Author: Trafficblast

The founder of British games studio Traveller’s Tales (best known for its LEGO games) has revealed that, in 2008, the company spent more than $1,000,000 on a failed pitch to make a tie-in game for Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit series.

Jon Burton posted a video to his YouTube channel GameHut explaining the situation and featured footage from the tech demos used to pitch the game to Peter Jackson and then-director Guillermo Del Toro.

Instead of LEGO Games for which the studio was known, the team made photorealistic recreations of key scenes from The Lord of the Rings movies on Xbox 360 hardware, including Gandalf fighting the Balrog, Arogorn fighting Uruk-Hai at Amon Hen, and stealth gameplay where you’d play as Frodo in Deephallow Woods, avoiding the Black Riders. It’s very much worth watching the video, but here are some screenshots:

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The footage is seriously impressive, but according to Burton, the team “went way too far, and spent way too much money” on the project in order to impress Jackson and Del Toro at a pitch meeting in New Zealand.

Del Toro was apparently very receptive, but Warner Bros. ultimately decided that it “wanted a game that wasn’t directly based on the movie, but happened in the same universe at the same time,” a philosophy Burton disagreed with (but likely led to the birth of games like Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor). As a result, the game never saw the light of day, which is a massive shame as the more-than decade-old footage genuinely holds up in retrospect.

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For more on Lord of the Rings, check out our article covering The Second Age, the setting for Amazon’s upcoming Lord of the Rings TV prequel. You can also check out some screenshots of Lord of the Rings: Gollum, the next-gen stealth game coming from Daedalic.

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

Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda has explained why he allowed the upcoming movie musical to be censored on Disney Plus.

Taking to Twitter on Monday, Miranda confirmed that the lyrics of two explicit songs have minor alterations in the filmed version of the original Broadway production, which arrives on Disney’s streaming platform, July 3.

LANGUAGE!
1. On July 3, you’re getting the whole show, every note & scene, & a 1-minute countdown clock during intermission (bathroom!)
2. But MPAA has a hard rule about language: more than 1 utterance of “Fuck” is an automatic R rating. We have 3 “Fucks” in our show. So…
1/2 https://t.co/7o3OQ34rqt

— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) June 22, 2020

Miranda was responding to a fan who questioned why the movie had received a PG-13 rating, rather than an R-rating from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), and asked whether any iconic lines had been cut or changed for the movie to reach this categorization.

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In his reply, Miranda revealed that Yorktown, the 20th song of Act One, and Washington on Your Side, the 8th song of Act Two, had been edited for mature language.

“You’re getting the whole show, every note & scene, & a 1-minute countdown clock during intermission (bathroom!),” Miranda explained in his tweet on Monday. “But the MPAA has a hard rule about language: more than 1 utterance of ‘F***’ is an automatic R rating. We have 3 ‘F***s’ in our show.

“I literally gave two f***s so the kids could see it: 1. In Yorktown, there’s a mute over ‘I get the f*** back up again’ 2. ‘Southern *record scratch*kin’ Democratic Republicans.’ You can sing whatEVER you like at home (even sync up the album)!”

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For those somehow unfamiliar with the wildly successful musical, Hamilton is a dramatization of the life of Founding Father and Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, tracing his story from his arrival in New York City at the dawn of the Revolutionary War through to his ill-fated duel with rival Aaron Burr in 1804. The musical features a unique combination of hip-hop, R&B, soul, and show tunes to help examine Hamilton’s story through a modern lens.

Hamilton debuts on Disney+ on July 3. If you want to learn more, we recommend Gore Vidal’s book “Burr,” as an “enjoyable and even necessary companion piece” to the hit stage show.

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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

Earth Defense Force 6 has been officially revealed by series publisher D3, with the game expected to launch in 2021. Alongside that, a voxel-based spin-off, Earth Defense Force: World Brothers is also on the way.

The 2021 date suggests that Earth Defense Force 6 will land on next-generation consoles, which launch this holiday season, but no official platforms for the game have been announced just yet.

