Tetris: Taron Egerton to Play Video Game Designer in New Biopic

Taron Egerton is set to lead the cast of Tetris, a new biopic coming from director Jon S. Baird and producer Matthew Vaughn.

Deadline reports that all of the pieces have started to fall into place for the upcoming Tetris movie, which is set to chronicle the complicated history of the legal battle that ensued over the intellectual property rights for the popular puzzle game in the late ’80s. Egerton will portray Dutch video game designer Henk Rogers, who played a pivotal part in the dispute over the franchise’s copyright.

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With the project starting to move forward, more and more details have started to drop online. The latest news brings word of Apple boarding the Tetris biopic, which is being produced and financed by Matthew Vaughn’s Marv Films, together with Leonard Blavatnik’s AI Film. Unigram’s Gregor Cameron is also involved as a producer alongside Gillian Berry.

Director Jon S. Baird is said to be finalizing the rest of the cast for the video game-inspired movie, as he is reportedly gearing up to start production in Scotland at the beginning of December. There are several major players in the story that are yet to be cast, including Russian software engineer Alexey Pajitnov and British businessmen Robert and Kevin Maxwell.

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Egerton seems to be a good starting point though, as he has now become well-versed in portraying real-life figures on the big screen. Most notably, he played the titular character in 2016’s Eddie the Eagle, followed by singer-songwriter Elton John in the 2019 musical Rocketman. IGN praised his part in Rocketman for contributing to “a compelling, exhilarating and heartbreaking journey.”

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

Kingdom Hearts Creator Wants New Game To Tie Up Loose Ends And “Change The Format”

Kingdom Hearts creator Tetsuya Nomura has suggested that a new game could tie up any lingering story threads left behind by Kingdom Hearts 3. Speaking to Dengeki Online and translated by Gematsu, Nomura spoke about creating a brand-new Kingdom Hearts experience.

“I intend to tie up remaining loose story ends but also want to change the format a bit. I want to drastically change the world and tell a new story, but also tie up loose ends,” Nomura said.

If Nomura and Square Enix do return to Kingdom Hearts, it’ll still be a long time before that new entry in the series appears on PS5 or Xbox Series X. Nomura is currently working on the second part of Final Fantasy VII Remake and will be busy on that project for quite some time.

“If we make a Kingdom Hearts game for next-gen consoles, it’s going to be released after many other companies have already released their titles, so I believe we’d have to make something that could compete,” Nomura explained. “Of course, that’s only a hypothetical since we haven’t announced that there will be a new title for PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X.”

The most recent game in the series, musical spin-off Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory for the PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, was released earlier this month and has a demo that you can try out right now. A new mobile game is also on the way after being delayed, called Dark Road.

Now Playing: The History Of The Kingdom Hearts Franchise

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WWE Thunderdome To Relocate In December

WWE will bring its interactive audience experience, ThunderDome, to Tropicana Field in Tampa Bay as it begins a new residency starting with SmackDown on Friday, December 11. Tropicana Field is the home to the MLB’s Rays. That’s right, WWE’s Thunderdome setup will soon exist in the middle of a baseball field.

Thunderdome was launched in August as part of WWE’s first-ever residency at Amway Center in Orlando and featured a state-of-the-art set that had lit up video screens, drone cameras, 3-D technology, and of course, good ole fashioned pyro. It’s similar to what the NBA had been experimenting with during their season. Ray’s President Matt Silverman expressed his enthusiasm for the shared occupancy.

“The Tampa Bay Rays are excited to welcome WWE to Tropicana Field for this residency and shine a spotlight on the Tampa Bay area for WWE fans around the world,” said Silverman. “The ballpark will be transformed to host the spectacle of WWE ThunderDome, allowing fans to enjoy this wildly popular experience virtually.”

WWE’s move from Amway Center might have come about due to the NBA season beginning in late December and the possibility of the Orlando Magic needing the facility.

WWE Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Brian Flynn said that the “new residency will enable us to continue offering an unmatched live spectacle and would not have been possible without the strong support from the Tampa Bay Rays organization. We remain grateful for the hospitality provided by the Amway Center over the past four months.”

Fans can still register for the Thunderdome experience through WWE’s Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter pages.

Chaos Walking: First Trailer Arrives For Tom Holland And Daisy Ridley Sci-Fi Thriller

The upcoming sci-fi thriller Chaos Walking has taken a long time to reach the screen. Principal photography on the adaptation of Patrick Ness’s acclaimed novel wrapped back in 2017, but extensive reshoots and clashing schedules meant the movie was delayed from its initial 2019 date. It finally arrives in January, and the first trailer has been released.

The trailer starts with a ship containing a woman named Viola, played by Daisy Ridley, crashing to Earth. But the world she finds is very different to the one we know–every woman on the planet is now dead, and the remaining men are able to hear each other’s thoughts. She teams up with a young man named Todd (Tom Holland) and embarks on a dangerous mission. It looks like familiar post-apocalyptic territory, but Ridley and Holland will hopefully make it worth watching. Check the trailer out below:

The movie also stars Mads Mikkelsen as the main villain, a tyrant named David Prentiss, plus Demián Bichir (Alien Covenant), Cynthia Erivo (Harriet), and singer Nick Jonas. It’s directed by Edge of Tomorrow’s Doug Liman, while Fede Álvarez (Don’t Breathe) was brought on to assist Liman with the reshoots in 2019.

