Before The Mandalorian, there was another Star Wars TV series planned. Footage of Star Wars Underground, a show that was in development all the way back in 2010, has surfaced online. The footage shows a very different show from the one many people enjoyed in 2019.
The show was to be set in the lower levels of Coruscant, a planet that plays a major part in the Star Wars prequels. It was set after Order 66, and the test footage below was produced by VFX specialists Stargate Studios. The show was eventually delayed and then cancelled due to the high production costs and the eventual sale of Lucasfilm to Disney. According to a comment from the uploader, a two-episode arc would have involved Darth Vader coming to Coruscant to “personally quell a rebellion”.
It certainly looks a little ropey in places, and it’s a bit hard to follow, but it’s worth remembering that “test footage” is different from a pilot–this footage was meant to nail down the look and tone of the show, so we can excuse the bad gun fight at the end.
The test footage here is followed by a short “making of” film, which shows how everything was shot on a single green screen stage–similar to how many parts of the prequels were shot.
The footage, as it turns out, is from Stargate Studios’ Vimeo, and was first uploaded nine years ago–we can only assume that it was set to private or unlisted until now.
Mileage may vary on how good or bad this looks to you, but in any case, the show never came to pass. Posted alongside the video is a lengthy document charting the history of Star Wars Underworld, collecting every tangentially related quote and interview, along with photos. It’s worth a look if you’re a Star Wars fanatic.
After the impressive and surprising list of DLC characters Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s first Fighter’s Pass has brought so far, the most recent and final addition, Byleth from Fire Emblem: Three Houses, feels like an incredibly safe pick – in more ways than one. They’re not as mechanically complex as the likes of Hero or Terry Bogard, and not as fan-servingly exciting as Joker or Banjo & Kazooie. And yet, a bit of vanilla to round out this already vibrant pack of extra fighters doesn’t stop Byleth from proudly standing out among their Fire Emblem peers and the rest of Ultimate’s extensive roster.
As an anime-looking sword-wielder, Byleth certainly has their work cut out for them in trying to convince people to pick them up over any of the other similar options – and thankfully, they’ve got plenty to work with in that regard. Out of the five other Fire Emblem reps (seven if you count Echo Fighters), Byleth manages to be the only one to showcase the strategic weapon variety that’s core to the series. Using special weapons from Three Houses known as Heroes’ Relics, Byleth can seamlessly swap out their whip-sword for a hefty axe, lengthy spear, or powerful bow, and each has their own unique strengths that make them a ton of fun to smash your opponents with.
Rather than have them haphazardly attached to various moves, Byleth’s different weapons are smartly mapped to your directional inputs. While their neutral special incorporates the bow, side attacks utilize their spear, down attacks summon the axe, and lighter swipes and overhead moves uses the whip-sword. Beyond each one looking awesome when summoned in a fight, the directional based context gives Byleth a feeling of smart cohesion that’s incredibly easy to pick up and understand.
Byleth’s moveset is also one of the big reasons why this DLC fighter seems fairly simple compared to the others that have arrived post-launch – for better and for worse. Where Terry’s button inputs could be too technical for some, Hero’s random moves and magic meter could feel too chaotic, and the meters and consumables of Joker and Banjo too much to keep track of, Byleth forgoes all of it. Their “gimmick” essentially lies in the simplicity of a man/woman-at-arms, with a weapon for every situation, providing a different type of challenge in knowing when to use the right one rather than learning how to wield them at all.
If Byleth does have a gaping flaw, it’s commitment. While each weapon type can deal a staggering amount of damage when they connect, they’ll often leave Byleth wide open to counters from a skilled or perceptive opponent. The bow, known as Failnaught, can be charged up to deal devastating precision damage at long range, but once you’ve charged past a certain threshold, you can’t get out of the move early. Similarly, aiming your attacks downward with the axe Amyr can demolish anyone standing nearby, but the lengthy startup and finish (and the time you’re left vulnerable after landing with a downward aerial strike) means you’ll either have to be very good at predicting an opponent, or drop in on a group of distracted fighters. The slow nature of these kinds of “unsafe” moves might not turn a lot of heads in the competitive scene, but it may entice newer players who aren’t afraid of making mistakes with an easy-to-grasp moveset and tons of strong attacks.
