Shang-Chi’s Simu Liu To Disney CEO Bob Chapek: “We Are Not An Experiment”

Actor Simu Liu has pushed back against comments from Disney CEO Bob Chapek suggesting Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings‘s release will be an “experiment” for the company. Chapek’s comments were to investors in a recent quarterly earnings call about the company’s pandemic-caused need for a new strategy regarding theatrical and streaming releases.

On the call, Chapek said Shang-Chi is “actually going to be an interesting experiment for us because it’s got only a 45-day window for us… so the prospect of being able to take a Marvel title to the service after going theatrical for 45 days will be yet another data point to inform our actions going forward on our titles.”

In a tweet you can read above, Liu pushed back at the characterization on Twitter, saying: “We are not an experiment. We are the underdog; the underestimated. We are the ceiling-breakers. We are the celebration of culture and joy that will persevere after an embattled year.” Liu also added that he is “fired the f*** up to make history” when the film is released theatrically on September 3.

In the Marvel movie, Liu plays Shang-Chi, a seemingly normal man living in San Francisco. But he has a dark family history–his father is Wenwu–and The Mandarin–a mysterious and powerful villain who once had plans for his son to join him in the criminal life. Shang-Chi rejects this, but finds himself coming into conflict with him once more and tapping into amazing powers of his own. Awkwafina plays Shang-Chi’s friend Katy, and the movie looks like a spectacular mix of mystery and wild martial arts-inspired action.

Elijah Wood Reacts To Amazon’s Lord Of The Rings Series Leaving New Zealand

Actor Elijah Wood, who played Frodo in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings series, has reacted to the recent news that Amazon’s new TV series will move its production out of New Zealand and into the UK for its second season. Wood’s response was short but emphatic.

Sharing a news story about the announcement, Wood used the facepalm emoji to describe his emotions about it.

New Zealand is synonymous with The Lord of the Rings. In fact, the country’s own tourism department uses The Lord of the Rings to encourage people to come visit (or at least they did before COVID).

Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings series was filmed in New Zealand, except for some interiors that were shot in the UK, Wood acknowledged on Twitter.

Amazon deciding to film Season 2 outside of New Zealand marks the first time a recent live-action Lord of the Rings project was filmed outside of the country, as The Hobbit was filmed there as well. Amazon Studios boss Vernon Sanders said in a statement that New Zealand was an “incredible place to begin this epic journey” with The Lord of the Rings TV show.

New Zealand Film Commission boss David Strong responded to the news, saying, “It’s a shame and I feel for everyone who has put their hearts into this production.”

New Zealand politician Todd McClay said to Variety that New Zealand’s economic and regional development minister Stuart Nash is to blame. “Stuart Nash has shown a lack of interest in negotiating with Amazon, despite the huge impact the production could have on our economy,” McClay said. “Stuart Nash needs to be transparent with Kiwis about why he didn’t even ask for future seasons of the show to be filmed in New Zealand.”

Nash responded, saying Amazon simply made a “commercial choice” and that New Zealand’s film industry remains healthy and a viable place for productions to take place.

The report from Variety further suggests that New Zealand’s strict border policies in the wake of COVID-19 might have played a role in Amazon’s decision to do business elsewhere. By contrast, the UK is less restrictive, and it’s also where Amazon is filming Anansi Boys and Good Omens, so Amazon is already up and running in the region.

Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings series will debut its first season on September 3, 2022. Episodes will be released weekly for Prime subscribers. The first teaser image from the show appears to highlight the Two Trees of Valinor, which is intriguing to think about.

The show features an ensemble cast that includes Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Maxim Baldry, Nazanin Boniadi, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Charles Edwards, Trystan Gravelle, Sir Lenny Henry, Ema Horvath, Markella Kavenagh, Joseph Mawle, Tyroe Muhafidin, Sophia Nomvete, Lloyd Owen, Megan Richards, Dylan Smith, Charlie Vickers, Leon Wadham, Benjamin Walker, Daniel Weyman, and Sara Zwangobani.

Behind the camera, Amazon recruited Breaking Bad alum Gennifer Hutchison as an executive producer, while Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom’s J.A. Bayona, Doctor Who’s Wayne Che Yip, and The Witcher’s Charlotte Brändström all directed episodes.

The official description for Season 1 is below:

“The new epic drama brings to screens for the very first time J.R.R. Tolkien’s fabled Second Age of Middle-earth’s history. Beginning in a time of relative peace, thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth.”

