Mad Max: Fury Road Almost Didn’t Have One Of Its Best Characters

Mad Max: Fury Road is regarded as a modern masterpiece, but it almost did not feature one of its most memorable and striking characters. Kyle Buchanan, who wrote the must-read oral history of Fury Road for The New York Times, shared another story on Twitter from his interviews about one of the characters that almost got axed.

The studio, Warner Bros., was eager to cut the Doof Warrior character due to poor testing, director George Miller said. The character, who is seen in Fury Road strapped to the front of the Doof wagon shredding a double-neck guitar that can shoot fire, tested badly because the rough cut shown to Warner Bros. and test audiences contained only temporary music. “Whenever the Doof Warrior played in the test screening, it was the same riff, so it got annoying,” Miller said.

Some people at Warner Bros. said, “‘Oh, we’ve got to drop the Doof Warrior,'” Miller recalls. But the Australian director defended the character and got the studio onboard once they hired Junkie XL to do the music. “He became one of the most popular characters in the film,” Miller said.

Another neat anecdote from Fury Road’s production is that the Doof Warrior’s guitar actually works. Production designer Colin Gibson said the guitar had 60 moving parts and it actually shot flames. Miller saw the design one day and said he was excited to hear what it sounded like. But Gibson said he didn’t originally plan for it to make noise–thankfully, one of his team members in the production design crew was a guitarist and was able to rig the guitar to actually play.

If you haven’t already, you really should read the full oral history of Mad Max: Fury Road here at The New York Times.

In other Mad Max news, Miller is working on a spin-off focused on one of Fury Road’s breakout stars, Furiosa. She was played by Charlize Theron, but Miller is looking for a different actress for the new movie. The last we heard, Miller was conducting auditions over Skype for the movie, which is due in 2021.

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Call Of Duty: Warzone Quads World Record Features 121 Kills In A Single Match

It doesn’t seem possible, but one Call of Duty: Warzone squad has set a new world record for most kills in a match, racking up an unthinkable 121 kills in a Quads mode match recently.

Well-known Call of Duty streamers TeePee, Symfuhny, HusKerrs, and DougisRaw set the record. There are 150 players in Warzone matches, so this team took down the overwhelming majority of them by themselves. You can see highlights from the achievement in the video below.

Call of Duty pro player Nadeshot responded to the achievement, writing on Twitter, “Wow, I can’t even fathom how you guys pulled this off. GGs.”

It’s not immediately clear what the previous record was for most kills in a Quads match of Warzone, while the records for Warzone’s other modes, including Solos, Duos, and Trios are also unknown.

In other news, Warzone just recently added a new Operator, Iskra. She is available as a store bundle and comes packaged with two new Legendary weapons, the “Savagery” helicopter vehicle skin, an Epic Finisher, and more.

For more on Warzone, check out GameSpot’s recent interview with Raven Software about the Gulag, which is linked below

Now Playing: Call Of Duty: Warzone Video Review

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Anthem 2.0: Don’t Expect the Overhaul Update Anytime Soon

Bioware has issued an update on the state of the Anthem overhaul, noting that the revamp is still in the incubation period and that the creation of a new version of the game will be a “longer process.”

In a statement on the Bioware blog, project lead Christian Daley outlined the current state of Anthem 2.0, noting that regardless of the current circumstances, the team is committed to the project.

The 30-strong team behind the game are currently working from home due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, but Daley notes that the game’s incubation phase has kicked off.

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In his own words, Daley describes the incubation phase as a prototyping period. “We are starting to validate our design hypotheses,” Daley’s statement reads. “We are going back and experimenting/prototyping to improve on the areas where we believe we fell short and to leverage everything that you love currently about Anthem.” According to Daley, the nature of this approach means Anthem 2.0 will “be a longer process,” so don’t expect the new version of the game to arrive anytime soon.

“The team is small but the whole point of this is to take our time and go back to the drawing board,” Daley notes. “A small team gives us the agility a larger one can’t afford.”