Even without the additional weaponry, Byleth’s Sword of the Creator (which is generally linked to up-attacks, but can also act as a sort of default for many others) holds some very interesting and fun properties. Able to be used like a whip, it gives Byleth’s quicker moves and upward attacks more options, thanks in part to their unique recovery move. While other characters like Zero Suit Samus and Joker can use similar tools to grab or hook onto ledges and pull themselves up, Byleth’s up-B can also latch onto opponents and use them as a stepping stone to launch high up while sending their target screaming downwards once they’ve hit a certain damage threshold – which makes it deliciously evil to use off the stage, yanking poor souls down to their doom before they can react. I was even pleased to find some clever applications when used above platforms, giving me different options to follow up with other moves depending on how damaged my opponent was, or how far my opponent bounced back off the ground below me. That said, smaller ledges have sometimes been my downfall, as the Sword of the Creator has either been unwilling or unable to hook onto tiny platforms to save me from plummeting and the move itself gives no recovery if nothing connects.
As part of Byleth’s character pack, there’s also the addition of a host of new themed Spirit Battles. These are as ingeniously crafted as ever, and Three Houses fans will appreciate all the fun details – like Dimitri’s Spirit Battle including a tough Ganondorf in place of Dimitri’s stalwart bodyguard, Dedue. That being said, those who haven’t already played through the Three Houses story may wish to hold off on some of the tougher Spirit Battles, which inadvertently spoil some plot points by way of the battle’s surprise mechanics.
As for the stage, Garreg Mach Monastery feels surprisingly bland. While stages that tour around a large location usually offer up an array of different battlefields to fight in and adapt to, each of the monastery’s four areas are flat, walk-off arenas with the bare minimum inclusion of a few small temporary platforms. Even the guest appearances by students and house leaders of each of the three houses seem a bit dull – especially when spotted standing in an otherwise deserted grand hall. Garreg Mach Monastery isn’t exactly a disappointing place for a fight, but when you look at the variety of architecture in other Fire Emblem levels like Castle Siege and the Coliseum, the monastery just feels stale in comparison. Luckily, the inclusion of some of the best music that Three Houses has to offer won’t go unnoticed. The upbeat tempo of Fódlan Winds and The Edge of Dawn mesh perfectly with frantic large battles, while songs like The Apex of the World and Between Heaven and Earth give 1v1s a legendary feel.
Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge will be released on Sunday, April 12 on digital services followed by a physical release on Tuesday, April 28.
The box art has also been revealed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, which is the same studio that puts out the DC animated films. Check out the box art and more images in the slideshow below.
The film will be released in three physical releases. A 4K UHD pack that includes a Blu-ray, a Blu-ray pack that includes a DVD, and a standalone DVD. All three versions come with a digital copy for Movies Anywhere.
A batch of bonus features will also be included with the release:
From Epic Game to Extreme Animation – Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon and the filmmakers reveal the creative process behind adapting the best-selling game to an all-new animated film.
The Weapons, Wardrobe and World of Mortal Kombat Legends – The artists reveal the design challenges of animating the world of Mortal Kombat, from authentic armor to wildly imaginative weapons and fantasy settings.
The Savage Sound Design of Mortal Kombat Legends – This hard-hitting audio exploration reveals the art of designing the sonic language of the fight scenes.
Mortal Kombatants – Dive deep inside the cast of characters to reveal their unique abilities, signature moves and backstories.
Filmmaker Commentary – Producer Rick Morales and screenwriter Jeremy Adams sit down for an insightful audio commentary that reveals the process of creating a compelling animated film based on one of today’s most popular fighting games.
The movie will run 80 minutes long and comes from Batman: Assault on Arkham director Ethan Spaulding and Teen Titans Go! vs. Teen Titans writer Jeremy Adams. Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon served as a creative consultant on the film, which serves as a loose adaptation of Mortal Kombat (2011) with the plot revolving around a battle to the death tournament made up of champions from all over.
Patrick Seitz returns to the role of Scorpion, which he last played in Mortal Kombat X. Another actor reprising a role is Kevin Michael Richardson. Richardson played Goro in the 1995 movie and returns to the role here. Newcomers include Joel McHale as Johnny Cage and Jennifer Carpenter as Sonya Blade. Read the full cast list here.
Petey Oneto is a freelance writer for IGN who remembers when Mortal Kombat 9, Portal 2, SOCOM 4 and Motorstorm Apocalypse came out within days of each other and it was during the PSN shutdown after the hack so nobody could play any of those games online on PS3. What a great time that was.
In a short Twitter tease, Spencer shared that he recently met with Initiative studio head Darrell Gallagher and head of Xbox Game Studios Matt Booty to discuss the future of the ‘AAAA’ development team. Unfortunately, Spencer’s tweet is pretty vague, so we can only guess at what Gallagher’s team is up to.