Rob Zombie Reveals Creepy Behind-The-Scenes Make-Up Effects For Munsters Movie

Rob Zombie has released new behind-the-scenes images from his upcoming Munsters movie. The reboot of the classic ’60s sitcom is currently in production in Budapest, Hungary.

Zombie posted new images on Instagram. They show some of the make-up effects work being carried out by his team, including a head covered in blue gloop, prosthetic teeth, and two full monster heads. The caption reads, “Lots of Munsters action in the Ex Mortis special effects studio today. These guys are working overtime.” Check the images out below:

These images follow pictures of clay make-up for Herman Munster, blueprint for the Munsters House, and an illustration of Lily and Herman in their nightwear.

The Munsters doesn’t have a release date yet, but it’s been rumored that the movie might end up as a Peacock streaming exclusive. Universal is making several movies that will debut on its streaming platform, including the next Paranormal Activity movie and the Pet Sematary prequel. The cast of The Munsters hasn’t been announced either, but reportedly Zombie regulars Jeff Daniel Philips and Sheri Moon Zombie will play Herman and Lily.

The Munsters premiered in 1964 and focused on the home life of a group of friendly monsters. It ran for 70 episodes over the next two years and was followed by several made-for-TV movies. A sequel show titled The Munsters Today arrived in 1988, which ran for 4 years.

Intel Is Taking on AMD and Nvidia With Its Own Graphics Cards

Intel, the company best known for its CPUs, has announced it is entering the GPU market, with its first line of consumer graphics cards arriving next year.

The Arc brand will serve as Intel’s foothold in the market, offering both hardware and software-based graphics cards. Intel also confirmed that the Arc series will span “multiple hardware generations,” with the first generation codenamed “Alchemist” (previously known as DG2) and slated to arrive in desktops and laptops in early 2022.

Although Intel has not disclosed specifics on the Alchemist line of graphics cards, the company did share a teaser video to coincide with the announcement today. The video showed a prototype running several games, such as the Crysis Remastered Trilogy, Metro Exodus, and Psychonauts 2.

Intel says that its Arc graphics cards will offer mesh shading, variable-rate shading, video upscaling, as well as real-time ray-traying. What’s interesting is the announcement video also mentions AI-accelerated supersampling. Although Intel did not go into detail on what it is, the implication is that it could serve as a competitor to Nvidia’s DLSS and AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution. Both products are supersampling technology that achieves higher framerates or resolutions on games without sacrificing a substantial amount of power from your hardware to achieve better performance.

This is not the first time Intel has made graphics cards. Intel released its Iris Xe graphics card earlier this year, previously known under the codename “DG1.” However, the Iris Xe is not designed for gaming, but rather for workstations.

The announcement of the Arc brand means that Intel will take on AMD and Nvidia in the GPU market, both of which released a new line of gaming graphics cards within the last year. However, both companies have struggled to keep up with high demand and limited supply due to several contributing factors, including a global chip shortage. There is a chance that the shortages could remain an issue until 2023.

Nevertheless, Intel is playing the long game here as the company has also revealed the codenames of its future generations of Arc GPUs: “Battlemage,” “Celestial,” and “Druid.” With Intel promising to unveil more details on the Arc brand later this year.

Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

The Secret To A Happy Life From Playing Games

Since the 1970s the idea of Flow, or feeling ‘in the zone’, has been believed by some to be the secret to a happy life. From Tetris Effect to Doom Eternal, many video games are particularly good at getting players into a Flow state, so could understanding Flow be the key to feeling as happy as possible from playing games?

By on

Whether it’s Tetris Effect, Super Monkey Ball or Doom Eternal, many different video games give players the feeling of being ‘in the zone’ while playing or, as psychologists call it, Flow.

Flow is a psychological state that gives people a sense of energized focus, and is familiar to many people who play video games. According to some psychologists, people with more ‘Flow’ in their lives will live happier lives because of it, so can video games that put people into a state of Flow help players lead happier lives?

Alexander Kriss, psychotherapist and author of ‘The Gaming Mind’, helps explain why Flow could be the secret to happiness, why some games might be better than others for inducing Flow, and the potential psychological benefits of getting in the zone while playing games.

