Original Mortal Kombat Actress Wants Her Stolen War Gods Helmet Back, Offers $250 Reward

A former motion capture actress for multiple Midway games–including Sonya Blade in the original Mortal Kombat–has turned to social media to retrieve an item stolen 25 years ago.

Kerri Ann Hoskins recently posted a $250 reward for a helmet she wore while playing Vallah in the Nintendo 64 fighting game War Gods. According to Hoskins the helmet was stolen from the coat check at E3 1996, and she’s willing to pay to get it back.

“Vallah was the most laborious costume I had done for Midway,” Hoskins said in response to a request for comment from GameSpot. “For Vallah’s helmet, they actually casted my head for a perfect fit. The artist did an amazing job at sculpting out the features.”

Hoskins recounted to GameSpot what she remembers of the day the helmet was stolen, saying that it was on the last day of the convention, during a celebratory dinner party thrown by Midway in the convention hall. Hoskins had attended the party still in costume and checked the helmet at the coat check before sitting at her table.

“When I returned to retrieve [the helmet], it was gone,” Hoskins said, “[The attendant] had the helmet on a shelf in the closet. Anyone walking by could’ve seen it.”

Hoskins is hopeful that through the power of social media she is able to retrieve the stolen helmet, saying that she’d one day like to pass it down to her kids. When asked what she would say to the person in possession of the helmet should they read this, she responded simply.

“Hey man, I know it’s a cool art piece…but it only fits me,” Hoskins said. “Because it was made for me, not you. It’s been 25 years. Can I have it back now?”

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DokeV’s Trailers Showed Less Than 10% of its Entire Open World

Last month, we got a long look at DokeV, the open-world action-adventure game from the studio behind Black Desert Online that’s full of monster catching, goofy minigames, and exploration of what sounds like quite a sizable open world.

Speaking to IGN, lead producer Sangyoung Kim gave a rough idea of the full scope of the world in comparison to its trailer from the PlayStation Showcase.

“Including White Whale Town, there are two towns shown in the video,” he said. “I’m not sure how to express the island’s magnitude, but you can think of it like this: the parts of town you’ve seen in the trailer are less than 10% of the actual island. The map is large enough to keep you entertained just by walking around and exploring the open world.

“We actually rode the skateboard, drifted, and boosted around the island in the game engine, but it took quite a while to do a full trip around it.”

The skateboards Kim is referring to are shown in the trailer alongside a number of other interesting traversal methods, such as jet skis, rideable alpacas, umbrellas (used like gliders), bicycles, cars, skateboards, and plenty more. And Kim added that those methods aren’t the only ways you can travel — there are plenty more that haven’t been shown yet, which players will be able to use to “explore freely.”

Plus, Kim said that the world will incorporate day and night cycles, seasons, and weather as well — though he noted that it’s still in development and that’s subject to change.

Kim also mentioned that it’s possible the game gets even bigger, though it’s not clear for now whether that means in geographical size or just in terms of things to do. Kim confirmed that Pearl Abyss will continue to add new content after the launch, noting that DokeV is ultimately “all about adventure and exploration of the open-world.”

Unfortunately, we’re still waiting for a release window for now.

“We are focusing on the development right now and I think there will be a time we can reveal more about when players can expect to play our game,” Kim said. “However, what we can promise is we will do our best to make a great game.”

Kim shared a few other details as well, such as the nature of DokeV’s multiplayer elements, and a little about the different kinds of activities players can participate in with their Dokebi beyond just battling and exploring, so there’s plenty more to unpack while we wait to learn more about Pearl Abyss’ upcoming open-world action-adventure and its cast of colorful monsters.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

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Sledgehammer Games Teases Call Of Duty: Vanguard Comics

Sledgehammer Games has teased a comic book for New York Comic Con based on the upcoming Call of Duty: Vanguard. Teased in a tweet, Sledgehammer Games wrote “see you at NYCC,” with an image of a comic book cover titled Call of Duty Vanguard.

The comic cover doesn’t include any other text but has an image of Lieutenant Polina Petrova surrounded by dead German soldiers. Petrova, a Russian sniper and one of the four protagonists of the Call of Duty: Vanguard campaign, was also the playable character in the campaign demo shown during Gamescom Opening Night Live 2021.

A follow-up tweet states that people who attend the Sledgehammer Games panel during New York Comic Con will receive an exclusive issue of the Call of Duty: Vanguard comic highlighting how Polina was recruited into the special forces. The panel is called “Navigating a Narrative Minefield: Writing a Call of Duty Story Across Video Games and Comics,” and based on the description, it sounds like Sledgehammer will be releasing comics for all of the protagonists in Call of Duty: Vanguard.