Perhaps this means that the studio is working on bringing back/rebooting an old Xbox IP. Further, it could mean that it is hard at work on a new project that has ties to an old Xbox franchise, or the studio could be headed in a completely different direction. Either way, Spencer’s tease will likely be a breath of fresh air for Xbox fans, as The Initiative has been rather quiet over the past few months.
Since its announcement almost two years ago, Gallagher has quietly assembled a talented team of experienced game developers. In August, Gallagher revealed that the studio had hired God of War’s lead producer Brian Westergaard and Red Dead Redemption’s writer Christian Cantamessa.
The studio has also added Sunset Overdrive director Drew Murray and Tomb Raider reboot director Dan Neuburger.
With the team in place, Xbox fans have been longing to get a glimpse at what The Initiative is working on. However, for now, it seems that fans will have to wait a bit longer.
What do you think The Initiative is up to? Let us know in the comments below.
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Andrew Smith is a freelance contributor with IGN. Follow him on Twitter @_andrewtsmith.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order has been a sales juggernaut for Electronic Arts. The company announced on an earnings call today that Fallen Order sold significantly beyond the company’s expectations, and is now expected to sell 10 million copies by March 31.
EA was previously modelling sales of 6-8 million copies for that time period. EA CFO Blake Jorgensen said the Respawn-developed game has already reached the high end of the original projection, meaning Fallen Order has likely sold more than 8 million copies already.
EA management also said these strong sales for Fallen Order represent a “very strong result for a single-player action game.”
Similar to other publishers, EA has been criticized for pursuing multiplayer, “live service” games and moving away from single-player experiences. The result for Fallen Order shows that a single-player game can be sales successes.
Fallen Order isn’t likely to be as profitable as other EA games, however, as the publisher is paying Disney a royalty fee on game sales, but the extent of this is unknown.
The Nintendo Switch’s weekly Eshop deals have been revealed, and like every week, there is an absolute onslaught of discounts. However, this time around, there is a large number of truly fantastic games on sale. If you’re looking for something to play this weekend, then you’ve got quite the selection to choose from.
The entire SteamWorld franchise also receives discounts, from SteamWorld Dig and SteamWorld Dig 2 to SteamWorld Heist and SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech. If you haven’t tried them yet, then I definitely recommend doing so. Each game lends itself to a different genre: Dig and Dig 2 are Metroidvania-style adventures, Heist is a turn-based tactical shooter, and Quest is a deck-building RPG.
You can see the full sale on Nintendo’s website or on your Nintendo Switch. We’ve curated a list of the best deals, which you can see below. Prices will vary depending on your region.
Nintendo Switch game deals
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The Apple MacBook Pro is a fantastic computer, but some people are turned off by the “Apple tax” that makes them more expensive than Windows PCs with comparable specs. Today’s Deal of the Day at Amazon is all about “renewed” MacBook Pros, which slashes their already-reduced prices even further. Take that, Apple tax. Hurry, though, because the deal goes away tonight.
The deal is available on two versions of the mid-2017 MacBook Pro. Aside from the size of the SSD, they have identical specs. Both configurations are available in either silver or space gray.
As for the specs, you’ll get a MacBook Pro with a gorgeous 13.3-inch Retina display. It comes equipped with a seventh-gen Intel Core i5 dual-core processor, 8GB DDR 3 memory, and an integrated Intel Iris Plus graphics processor. It also has two Thunderbolt 3 ports and a 3.5mm audio jack.
Notably, these machines don’t have the controversial Touch Bar, which will surely satisfy the anti-Touch Bar crowd. The description says MacOS Sierra comes preinstalled, but you can easily upgrade to Catalina — the most recent Mac operating system — for free.
“Renewed” is Amazon’s word for “refurbished.” Amazon inspects and tests all of its renewed products and promises they’ll work and look like new. On top of Amazon’s standard return policy, these MacBooks come with a “90-day Renewed Guarantee,” which means you’ll get a replacement or refund if it doesn’t work as expected. For a longer safeguard, you can also tack on a 2- or 4-year protection plan.
All in all, this is a great deal on a fantastic computer that costs far less than a new MBP. But if you like it, don’t delay. This deal ends tonight.
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Chris Reed is IGN’s shopping and commerce editor. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.
Gaming giant Electronic Arts reported earnings for its holiday quarter today, and the company performed ahead of expectations. In particular, revenue from EA’s microtransaction bucket–called Live Services–reached nearly $1 billion. Another highlight was Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, which performed above expectations.
As you can see in the chart below, EA made $993 million from live services during the quarter ended December 31. For the trailing 12 months, EA made $2.835 billion from microtransactions.
