online favorite)?

Either way, a Season 2 just means more opportunity for Kid Loki and Alligator Loki to return. And now that Loki will need to scramble to find allies more than ever (unless he decides to just 50 First Dates Mobius over and over) he may have to head back into the Void for help.

Question: Was He Who Remains Meant to Embody MCU Head Kevin Feige?

Fans have also been noticing a few parallels between Jonathan Majors’ He Who Remains, a man who knows all and sees all, up to a point, and Marvel’s Chief Creative Officer Kevin Feige. For one thing, there’s the guy who’s been in charge forever, overseeing a very specific order, now looking for someone to replace him. Nothing’s official, obviously, but some wonder if this is a signal that Feige is looking to pass the torch.

Secondly, as far as the MCU itself goes, He Who Remains not knowing what happens yet makes it seem like the biggest hint, following Phases 1 through 3, that the MCU is now wild and free and ready to go to truly outlandish places. Everything was strictly wrangled and meticulously planned out up until now. He Who Remains getting killed off felt like the moment the MCU itself was “freed” and now anything can happen.

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What are some of your questions or theories following the Loki finale? Let us know down below! And be sure to vote in our poll too:

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The late Chadwick Boseman was set to star in L.A. Confidential 2 but Warner Bros. ended up passing on the project.

This news comes by way of The Ringer, which posted a retrospective on the way neo-noirs took over the 1990s, and in it, they state that Boseman would have played a young police officer in the sequel to 1997’s L.A. Confidential. However, the movie never came to be as Warner Bros. passed on it.

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“A few years ago, the Oscar-winning filmmaker Brian Helgeland went to Warner Bros. with what seemed like a dynamite movie pitch: a sequel to L.A. Confidential, the 1997 Hollywood cop drama he co-wrote with director Curtis Hanson,” The Ringer writes. “Helgeland had already secured a top-tier cast, including returning Confidential costars Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce, alongside Chadwick Boseman, who’d be playing a young police officer.”

Helgeland had developed the sequel’s story with L.A. Confidential novelist James Ellroy, according to The Ringer, and it was set in the mid-1970s. Helgeland said he had worked the entire thing out, stating that “it was great,” but ultimately, Warner Bros. passed on the project.

“The studio’s veto made for a downbeat, think-what-coulda-been ending — much like the conclusion of L.A. Confidential itself,” The Ringer writes. “But the rejection is especially surprising when you consider that, 24 years ago, L.A. Confidential was one of the most beloved entries in a genre beloved by executives and audiences alike: the neo-noir.”

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L.A. Confidential 2 has been making headlines as far back as 2007 when it was reported by IGN that Helgeland and Hanson were teaming up once more to make the sequel. Boseman’s involvement wasn’t known back then, however, as it seems his role was written up a few years ago.

The Ringer’s piece goes on to discuss the 1990’s fascination with the neo-noir genre and it’s well worth a read, but that doesn’t make it any less sad that we’ll never see what a sequel to L.A. Confidential starring Boseman would have looked like.

Boseman died last August, but Marvel’s What If? series will feature the actor’s final performance when it hits Disney Plus next month. Elsewhere, Marvel’s Black Panther 2 is still happening despite Boseman’s death because it’s what he would have wanted, according to director Ryan Coogler. Don’t expect a cameo from Boseman in Black Panther 2, though, as the sequel was reshaped to be respectful of the loss of Boseman.

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Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.

Anthony Bourdain’s voice has been recreated by artificial intelligence for use in the upcoming Roadrunner documentary about his life.

This news comes by way of IndieWire, which reports that Roadrunner director Morgan Neville said the team is using over a dozen hours of Bourdain’s recorded voice to narrate the documentary. However, there were three instances where they didn’t have the audio they needed and the team turned to artificial intelligence to get what they needed.

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“There is a moment at the end of the film’s second act when the artist David Choe, a friend of Bourdain’s, is reading aloud an email Bourdain had sent him: ‘Dude, this is a crazy thing to ask, but I’m curious,’ Choe begins reading, and then the voice fades into Bourdain’s own,” Neville told The New Yorker in a recent interview, according to IndieWire. “… ‘and my life is sort of shit now. You are successful, and I am successful, and I’m wondering: Are you happy?'”

The New Yorker asked Neville how the team found audio of Bourdain reading his own email aloud and that’s when Neville revealed that such a thing didn’t exist. As a result, the team reached out to four software companies about recreating Bourdain’s voice using artificial intelligence.

They selected what they deemed the best of the four and sent them over a dozen hours of recordings.