The game’s website doesn’t offer much information beyond a suite of screenshots (below), which as you might expect, include massive bugs terrorizing an urban landscape. It looks very much like an Earth Defense Force game, where a team of humans (often in co-op groups) must flesh out character builds and fight to rid the world of a bug scourge with increasingly absurd weaponry.

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As well as EDF 6, a voxel-based Earth Defence Force game has been revealed, titled Earth Defense Force: World Brothers.

The change in art style looks like a great fit, and according to its website, the predicament facing the World Brothers is that “Earth has become a square?” The game features characters from across the entire EDF series, and it will land on Nintendo Switch and PS4 at some point this year.

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Neither game has so far been announced for western release. The EDF series has traditionally featured long gaps between Japanese release and a western release, but spin-off Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain launched simultaneously worldwide, which might offer some hope to fans of giant bug slaughter.

Check out IGN’s review of Iron Rain from April 2019, where we called the last entry in the series “a more-than-pleasant experiment, a game that feels like it was made by fans of the series with their own ideas”.

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

We’re stoked to present to you the exclusive first trailer for Superman: Man of Tomorrow, the next animated DC Universe Movie from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. You can watch the trailer in the player above or via the embed below.

Superman: Man of Tomorrow is due out this summer on digital, 4K Ultra combo pack, and Blu-ray combo pack.

In Superman: Man of Tomorrow, “Daily Planet intern Clark Kent takes learning-on-the-job to new extremes when Lobo and Parasite set their sights on Metropolis,” according to the official plot synopsis.

Darren Criss (Hollywood, Midway) voices the lead role of Clark Kent, while Star Trek and Heroes’ Zachary Quinto voices his foe, Lex Luthor. Criss is no stranger to DC Comics adaptations, having appeared on The CW’s Supergirl and The Flash as the supervillain known as Music Meister.

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The voice cast ensemble of Superman: Man of Tomorrow also includes San Andreas and True Detective’s Alexandra Daddario as Lois Lane, Brett Dalton (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) as cosmic bounty hunter Lobo, Ryan Hurst (The Walking Dead) as the supervillain Parasite, and Ike Amadi (Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge) as Martian Manhunter.

Piotr Michael voices Perry White, while Jonathan and Martha Kent are played by Neil Flynn and Bellamy Young, respectively. The voice cast also includes Cristina Milizia, Eugene Byrd, April Stewart, Cissy Jones and David Chen.

The film’s creative team includes director Chris Palmer, screenwriter Tim Sheridan, and supervising producer Butch Lukic.

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This year also saw the release of another Man of Steel animated movie from WBHE, Superman: Red Son. In our positive review of the film, we praised it as “one of the stronger additions to DC’s animated movie library in recent years.”

And be sure to check out our roundup of every DC Universe Movie review in the 15-film continuity that recently ended with Justice League Dark: Apokolips War.

Here’s some good news and some bad news. First the good: Amazon has just put a box of eight Final Fantasy VII polygon figures up for preorder. They’re based on the character designs from the original 1997 game, which means ’90s kids will love them, as will anyone who enjoys delightful character designs. Seriously, just look at them. They’re slated for a September 1 release, and priced at $64.

Now for the bad news: instead of just selling the complete set as you might expect, Square Enix is only offering them in a package of eight blind boxes. That means you won’t necessarily get all the figures with one purchase, and you may get doubles.

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• Get it at Amazon
• Also at Square Enix Store

That’s a bummer, but you’ll definitely get eight of these figures (just cross your fingers you don’t get eight Renos). If that sounds like a gamble you’re willing to take, you’ll probably want to secure your preorder soon. It’s unclear how long the stock will last.

Almost all of the figures up for grabs are fantastic characters, with the exception of Reno (I kid!). The set includes Cloud, Aerith, Tifa, Barret, Red XIII, Sephiroth, and Reno. There’s also a chance that you’ll get a rare secret character variant (read to the end of this article if you want it spoiled).

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Final Fantasy VII Polygon Figures

• Cloud
• Aerith
• Tifa
• Barret
• Red XIII
• Sephiroth
• Reno

Each figure stands about two inches tall. They all have their iconic polygonal, boxy bodies, but they have “expressive eyes,” as the marketing copy says, which do look nice and add a lot of personality.