Daley also talked about transparency, and assured fans that they would “see things that look awesome but end up on the cutting room floor or things that you might think suck that you feel we are spending too much time on.” In the spirit of experimentation, the team want to bring those interested in Anthem along for the ride, but Daley notes that “seeing how the sausage is made” is not always pretty.

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Anthem’s overhaul was announced in February, with BioWare general manager Casey Hudson admitting that the game “needs a more satisfying loot experience, better long-term progression, and a more fulfilling end game.” Clearly, much of that is still in the ideas phase, with hands-on development work yet to begin. Daley doesn’t give a sense of how long that might take to begin.

The Anthem 2.0 team is also planning to bring ad-hoc live streams and updates to fans as they follow the game. “Stay tuned as we kick this off and we hope to see/hear from you as we go on this journey (stronger) together.” For more on Anthem, check out our piece on how the game’s first anniversary was celebrated by fans, but not Bioware.

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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter. 

Bad News: Destiny 2’s The Lie Quest Is Bugged

After a week of players working together to complete the first step of Destiny 2‘s latest story quest, “The Lie,” it appears many won’t be able to finish it. The last step of the quest is bugged, failing to trigger the mission players have to go through to get their reward.

Bungie confirmed the issue Sunday night on Twitter. After completing the other steps of the quest, The Lie directs you to Rasputin’s bunker on the Moon to activate a mission called “The Tyrant.” For many, starting the quest respawns you not at its start, but near bounty vendor Eris Morn at the Moon’s main landing zone. When that happens, there’s no way to advance; you just have to quit the activity and try to load it again. As of this writing, we’ve tried to run the quest roughly 10 times, to no avail.

At first, some players thought Bungie had released a new secret puzzle into the game, similar to Destiny 2’s Corridors of Time puzzle last season, and started a Reddit thread compiling information about it. Since the mission seemingly isn’t loading correctly for anyone right now, it’s not clear yet if there might be more to The Tyrant than just another mission.

On Twitter, Bungie said it would investigate the issue on Monday morning Pacific time, so it seems Destiny players are going to have to sit tight for the time being. That’s frustrating because according to datamining, completing the quest will reward players with Felwinter’s Lie, a legendary shotgun that returns from Destiny 1. The Lie also introduces new story elements about Rasputin, the giant AI character at the center of the current content season. The Lie might not be quite the Rasputin revelation we’d hoped for (at least so far), but it is seemingly linking elements from Destiny 1 to the current story.

Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait to find out exactly what “The Lie” is all about. We’ll update this story as Bungie provides more details.

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Batman: The Dark Knight Trilogy Will Return To Cinemas In Hong Kong As They Reopen

The Dark Knight trilogy–consisting of Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises, all directed by Christopher Nolan–are returning to cinema screens in Hong Kong. According to The Hollywood Reporter, all three films are playing in advance of Nolan’s next film, Tenet, debuting on July 17.

The first film in the trilogy, Batman Begins, will return to cinemas on June 4. The Dark Knight will be available in cinemas on June 11, and then The Dark Knight Rises will appear from June 18. The movies will be available on IMAX screens as well, which makes sense as the last two films in the trilogy were partially filmed with IMAX cameras.

The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises both earned over $1 billion at the global box office, and these re-releases will increase those totals further.

In March, cinemas began to open again in China; however, just a few days later, they closed again. When cinemas reopen in other regions, it might be that some screens are showing already released films–the Russo brothers, for instance, would like to see their films Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame return to cinemas.

Tenet will arrive a month later, and we’re still not entirely sure what it’s about. Not even one of its stars, Robert Pattinson, can tell us much. Meanwhile, a new Batman film (simply titled The Batman) is in the works, starring the aforementioned Robert Pattinson.

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$100,000 Up For Grabs In Fortnite Tournament Hosted By Australian Football League

The AFL is teaming up with Epic to host a charity Duos tournament in Fortnite. The charity event will be called the “AFL Stream King featuring Fortnite” and will run on Thursday, May 21 2AM PT and Friday, May 22 7PM AEST on the AFL Gamers Network YouTube channel.