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“If you watch the film, other than that line you mentioned, you probably don’t know what the other lines are that were spoken by the A.I., and you’re not going to know,” Neville said. “We can have a documentary-ethics panel about it later.”

Neville did say in a GQ Magazine interview that the team checked with Bourdain’s widow and literary executor “to make sure people were cool with that,” and according to Neville, “they were like, ‘Tony would have been cool with that.'”

Neville said he wasn’t putting words into Bourdain’s mouth, but rather, just trying to make them come alive. IndieWire reports that Roadrunner’s use of words from Bourdain recreated using artificial intelligence is receiving backlash on social media, citing that film critic Sean Burns said he was not made aware of such a decision before writing his review.

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“I feel like this tells you all you need to know about the ethics of the people behind this project,” Burns said.

Anthony Bourdain died at the age of 61 in 2018. The Roadrunner documentary that claims simply to be a film about his life hits theaters on July 16. Check out the official trailer for Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain while waiting for it to hit theaters.

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Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.

Speedrunner Crescendo has set a new blindfolded world record after completing Super Mario Bros. in 11 minutes and 55 seconds.

This news comes by way of Eurogamer, which reports that Crescendo posted their world record run yesterday on YouTube after attempting to beat the record for over 40 hours. Crescendo beat the previous blindfold world record for a Super Mario Bros. completion, which sat at 14 minutes and 46 seconds since 2016, by nearly

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“I started planning this run on May 29 and started doing full-game attempts on June 19,” Crescendo wrote in his world record video’s description. “I played in one-hour sessions once or twice per day. All told, it was 40 hours of attempts.”

Crescendo also mentions that he’s a musician, which actually came in handy when going for this world record. That’s because, in some sections of the game, Crescendo had to accurately count in seconds to perform a perfect series of jumps when required to progress in the level, as Eurogamer points out.

He also used fireballs as a tool to determine how far away certain things were and broke specific bricks to determine his whereabouts on a level.

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Eurogamer cites the speedrun subreddit and how people there are discussing how particularly difficult Super Mario Bros. is to speedrun, let alone speedrunning it while blindfolded and breaking a world record in the process. They specifically mention AKittyCat’s comment as they explain the difficulty in speedrunning Super Mario Bros. compared to Super Mario 64.

“64 has the benefit of being 3D and Open world-ish allowing you to take your time in certain areas and has more sound clues to go off of to help navigate,” AKittyCat said. “SMB1 has time limits, a much more unforgiving play style, and basically no sound clues to go off of for navigation help outside of hitting a block or an enemy.”

Crescendo says he is working on a tutorial video to teach would-be speedrunners (or those simply interested in the madness that is this incredible feat) how he broke the world record. Crescendo broke this record just days after Summer Games Done Quick 2021 wrapped up its charity efforts, in which it raised $2.8 million for Doctors Without Borders.

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For more speedrunning, check out IGN’s Devs React to Speedrun series where developers of games like Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair, Mass Effect, Fallout: New Vegas, Hades, and more react to speedrunners completing their games in record times.

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Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.

It’s the end of another week that probably could have gone better than it did. No matter, though. Forget it all by scoring a cheap palate cleansing game to play over the weekend. You could take advantage of 50% off a CoD or AC. Or maybe just stock up on a heap of cut-price Steam stuff in preparation for the arrival of your Steam Deck.

Purchase Cheaply for PC

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Battlefield 2042 details cross-play and progression, robot dog jeep stuff, call-in tablets, AI Soldiers, unique specialist gadgets, a watered-down class system, so many rocket launchers, the lack of some playable interior spaces, and teases for EA Play Live happening soon.

By Aaron Sampson on July 15, 2021 at 5:28PM PDT

Battlefield 2042 is about to release a ton of information at EA Play Live, but don’t tell that to DICE community managers who tracked down Daniel Berlin, Senior Design Director to answered a lot of questions ahead of time in a massive blog post.

We now have confirmed details about many different aspects of the game. There will be cross-play and progression, both of which are being tested later this summer. We learned about the robot dog, whose name is Ranger, and how it will follow you and protect you with its life. We learned that players use call-in tablets to bring vehicles down mid-battle and also that the system is limited by team points that vary based on map and mode. There were details around how AI soldiers will fill or balance matches. AI soldiers will also do many of the same tasks as players but can’t be specialists. It was confirmed that Sundance’s wingsuit is a unique piece of gear and nobody else gets one. We learned about the new loadout system where anyone can make a choice between carrying a rocket launcher or bringing items such as ammo or health packs. Finally, we got more details on maps such as out of bounds being expanded, skyscrapers not having much in the way of interior spaces, and penguins being confirmed on the Breakaway Map.