In an interview with ComingSoon, Liman spoke about trying to make a post-apocalyptic movie that wasn’t as dark as other films in the genre. “One thing that was important to me about Chaos Walking is you cannot make a movie as nihilistic as Children of Men,” he said. “I want audiences to have a little more fun. I think that you can have a little more fun without losing substance.

“My world outlook is, like I said, I like more adventure. I am really interested in adventure and Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley might be in a very precarious situation in Chaos Walking, but they are going on one hell of an adventure. It may not be an adventure that either one of them signed up for, but it’s an adventure that I would want to go on.”

Nintendo Tells Businesses and Organizations Not to Use Animal Crossing for ‘Political Purposes’

Nintendo has published a set of new guidelines informing businesses and organizations how they may use Animal Crossing: New Horizons as part of their operations. Among those rules is a request that businesses “refrain” from using the game for political purposes.

The full guidelines are split into two segments; permitted and prohibited activities. In the section covering things Nintendo wishes business to avoid, the company asks “Please refrain from using the Game inappropriately or creating any content within the Game that would be considered vulgar, discriminatory, or offensive. Please also refrain from bringing politics into the Game.”

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The guidelines do not elaborate on what Nintendo means by ‘politics’, so it’s unclear if it refers purely to the use of Animal Crossing in reference to government politics, or if this applies to the wider social political landscape. It is possible that this specific clause has been created in response to the Joe Biden campaign in the recent US election, which hosted an island with information on the Biden Harris campaign and instructions on how to vote.

Nintendo has made it clear that it intends to take action against any business it deems to have broken these guidelines. “If we see your activity is not following these guidelines or is damaging or having bad influence on the community, we may ask you to stop such activity or usage of our contents, and take appropriate actions, including prohibiting your future business usage of the Game,” the company said.

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As for what businesses can do with Animal Crossing, Nintendo stipulates that they may provide custom designs to other players provided they are not sold for financial gain, Dream Addresses may be sent to other players, island invites can be sent, and screenshots/gameplay clips can be uploaded to websites and social media.

It should be noted that these guidelines are for businesses, not for the general public. There are no specific rules that target political protesting from an individual player’s game.

For more, be sure to take a look at everything coming in the Animal Crossing November update, and all the new and leaving critters and villager birthdays in November.

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Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Entertainment Writer. 

Netflix’s Live-Action Cowboy Bebop Adds New Cast Members

Production on Netflix‘s live-action adaptation of the hugely popular anime series Cowboy Bebop had already been suspended prior to the COVID pandemic, following an injury sustained by star John Cho late last year. But the series has finally resumed shooting, and several new actors have joined the cast.

As reported by Deadline, the show has added six new cast members. They are Geoff Stults (12 Strong) as Chalmers, Tamara Tunie (Better Call Saul) as Ana, Mason Alexander Park (Acting for a Cause) as Gren, Rachel House (Thor Ragnarok) as Mao, Ann Truong (Romper Stomper) as Shin, and Hoa Xuande (Top of the Lake) as Lin.

Cowboy Bebop stars Cho as bounty hunter Spike Spiegel, who leads a team on various intergalactic adventures in the ship of the title. The other previously-announced cast members include Alex Hassell as Vicious, Daniella Pineda as Faye Valentine, and Mustafa Shakir as Jet Black. The showrunners are André Nemec and Jeff Pinkner, while Thor: The Dark World writer Christopher Yost is executively producing and has written the first episodes of the 10-episode first season.

The Cowboy Bebop series was first announced in November 2018 and started shooting in September 2019. A behind-the-scenes video was released in December, shortly before Cho’s on-set knee injury shut down production entirely. At the time, it was reported that the production shutdown would last “seven to nine months,” so it’s possible it might not have started until now in any case.

The anime series Cowboy Bebop was released in Japan in 1998 and ran for 26 episodes. It was followed by an animated movie in 2003, as well as a manga series and a video game. It became one of the key anime properties to break through to a western audience and was screened on Adult Swim in the US.

Now Playing: 24 TV Shows Netflix Has Canceled In 2020 (November 2020)

Hitman Developer Announces New Bond Game, Project 007

Hitman developer IO Interactive has announced Project 007, a new James Bond game.

Announced in a teaser trailer today, IO describes the game as a “wholly original Bond story” in which “players will step into the shows of the world’s favorite Secret Agent to earn their 00 status in the very first Bond origin story.”

In active development for consoles and PC, Project 007 (a working title) will be created on IO’s own Glacier engine, which was used for the recent Hitman games. It’s not clear exactly what kind of game Project 007 will be, but given IO’s history with stealth and espionage games, the studio’s Hitman model seems like a potentially close fit.

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The point about this being the first James Bond origin story is slightly confusing, given that Casino Royale features Bond earning 00 status, and there has been a series of Young Bond books by writer Charlie Higson. We’ve asked for clarification on that.