Check out another video featuring Alexander, on the Dark Souls series and mental health: https://youtu.be/4dXjBhPB4t0

The Gaming Mind by Alexander Kriss: https://www.amazon.com/Gaming-Mind-Psychology-Videogames-Power/dp/1615196811?tag=gs-buybutton-20

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Flow, the secret to happiness: https://youtu.be/fXIeFJCqsPs

Finding Flow: The Psychology Of Engagement With Everyday Life by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Flow-Psychology-Engagement-Everyday-ebook/dp/B0010NY7OQ

Flow in games by Jenova Chen: http://jenovachen.info/abstract

Designing DOOM Eternal with Hugo Martin – Noclip Podcast #22: https://youtu.be/qBHIalb01ew

Reality Is Broken by Jane McGonigal: https://www.amazon.com/Reality-Broken-Games-Better-Change-ebook/dp/B004G8Q1Q4

Avatar Legends Has Been So Successful It’s Run Out of Stretch Goals

An Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra-based tabletop RPG has now become so successful that creator Magpie Games has (for the meantime) run out of stretch goals on its Kickstarter campaign.

Announced on the game’s official Kickstarter page, backers of Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game recently broke through the campaign’s $5 million USD funding target, which left Magpie Games in the fortunate but slightly awkward position of having run out of stretch goals to offer. The company is currently working to create further funding milestones for the game and has updated fans on this process.

“As we’ve mentioned before, we’re still working on several stretch goals through approvals. This process is important and takes a fair bit of time. Viacom is working with us to speed up the process, but it normally takes 10+ days for the process. We’re so grateful they’re working with us to get things moving!” said Magpie Games. “Our next stretch goal will be at 6 Million! Once we can reveal the details, we will! Stay tuned!” the company added, before thanking fans for their continued enthusiasm.

As previously reported by IGN, the Avatar Legends Kickstarter campaign launched on August 3 where it smashed through its initial $50,000 funding goal in 16 minutes. After raising over $1 million on just its first day, the game has since gone on to become the biggest ever tabletop RPG campaign to launch on Kickstarter. In its first week on the platform, the RPG surpassed the funding record set by Matt Colville’s Strongholds and Followers – an unofficial Dungeons & Dragons crowdfunded campaign which had previously raised $2.1 million in 30 days in 2018.

At the time of writing, Avatar Legends has amassed over $5.8 million dollars in funding. With the next funding milestone set at $6 million, this likely means that fans could start funding further stretch goals for the game before they’ve even been announced. Avatar Legends is set to remain on Kickstarter until September 3, by which point who knows what the final funding count will be?

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

EA Might Ban Battlefield 2042 Technical Test Leakers From The Full Game

Ahead of Battlefield 2042’s official release in October, EA is currently conducting a closed technical test on the game to get it ready for launch. Similar to other games, participation in this early build of Battlefield 2042 comes with the agreement of a non-disclosure agreement, and EA isn’t taking any breaches of this contract lightly.

“You’re under NDA for this playtest, so videos, screenshots, and streaming from this playtest [will] result in strikes on your channels,” EA’s lead community manager Adam Freeman tweeted. “Break the rules, expect to lose access to both the Technical Playtest, future EA Tests, and potentially access to 2042 itself when it releases.”

EA has so far taken quick action against any leaks of Battlefield 2042, swiftly moving to stamp out any footage appearing online as it wants Battlefield 2042 to be seen in the best light possible while preserving some surprises for fans.

As soon as the technical test began people began posting gameplay footage online, some of which had the glitches and in-development bugs that you’d expect from an early slice of the game. For those people who didn’t read the fine print and were booted out for posting footage online, they’ll likely be in for a shock on launch day if EA makes good on its threat.

For a chance to play the game with fewer consequences attached, fans will have to wait until September to try out the Battlefield 2042 open beta that will open up early to anyone who preorders the multiplayer shooter. For more on Battlefield 2042 before it launches on October 22, you can check out the short film Exodus that brings back a few familiar faces from the past.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

Bloodborne Modder Makes the Game First-Person, and It’s Coming Soon

Bloodborne modders have created a new mod for the FromSoftware game which will allow players to tackle Yharnam’s many foes in a fully-fledged first-person mode.

As reported by Eurogamer, modder Garden of Eyes created the first-person mod, which could change the way that players will interact with the game’s gothic settings. The mod itself works by adding a new headpiece named the Great One Hat, which can be found at the start of the game. Once sported, the hat enables the player to traverse through the game from a first-person perspective, complete with visible weapons as you’d expect from a traditional FPS.

A trailer for the mod can be seen on Garden of Eyes’ YouTube channel. The modder noted in the description of the trailer, “This has been one of the most ambitious projects I have worked on, and I am very happy to finally be able to present it to you guys!” They added, “I will be releasing this mod, as well as the shortcut door mod very soon! Though, you will be seeing some streamers use it, so look out for that!” The shortcut door mod recreates a cut shortcut from an early version of the game, allowing players to move to Central Yharnam to the Cathedral Ward area.