New York Comic Con takes place October 7-10, about a month prior to Call of Duty: Vanguard’s release, so these comics might be released as a build-up to the game’s full release. All of this comes amid an ongoing discrimination lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, alleging the company has a “frat boy” culture.

Call of Duty: Vanguard releases on November 5 on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

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In DokeV, the Dokebi Monsters Are for Far More Than Just Battling

DokeV dazzled at the most recent PlayStation Showcase, where for four colorful minutes it demonstrated a large open world full of goofy monsters, like a bear with boxing gloves and rideable alpacas. But while it seems these monsters are in some fashion capturable and able to stand by the player’s side in battle, that’s not the sole focus on DokeV.

According to lead producer Sangyoung Kim, DokeV’s monsters, called Dokebi, which are “spirit-like beings” in Korean folklore. Kim told us that actual Dokebi myths are at the heart of many monster designs we’ve already seen.

“We thought of a lot of different ideas with the Dokebi folklore at the center,” he said. “You may have seen the Anteater-like Dokebi in the video, but it’s not actually an anteater. This Dokebi represents an imaginary animal called Bulgasari that takes on the form of a bear (kind of), and it eats iron. Another Dokebi in the video is in the form of a bird wearing a traditional Korean hat; this was drawn from a dark spirit called Eoduksinii in ancient folklore.

“But not all designs take these kinds of things into consideration. There are a lot of other ones that we design freely with whatever comes to mind. Sometimes we cannot apply those to the game. So we put that into the murals in the game. I liked that this sort of inspiration helped create a very rich display of the environment.”

But while the Dokebi are certainly real creatures in the world of DokeV, Kim added that it’s not really like what we’ve come to expect from other monster capture RPGs like Pokemon or Temtem, where fights are at the center of getting the creatures to come along for the ride. In DokeV, not many people don’t know of their existence, or if they do, they don’t believe in them. The main character, he said, is one of only a few people who know of and can see them, and goes on an adventure to search for Dokebi to achieve their dreams.

So while he didn’t give many specific details, there seems to be a lot more to befriending Dokebi than just duking it out until they decide to join the party.

“Dokebi are born from people’s dreams. For example, someone dreams of becoming a boxer but is unable to pursue that dream because of their parents or some other reason. The inability to pursue their desires manifests as a dream, creating the Boxer Dokebi.

“As players progress in the game, they will get several hints about Dokebi, and eventually, befriend them after meeting special conditions using information from these hints and reading through each Dokebi’s unique backstory.

“When there are battles on the course of the adventure, players can fight with the help of Dokebi, but there are many activities where they can use the skillset of Dokebi. Players can achieve dreams and wishes with Dokebi.”

Some of those activities include exploring DokeV’s large island world, fishing, kite flying, and various other minigames, including some of the goofiness we saw in the trailer — and Pearl Abyss plans to continue to add more content post-launch. Plus, there are plans for multiplayer content, both co-op as well as PvP, even though DokeV is no longer classified as an MMORPG.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

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Battlefield 2042 Delayed Until November

EA has announced that Battlefield 2042 will be delayed until November 19, 2021, pushing the release date by almost a month after its original October 22 release date.

In a press release, DICE GM Oskar Gabrielson cites ongoing complications with the COVID-19 pandemic. “Given the scale and scope of the game, we had hoped our teams would be back in our studios together as we move towards launch. With the ongoing conditions not allowing that to happen safely, and with all the hard work the teams are doing from home, we feel it is important to take the extra time to deliver on the vision of Battlefield 2042 for our players.”

Battlefield 2042 is EA and DICE’s first Battlefield game since 2018’s Battlefield 5, and it is the latest game to be hit by a delay in 2021.

Unlike some other major releases originally planned for 2021, Battlefield 2042 will still launch this year and won’t impact EA’s financial forecast for the fiscal year 2022.

EA also says an update on the Open Beta for Battlefield 2042 will be announced later this month.

Battlefield 2042 will be set in the near future and will include hallmarks of the series such as large-scale battles and huge open maps. In addition, Battlefield 2042 is set during an environmental disaster so players will contend with natural disasters like tornados appearing on the map as well.

A new addition to Battlefield 2042 is a mode called Portal which will let players create custom games using assets from Battlefield 2042, Battlefield 1942, Battlefield Bad Company 2, and Battlefield 3.

Check out IGN’s Battlefield 2042 preview for our take on the next large-scale military shooter.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.