The game is being made in collaboration with Bond movie studios MGM and Eon Productions. No release date or actors have been announced at time of writing.

“It’s true that once in a while, the stars do align in our industry,” said IO CEO Hakan Abrakin a press release, “Creating an original Bond game is a monumental undertaking and I truly believe that IO Interactive, working closely with our creative partners at EON and MGM, can deliver something extremely special for our players and communities. Our passionate team is excited to unleash their creativity into the iconic James Bond universe and craft the most ambitious game in the history of our studio.”

IO is recruiting for the project in both its Copenhagen and Malmö studios. There’s also the small matter of Hitman 3, which comes to PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Stadia and PC on January 20. Later, it will even come to Nintendo Switch as a cloud game.

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Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

Fortnite Coming Back to iOS via GeForce Now

GeForce has announced that its cloud streaming system, GeForce Now, is coming to iOS, and that it has partnered with Epic Games to bring a touch-controlled version of Fortnite to the platform. This will essentially bring Fortnite back to iOS, without the need for an App Store listing.

GeForce Now is Nvidia’s platform that allows users to play compatible PC games that they own via the cloud. The system is already available via bespoke apps for PC, Mac, and Android, but the new iOS version for iPhone and iPad is accessed via the Safari browser by visiting the GeForce Now website. The service goes live in beta form today.

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Because GeForce Now streams ‘proper’ PC games, you’ll need a controller linked to your iPad or iPhone, such as the Razer Kishi or a compatible bluetooth controller to play (keyboard and mouse-only games are not supported). However, in order to act as a true replacement for the iOS version that was pulled as part of Epic and Apple’s legal battle, Fortnite will be provided with touch controls. Because of the work needed for this feature, Fortnite will not be available when the service launches today, and will be added in the “near future.”

If you’ve not heard of GeForce Now before, Nvidia’s system allows you to play PC games in the cloud, powered by Nvidia’s tech, rather than on your gaming PC. This means you can use a phone or underpowered laptop to play games at 1080p, 60 FPS, with ray tracing turned on and at highest settings. You do need to own the games, but GeForce Now imports your existing Steam/Origin/Epic/Ubisoft libraries, rather than you buying them specifically from Nvidia. The service can be used for free with some limitations, or with more features for a $4.99 monthly subscription.

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By using GeForce Now on iOS, you’re effectively playing games using Nvidia’s new RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 graphics card technology, including ray tracing and DLSS, without needing to buy an expensive GPU. Hopefully your data plan is up to the job, though; it might bring Fortnite back to iPhones, but it is a streaming system rather than installed game, and so will need a good network connection and enough data to eat.

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Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Entertainment Writer. 

PS5 Launch Week Sales In Japan Were Five Times Higher Than Xbox Series X/S

The PlayStation 5 has sold 118,085 units in its first four days in Japan, beating the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles, which sold a combined total of 20,534 units during the first six days they went on sale in that territory. As reported by Famitsu, sales of the PS5 heavily favored the more traditional console model that includes a disc drive and costs more than the PS5 Digital Edition.

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is the best-selling PS5 game in Japan so far, moving 18,640 copies and narrowly beating Demon’s Souls. The latter, developed by Bluepoint Games, wasn’t far behind Insomniac’s latest effort and sold 18,607 units in the same four-day period.

Sony’s next-gen start may be impressive but constrained supply and a global pandemic likely meant that it couldn’t boast the same numbers that the PlayStation 4 enjoyed when it first launched in Japan, where that console sold 322,000 units in 2013.

Outsold at a rate of more than five-to-one by the PS5, it’s worth noting that stock of the Xbox Series X and Series S consoles were also extremely limited and that the console is currently sold out in Japan. Retailers had to conduct lottery sales for consumers, suggesting that demand for Microsoft’s new consoles were greater than expected.

In the UK, the Xbox Series X/S also performed well, selling 155,000 units in its first two days on the market.

PS5s are expected to be sold out in Japan until the end of the year, while getting hold of the console in the rest of the world has also been a challenge. If you’re looking to see when and where you can find a PS5 for yourself, check out our PS5 order guide to see when it will be back in stock.

James Bond 007 Game In The Works At IO Interactive

Hitman’s Agent 47 is a ruthless assassin with a knack for disguises and creative kills, but he isn’t exactly suave. The studio is digging into a famous franchise for another take on the secret agent, as it’s currently developing a new James Bond 007 game.

Announced with an extremely short teaser on November 19, “Project 007” will be developed and published by IO Interactive with the full support of Eon Productions and MGM. On the game’s official website, IO says it will feature a “wholly original Bond story” and will be an origin game–the first we’ve seen for Bond.

It appears to be very early in production, as the developer is still recruiting developers across several departments. Vacant positions include technical director, senior producer, senior concept artist, and senior multiplayer network programmer. Yes, it appears Project 007 will feature multiplayer in some form or another.

IO Interactive’s Hitman 3 is still in development and planned to launch on January 20, 2021 for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS4, PS5, PC, Stadia, and Nintendo Switch, with the Switch being supported only via cloud streaming. It will also feature full first-person VR support for the PlayStation 4 version.