Battlefield 2042 releases October 15 or 22, depending on which version you get, and makes a lot of changes to the formula, such as a new specialist system, larger maps, a freeform weapons system, a revamped Conquest mode with sectors, storms such as tornadoes, map-altering events like rocket launches, and a massive 128 player count. Up next, we are expecting to learn about the not-battle-royale Hazard Zone mode, remastered classic maps, and what the newly branded Ripple Effect studio, formerly DICE LA, is making.

This is a mostly spoiler-free review of Season 1 of Marvel’s Loki, which is now streaming in its entirety on Disney+. Some themes and characters are alluded to, but no main plot points are discussed in detail. For a deep dive into the show, you can read our spoiler-filled individual episode reviews:

Loki: Season 1, Episode 1 Review

Loki: Season 1, Episode 2 Review

Loki: Season 1, Episode 3 Review

Loki: Season 1, Episode 4 Review

Loki: Season 1, Episode 5 Review

Loki: Season 1, Episode 6 Review

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While the first two Marvel Disney Plus shows — WandaVision and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier — took place after “the blip,” Thanos, and the other universe-shattering events of the Infinity Saga, they never felt like they were really moving the MCU onto a new path. Instead they were more introspective pieces, more content in dealing with inner turmoil and personal repercussions than setting up future storylines. This is where Loki differs: it has its fair share of soul-searching and character development, but also takes us to new places to meet new people; not only making for an enjoyable watch in its own right, but also providing excitement through the promise of what’s to come. 

Loki begins where the titular trickster’s story ended in Avengers: Endgame by introducing a big concept: He awakens, face down in the sand of his own art-deco version of Dune, surrounded by a squad of black-clad armoured guards who quickly take him to the 1930s-like corridors of the Time Variance Authority (TVA) headquarters. The first episode does a great job of getting us up to speed on the concepts of protecting the Sacred Timeline from unauthorized tampering by using Loki himself as a proxy for the audience as it’s all explained to him. This allows the series to stand more or less on its own, rather than requiring 20 films worth of homework to get through beforehand. Nothing drives this point further home than the fact that clerks at the TVA use the all-powerful infinity stones as mere paperweights here. 

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Tom Hiddleston is as good as ever as Loki, the Prince of Asgard, who finds himself a long way from home. He serves up his usual helping of charm and cheeky demeanor that we’ve come to expect from him. But this Loki is a little different to the one we’ve got so used to over the past few years: he’s still that evil Loki (though not for too long), fresh off his defeat in the Battle of New York, who hasn’t yet had the time to see any errors in his ways. This more headstrong Loki makes for a more entertaining centerpiece as he bounces off of all who dare speak to him as sparks fly in any conversation that remotely questions his authority. It makes for an engaging screen presence, and one you can’t help but just root for no matter how dastardly his intentions.

Apart from Loki himself, every other character is new to us, which helps the first few episodes feel fresh and exciting and in no way a rehash of what’s come before. In fact, it’s in those rare moments that the series does look back where the pace becomes sluggish and generally less engaging. This happens sporadically over the course of episodes 1 and 2 as Loki watches through archive footage of what’s to come for him; it doesn’t quite pack the emotional punch intended, instead acting as a dull clip show for those familiar with the MCU. 

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These early episodes introduce us to a few crucial members of the TVA, each of whom are developed to different degrees over the season. The first we meet is Wunmi Mosaku’s Hunter B-15, an imposing presence who receives a neatly woven arc over the 6 episodes. Then there’s Judge Ravonna Renslayer, played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw, a higher-up at the TVA who is shrouded in mystery for much of the series, which unfortunately doesn’t give her much of a chance to shine.

The standout, though, has to be Owen Wilson’s Agent Mobius, who brings a new lease of life to Loki every time he appears on screen. Combining Wilson’s signature dry delivery with a clever script that allows him to flourish never fails to entertain, especially when bouncing off of Hiddleston’s Loki in Buddy Comedy fashion. It’s no coincidence then that the series’ lowest point is episode 3, where we are robbed of the duo’s dynamic, instead setting Loki on a branching path with a new companion.

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Loki’s partnerships along the way are a key to what makes this show so enjoyable, and while he and Mobius together are the optimum pairing, Sophia Di Martino does a great job in her role, too. To avoid spoilers, I won’t reveal who she’s playing but she holds her own against Hiddleston (no mean feat) and grows as a character the closer to the finale we get. Di Martino’s cloaked persona provides a big part of the emotional core of the show throughout, embodying its two main themes: trust and free will. 