The event will consist of 40 professional AFL players and 40 of Australia’s best Fortnite players will team up to battle it out for the ultimate crown and $50,000 AUD for the charity of the winner’s choice. Second place will earn $30,000 AUD for their chosen charity, with third earning $15,000 AUD, and fourth getting $5,000 AUD for their charities. The winners will also be crowned as the AFL Stream King(s).

“We are proud to partner with global giant Epic Games to put on this charity tournament, harnessing the strengths of both organisations, and providing what should be an amazing product for footy fans and gamers alike. Bringing together some of the biggest names in footy with the biggest names in Fortnite – we can’t wait to see who takes out the title,” said Ben Sellenger, AFL Head of Commercial Growth.

The AFL has become more involved in the gaming industry over the past few years, with AFL teams owning and sponsoring their own esports teams respectively. Back in 2017, the AFL became interested in esports after the Adelaide Crows purchased a local League of Legends team. Following that decision, the league began purchasing esports teams across the country, although many teams have ceased their partnerships over the past three years. Since then, the AFL has streamed over 6,500 hours of content that has been viewed by over 75,000 fans.

“The AFL has been involved in gaming for a number of years in various ways, and the AFL Gamers Network now allows us to deliver a product which gives our players who game a platform to unite under and grow their own fan base,” said Sellenger.

Currently, Fortnite is remaining a strong contender as one of the most lucrative multiplayer games, with the game generating $1 billion from microtransactions on mobile alone. Epic is pushing for the franchise to continue smashing records on the next generation of consoles, with both the PS5 and Xbox Series X editions of Fortnite will support cross-progression and cross-play on release.

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New Study Reveals Which Movie Actor Swears The Most

A new study of popular movies has revealed which films, actors, and characters from cinema are the most foul-mouthed.

The movie with the most swears in it is The Wolf of Wall Street, which has 715 expletives, followed by Uncut Gems with 646 cuss words. The Scorsese mobster movie Casino follows with 606 instances of strong language.

Leading the way by star is actor Jonah Hill, who has spoken the highest number of cuss words in the film industry, reaching 376 total swear words for an average of 22.9 instances of potty language per 1,000 words spoken. As you may recall, Hill swore a great many times in Superbad, but he credits his starring role in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street in helping him set the record.

“So many people to thank,” Hill said on Instagram. “Martin Scorsese, thanks for pushing me over the edge. Humbled.”

Leonardo DiCaprio (361), Samuel L. Jackson (301), Adam Sandler (295), and Al Pacino (255) round out the top five actors who swear the most in movies. There are no surprises there.

In terms of the movie character who swears the most, that record belongs to DiCaprio’s Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street. The character swore an incredible 332 times in that movie. Sandler’s Uncut Gems character, Howard, followed with 295 cuss words.

This study was conducted by Buzz Bingo. Its team looked at 3,565 movie scripts, collected instances of swearing, and ranked them by severity as determined in part by Ofcom’s list of “potentially offensive language and gestures on TV and radio.”

The survey is missing some key data, it seems. If DiCaprio spoke 332 swears as Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street, that would leave only 29 additional cuss words to reach his lifetime tally of 361 as calculated by Buzz Bingo. DiCaprio swore numerous times in The Departed and Django Unchanged, but those films–and many–do not appear to have been tracked.

Separately, it is understood that The Wolf of Wall Street set a record for most f-bombs in a popular movie, featuring 506 instances of the word. Scorsese’s The Departed includes 237 instances of the word “f**k,” which is believed to be the highest total ever for Best Picture-winning movie.

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The Half-Life: Alyx Workshop Tools Are Now Available

Valve Software has made the tools for editing Half-Life: Alyx’s levels open to the community. In a new blog post on the official site, the developers have announced the release of the tools as part of the Steam Workshop support, an initiative by Valve to support the modding community.

The tools will allow for the creation of new levels, models, textures, and animations for the Half-Life VR game, along with letting creators upload their mods to the Steam Workshop for anyone to try.