If the trailer is anything to go by, a first-person perspective of Bloodborne looks like it could add an extra layer of cruelty to the game – it’ll be interesting to see how members of the community adapt their playstyles to compensate for a more limited line of sight within the game.

Perhaps the most terrifying thing about the mod – aside from the aforementioned Bloodborne bosses – is the set of disembodied hands that the new perspective adds to the player. According to Eurogamer, this bizarre phenomenon is a product of the edits made to some of the holding animations for a number of weapons so that they had a proper view when wielded. Garden of Eyes is set to release the Bloodborne first-person mod on their Patreon soon.

This isn’t the first game-changing mod to reach the Bloodborne community this year. Back in February, IGN reported that a 60 FPS mod had been released for the game which allowed players to edit the 1.09 version of Bloodborne and increase its framerate cap. For more on Bloodborne, make sure to check out our review of the game where we called it an “exhausting and exhilarating journey into the depths of madness”.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Osa Is Rainbow Six Siege’s First Transgender Operator

With the announcement of Rainbow Six Siege’s Year 6, Season 3 content, Crystal Guard, comes a new operator in Osa. Ubisoft has confirmed to GameSpot that she is the first ever transgender operator to join Rainbow Six Siege.

Osa is the third new Operator added as part of Rainbow Six Siege’s Year 6 content, joining fellow attacker Flores and defender Thunderbird. Osa is armed with tactical robotic shields that she can deploy in windows and doorways, adding an extra layer of protection for her team.

Osa’s gender identity was not acknowledged during a recent preview event for the new season, and the game makes no reference to Osa being trans outside of one line mentioning a “transition” in her biography (seen below). When speaking about her time at the University of Zagreb, the bio mentions that she “found herself isolated due to her unorthodox approach and others’ attitudes towards her transition.”

No Caption Provided

GameSpot reached out to Ubisoft for confirmation of Osa being transgender, with writer Simon Ducharme responding with the following:

“The decision to create a transgender character was made early on, as part of our initiative to have an inclusive roster of Operators. The consultants, all of whom are trans people, wanted to make sure that Osa was presented as authentically and organically as possible. She was written by a queer person and she is voiced by a trans woman – and while her identity is certainly influenced by her gender, who she is in the Siege universe is centered on her talents, her influence on Nighthaven, and her close friendship to Kali.”

Crystal Guard is the third season of content during Year 6 of Rainbow Siege. Along with Osa, the new season has reworked three of the game’s maps, Bank, Club, and Coastline, along with other adjustments. The Crystal Guard update goes live in Rainbow Six Siege’s Test Server on August 17.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

Rainbow Six Siege Year 6 Season 3 Crystal Guard Hits Test Server On August 17

Developer Ubisoft Montreal has pulled back the curtain on the newest Rainbow Six Siege content, Year 6, Season 3: Crystal Guard. The latest add-on includes an additional operator, map reworks, and balancing adjustments, and will be available on August 17 via the tactical shooter’s PC test server.

The headlining feature of Crystal Guard is the addition of the new operator, Osa. The game’s first transgender character, Osa is a “medium speed, medium armor operator equipped with the 556 XI or PDW9 as a primary weapon and the PMM as a secondary weapon,” according to a press release. She also has a deployable bulletproof shield called the Talon-8 Clear Shield, a transparent cover that can be thrown on the ground, attached to doorframes, and placed in windows. Osa can move with the shield in her hands, but her movement is limited and weapons can’t be used while it’s equipped.

Elsewhere in Crystal Guard are reworks for the Bank, Coastline, and Clubhouse maps. According to a press release, all three have been “rebuilt from the ground up” for better balancing, environmental destruction, sound propagation, and lighting. Each map has new locations and more entrances. For example, the Bank has a new alleyway and the Clubhouse has an edited path. Meanwhile, Coastline has had its first-floor bomb site replaced.

There are other adjustments coming to Year 6, Season 3 as well. These include the ability to equip any headgear with an Elite uniform (with the caveat that you must own both the headgear and the uniform that belong to the same operator); balancing tweaks coming to Fuze, IQ, Mute, and Twitch; a new flash detection system and gadget damage changes; and an armor rework. Furthermore, Ubisoft will implement a lighting fix that will highlight opponents to avoid unfair camouflage when Crystal Guard drops next week.

Year 6, Season 3 will hit the game’s PC test server on August 17, with Osa being available the following day. The Crystal Guard update is slated to arrive for all Rainbow Six Siege players sometime this September.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.