For the price they’re charging, I wish they just sold these in a set. But if you think it’s worth the risk, go ahead and place your preorder now.

Secret FF7 Polygon Figure

Spoilers: The secret figure is… (drumroll, please)

…

…

Cloud wearing the dress he puts on to infiltrate Don Corneo’s mansion. Good luck!

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Chris Reed is IGN’s shopping and commerce editor. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.

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Cyberpunk 2077 is getting a comic book series that ties in to the game before it launches later this year.

Dark Horse Comics recently created a listing for the comic series and it’s called Cyberpunk 2077: Trauma Team. The series will be about an assistant emergency medical technician on a failed rescue mission, presumably in Night City, the game’s main setting.

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“Nadia, an assistant EMT for a privately-owned business known as Trauma Team International, is the sole survivor of a failed rescue mission turned shootout,” the listing reads. “After she agrees to continue work for an upcoming extraction mission, Nadia and her new team find themselves in an even more dangerous and life-threatening situation.”

This is the listing for the series’ first issue. It’s unknown at this time how many issues will be in this series. The team behind the comic is writer Cullen Bunn, who wrote Dark Horse’s Harrow County and Marvel’s Uncanny X-Men in 2016, and illustrator Miguel Valderrama, who illustrated Dark Horse’s Giants.

This “new series based on the highly anticipated game” will be released on September 9 later this year with a price tag of $3.99 for issue one, which will be 32 pages long. The September 9 release date makes sense when you consider that Cyberpunk 2077 was set to be released on September 17 after a delay from its original April release date. The game was recently delayed once more to its new date of November 19.

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While Dark Horse has a listing up for the comic, it does not appear to be available for pre-order or purchase just yet. Read about CD Projekt Red’s plans for a “more robust” next-gen upgrade for Cyberpunk 2077 while waiting for this tie-in comic book to be released. Check out this neat easter egg hidden on the recently-released Cyberpunk 2077 Xbox controller, too.

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

Netflix has confirmed that a Chicken Run sequel will be heading to its streaming service, with production expected to begin next year.

The streaming giant announced the cracking news in a tweet on Tuesday, exactly two decades after Aardman’s original stop-motion adventure swooped onto the big screen.

POULTRY NEWS: Exactly 20 years to the day since the original was released, we can confirm there will be a Chicken Run sequel coming to Netflix!! Produced by @aardman, production is expected to begin next year. Eggsellent.

— Netflix UK & Ireland (@NetflixUK) June 23, 2020

Netflix tweeted: “POULTRY NEWS: Exactly 20 years to the day since the original was released, we can confirm there will be a Chicken Run sequel coming to Netflix!! Produced by Aardman, production is expected to begin next year. Eggsellent.”

Alongside this announcement, Aardman shared an official synopsis for the film: “Having pulled off a death-defying escape from Tweedy’s farm, Ginger has finally found her dream – a peaceful island sanctuary for the whole flock, far from the dangers of the human world. When she and Rocky hatch a little girl called Molly, Ginger’s happy ending seems complete. But back on the mainland the whole of chicken-kind faces a new and terrible threat. For Ginger and her team, even if it means putting their own hard-won freedom at risk – this time, they’re breaking in!”

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Sam Fell, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker behind Aardman Animation’s Flushed Away and the Laika-produced ParaNorman, is attached to direct the sequel, with Peter Lord, Carla Shelley and Karey Kirkpatrick returning as executive producers. Steve Pegram and Leyla Hobart will produce the poultry picture, and Nick Park will be involved in a consulting role. Rachel Tunnard is teaming up with original Chicken Run writers Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell on the script.

“Fans around the world have waited patiently for a sequel idea worthy of Chicken Run so we’re delighted to announce, on the 20th anniversary, that we’ve found the perfect story,” Aardman’s Peter Lord, who co-directed the original claymation comedy with Nick Park, said in a statement. “Netflix feels like the ideal creative partner for this project too: they celebrate the film-maker, which means we can make the film we want to make – the one we really care about – and share it with a global audience.”