Valve intends to continue updating and adding to the tool kit while still in beta. The first release includes the current editions of the following software:

  • Hammer, the latest version of the Source 2 level editor.
  • Material Editor, the tool for creating and tuning materials in Source 2.
  • ModelDoc, a tool for viewing, editing, and compiling models with animation, collision, and other gameplay attributes.
  • AnimGraph, our animation tool used to create complicated animation setups with blends and transitions.
  • Particle Editor, for making new particle effects.
  • Subrect Editor, for creating smart texture sheets known as “hotspots.”
  • Source Filmmaker, the Source 2 cinematic renderer and animation tool.

In addition to these VR tools, the developers have included several sample maps to demonstrate how they authored enemy encounters in the game. These maps can be used as a template for understanding how the developers used features such as tile meshes, static/dynamic cables, and texture hotspotting to create the game’s levels.

If this is your first time messing around with these kinds of tools, the developers have also begun work on a Half-Life: Alyx Workshop Tools documentation, a guide for how to implement and best make use of the tools and software currently in the beta. Over time more documents will be added, especially as new software and tools are made available.

In GameSpot’s Half-Life: Alyx review, Michael found it to have “elevated many of the aspects we’ve come to love about Half-Life games… Even when familiarity starts to settle in, its gameplay systems still shine as a cohesive whole. And as it concludes, Half-Life: Alyx hits you with something unforgettable, transcending VR tropes for one of gaming’s greatest moments.”

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Nintendo Switch Eshop Releases This Week: What The Golf, Cannibal Cuisine, And Everything Else

Seems like it’s golf week on the Nintendo Eshop, with the chaotic multiplayer indie title Golf With Your Friends and the hilarious What The Golf making their Switch debuts. There’s also the remastered edition of realMyst: Masterpiece Edition releasing in celebration of the game’s 20th anniversary.

There’s only two weeks to go until Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition consumes our every waking moment, so until then scoop up some of these indie titles to tide you over. Sink some hole-in-ones with friends in Golf With Your Friends, consume some questionable content in the new co-op cooking game Cannibal Cuisine, date some hot monsters in Monster Prom: XXL, and blast through waves of enemies in the non-stop arcade space shooter Fluxteria.

What The Golf is having a launch sale too, with the pre-purchase price for the game at 25% off.

May 19

  • The Wonderful 101: Remastered
  • Golf With Your Friends

May 20

  • Cannibal Cuisine

May 21

  • Pushy And Pully In Blockland
  • What The Golf?
  • Luxar
  • realMyst: Masterpiece Edition
  • Monster Prom: XXL
  • Arrest of a stone Budda
  • Steel Rain
  • Lost Artifacts: Time Machine
  • The Persistence
  • Red Wings: Aces of the Sky
  • Skelly Selest & Straimium Immortaly Double Pack
  • Aqua Lungers
  • Fluxteria

May 22

  • Concept Destruction
  • Animal Up!
  • Monstrum

As always, there’s a number of digital sales going on in the Eshop. This week a myriad of Sonic The Hedgehog titles are on sale, along with the continuation of the Deadly Premonition: Sequel celebration sale. The AniMay sale is also still going, with titles from your favorite anime on sale. For more on what’s on sale this week, check out our full guide.

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SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle For Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated’s Boss Fight Trailer Makes Us Nostalgic

SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle For Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated, which is due to release on June 23, has shown off its boss fights in a new trailer. Watching this footage reminds us of the hey-day of the PS2 3D platformer–after all, this is a remake of a game from 2003, when boss fights like this were a dime a dozen.

In the footage below, you can see SpongeBob take on a variety of giant enemies, including robots based on his friends, a huge jellyfish, and his arc nemesis, Plankton. The game has received a huge visual update, but it still looks like a PS2 platformer in many ways–and that, for many fans, is surely a good thing.

Battle for Bikini Bottom is receiving the remake treatment because the original game has earned something of a cult following among the speedrunning community–and also because SpongeBob is still going, with a new movie on the way, and the 12th season of the TV show currently airing sporadically.

Check out our preorder guide to find out how to secure the game’s huge Rehydrated F.U.N. Edition.

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