Trust – and just as equally distrust – runs through every conversation. Can Loki trust the TVA? Can the TVA trust him? Can he trust his new accomplices? Can he even trust himself? There’s not a whole lot more I can say about the plot from episode 3 onwards without spoiling some major reveals, but the choices of who Loki decides to put his faith into go a long way to deciding the outcome, all the way up until its fantastic finale. 

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Episode 6 is perhaps the best Marvel TV episode to date, with a star turn from a standout new cast member who slows the pace down in favour of thrilling conversational staging compared to the pacey action-packed events of the prior two. It’s a finale that brings home those themes of trust and free will, delivering a philosophy and tension-filled last few minutes that have major consequences for the future of the MCU.

The second half of the season also does a great job of showcasing a grand sense of scale. Every piece of the set design has been meticulously thought out, from the stylish yet bureaucratic browns of the TVA offices that you wouldn’t be surprised to see Don Draper sat in, to apocalyptic skies raining down death in shades of blue, purple, and green. Showrunner Michael Waldron and director Kate Herron grant Loki a real sense of unique identity, mixing things familiar to us – like Loki the character and raw human emotion – with the more bizarre such as a talking cartoon clock called Miss Minutes and a character who happens to be an alligator. The later episodes also deftly juggle a large cast of characters that play a brief but important role, chief among them Richard E. Grant, who lends gravitas to the story while wearing a delightfully absurd costume.

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Key parts of the equation are Autumn Durald Arkapaw’s cinematography and Natalie Holt’s score. Both add to the series’ individuality and make it stand apart from any other Marvel production; the former through a proliferation of wide, slowly spinning and rolling shots and the latter soundtracking these images to fantastical but almost mechanical music throughout. All of these aspects combine to create a sense of unease but also wonder at what you’re watching. It’s a fresh and exciting style for an MCU story that ends with universe-altering decisions that usher in a promised second season as well as a fresh and exciting era for the MCU as a whole.

It’s ironic, in a way, that it’s the show that starts off before all of the others that’s the one that lays the strongest foundations for the future. But if there’s anything Loki has taught us over its 6 episode run, it’s that time is very far from being a flat circle in this universe.

Robert Downey Jr. is set to co-star in a TV adaptation of The Sympathizer for HBO and A24, with Oldboy director Park Chan-wook serving as director.

This news comes by way of Deadline, which reports that HBO has ordered the A24 drama series adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Sympathizer, written by Viet Thanh Nguyen. Downey Jr. will co-star alongside the show’s lead that has yet to be found.

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The Sympathizer is a spy thriller novel with a dash of satire about a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist spy in the final days of the Vietnam War. Exiled to the United States, the spy’s story represents a “blistering exploration of identity and America,” according to the novel’s description. It’s also described as a “gripping spy novel and powerful story of love and friendship.”

A search is underway for someone to play the spy in question as well as the rest of the cast, which will be predominantly Vietnamese, according to Deadline.

Oldboy director, Park Chan-wook, is set to direct the movie and they’ll serve as a co-showrunner for the series alongside Don McKellar. Downey Jr., Susan Downey, and Amanda Burrell from Team Downey will executive produce the show with McKellar and Chan-wook alongside Kim Ly and Niv Fichman from Rhombus Media.

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The Sympathizer will be one of the first roles for Downey Jr. following his ten-year run as Iron Man in the MCU — don’t forget about last year’s Dolittle, though — and according to Deadline, Downey Jr. was especially interested in this project over several other offers thanks to the “incredible story” and the “opportunity to show his incredible range as an actor.”

According to Deadline’s sources, Downey Jr. will play multiple supporting roles as the series’ main antagonists, “all of whom represent a different arm of the American establishment… including an up-and-coming Orange County congressman, a CIA agent, and a Hollywood film director, amongst others.”

The Sympathizer isn’t the first collaboration between Team Downey and HBO — the two companies teamed up for HBO’s Perry Mason last year. It’s also not the first collaboration between HBO and A24, as the two teamed up for 2019’s Euphoria.

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There’s no word yet on when to expect this adaptation of The Sympathizer, although it could be some time as the production is still casting for its lead and series ensemble.

While waiting for this series to hit HBO, check out our thoughts on Team Downey’s last movie in IGN’s Dolittle review and then check out our thoughts on Downey’s last go as Iron Man in IGN’s Avengers: Endgame review.

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Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.