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The original Chicken Run film was a huge box office hit, making $225 million worldwide on a modest $45 million production budget, and to this date, it remains the highest-grossing stop motion animated film in history. It also earned a spot on our list of Top 10 DreamWorks Animation movies, however, DreamWorks will have no involvement in the upcoming sequel as they ended their partnership with Aardman in 2006.

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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

There are two new consoles on the horizon: PS5 and Xbox Series X. It doesn’t matter which one you get; I’m not here to start a console war. I’m merely here to let you know if you haven’t yet made the switch to a 4K TV for the next-gen consoles, today is your lucky day. Amazon is running a Deal of the Day on some of Samsung’s nicest QLED 4K TVs, and I recommend you check them out. The color on the QLEDs is amazing. Experiencing one actually made me less interested in going outside, because the two-dimensional reality of QLED is so much more vivid than the real world. That’s something of an exaggeration on my part… or is it? Only one way to find out.

4K QLED UHD TV Deals

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We still don’t have an official release date on PS5 or Xbox Series X, nor do we have prices for either next-gen console. But we’re getting closer every single day. If you plan on picking up one, or both, new consoles, grab yourself one of these TVs now, while they’re on sale.

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Seth Macy is Executive Editor, IGN Commerce, and just wants to be your friend. Find him on Twitter @sethmacy. 

240Hz gaming monitors have come a long way. Whereas a couple of years ago every 240Hz gaming monitor was just another TN display sacrificing color and contrast for maximum frame rate, these days you’ll find just as many VA and IPS screens that look substantially better.

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Acer’s latest Predator XB3 pretty much sets the gold standard for what a 240Hz gaming monitor should be now. It features a fast IPS panel that can hit 240Hz while displaying a bright and colorful HDR picture at 400-nits. What really sets it apart from other IPS displays in its class is it also features a 0.5ms response time while also supporting FreeSync Premium Pro and G-Sync compatibility.

And if that wasn’t enough to make the Acer Predator XB3 standout, it also features integrated RGB lighting just under the display.

We’ve been using the monitor for a few days now and we’ve been blown away by its great picture quality paired with its incredibly fast refresh rate. Thanks to it being G-Sync compatible, we also haven’t seen a single torn frame even as we wildly whip our mouse around trying to freeze everyone with Mei in Overwatch.

Instead, every frame of animation looks like a crisp still image, allowing us to easily track targets and line up headshots.

The only thing we wished was a little better on the monitor was the integration of the RGB bar lighting. For now, it doesn’t seem like there’s any software to tie its effects or color to your games. By comparison, MSI has used GameSense to tie reloading alerts to the RGB lighting on its monitors.

Of course, this is only just an early preview of an early unit right now, so some software may develop by the time of our final review.

The Acer Predator XB3 gaming monitor will release later this September for a starting price of $429.

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Kevin Lee is IGN’s Hardware and Roundups Editor. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam

The Marvel Legends action figure line is primarily known for producing high-quality superhero figurines. It also offers some life-sized superhero accessories, like Captain America’s shield and Thanos’s power gauntlet. What the toy line is currently working on is a little different. It’s a moving, talking replica of Deadpool’s head. It’ll be out on September 1, but you can preorder the noggin now.

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• Preorder it at Amazon – $99.99

So, yes, it’s not just a display piece to be set on your shelf. It moves in surprisingly expressive ways as it delivers over 600 lines of humorous dialog. It has an accompanying app that lets you control the types of things it says. It has jokes and insults, as well as somewhat elaborate pranks.

The head contains sensors that let it know, for instance, when someone opens the refrigerator you’ve set it in, so it can scare your unsuspecting victim. Another of the pre-programmed pranks involves you placing the head in someone’s bed. You can even use the app to set up custom pranks by having it say something when it detects noises, movement, or changes in the light.

Also included in the head’s programming is the “world’s worst alarm clock,” which is inaccurate four out of five times (“Try your chances!”) and a party mode, intended to be used when you have people over to amuse and delight them.

It seems like quite a silly thing, which is exactly what you’d expect from an interactive Deadpool collectible. If it’s your kind of silly thing, you can lock in your preorder now, to be delighted when it ships in a few months.

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Chris Reed is IGN’s shopping and commerce editor. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.

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