Microtransactions are big business for EA
EA made a total of $1.593 billion in revenue for the quarter and $361 million in profit, so as you can see, microtransactions are very big business for EA. A major part of EA’s microtransaction revenue comes from the Ultimate Team modes for EA’s sports games, including FIFA, Madden, and NHL.
The publisher also said Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order performed significantly above expectations. EA was modelling sales of 6-8 million copies, but now the company is expecting sales to reach 10 million copies during the current fiscal year ending March 31.
Additionally, EA said Star Wars: Battlefront II performed above expectations as well due in part to the renewed interest in Star Wars overall thanks to The Rise of Skywalker and more.
Moving to a different title, EA said Apex Legends saw higher player engagement during Season 3 than in Season 2, and EA will be looking to build on that momentum for the upcoming Season 4. The company also teased that Respawn will bring Apex Legends to at least one new platform during the year. It’s already confirmed for mobile, but a Nintendo Switch version seems unlikely.
Also during the earnings call, EA re-confirmed its plans to launch a new Battlefield game on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. The company is planning additional releases as well, EA CEO Andrew Wilson said. “We’ll be ready to lead with some of our top titles,” he said.
The EA earnings call is ongoing, so keep checking back for more…
In the southwesternmost corner of the overworld map sits a building that houses a slot machine. You’ve seen this sort of mild gambling den in any Zelda game; pull the lever, match three heart pieces and you win. Here, though, row upon row of slots are being played, their skeletal victims under permanent house arrest by the one-armed bandits. The building is, in fact, a bank. Betting on the slots requires you to purchase shares in various enterprises, all of which are owned by the bank that is manipulating the odds; the financial system is a casino and the capitalist always wins. This isn’t your typical Zelda clone.
Lenna’s Inception is a top-down action-adventure that is–ahem–very heavily inspired by the Legend of Zelda. Mechanically it is extremely similar to Link’s early adventures, but thematically and through a couple of mechanical surprises it finds its own voice. The result is a playful and inventive homage to a classic series of games that manages to distinguish itself from its inspirations.
The setup immediately departs from Zelda tradition, with schoolteacher Lenna roped into saving the world after the prophesied hero–and clear Link analogue–succumbs to an unexpected demise in the tutorial dungeon. Elsewhere, an evil banker has imprisoned the prince of the land, archangels are signalling the end times, glitched-out pixels are spreading across the world, and somewhere a mysterious fridge is on the blink. This is weird Millennial Zelda, touched by creepypasta yet restrained enough to not go full internet meme.
My opening paragraph was a little misleading. In my game the bank was to be found in the southwest corner, but in your game–or indeed my subsequent games–it may not be. Lenna’s Inception generates its maps procedurally, shuffling the contents of its world to ensure a new route through the quest each time you start a new game and to allow players to share “seeds” of maps they particularly enjoyed. There’s a daily challenge seed, too, further encouraging the sense of a shared experience.
Experiments with the map generation revealed that it’s not just the overworld being reconfigured. All but one of the dungeons you enter are unique to your playthrough, from the overall layout to the design of individual rooms, from the critical-path boss dungeons to the small secret lairs you might find hidden away behind a bush or a rock. Further still, the key items you collect along the way are shuffled to the extent that one playthrough might hand you the bomb item immediately while the next might make you wait for it until near the very end.
In itself this doesn’t necessarily have any bearing on the quality of the level design, though in general the suspicion is always that a compromise must have been made somewhere, that a procedural level could never be as good as one that was hand-crafted. The trade-off seems acceptable here: We forgo one painstakingly intricate design for the prospect of near-endless hopefully good variations. Certainly the overworld I played through (seed “ystreath” if you want to try it yourself) felt consistent and well-designed–no jarring sections that felt obviously untouched by a human hand. It had a mazelike quality that demanded exploration and was crammed with teases of just-out-of-reach areas I’d have to note to return to later and that in any other non-procedural game I’d credit to smart design.
Dungeon design is mostly solid, with an emphasis on having the right item to allow you to bypass obstacles and finding the various coloured keys to open their respective doors. Save for the final dungeon, they all lack the light puzzle elements you would find in a typical Zelda dungeon, and are poorer for it. The last dungeon, however, takes full advantage of the environment-altering ability of a late-game item to push puzzle design to the fore. Perhaps not coincidentally, it’s the only hand-crafted dungeon in the game. Where the procedural generation truly detracts is in the little side dungeons that throw you into a handful of random rooms, lock the doors until you’ve killed all the monsters, and then reward you with a health or weapon upgrade. They’re not terrible in isolation, but they are all essentially the same and wear out their welcome long before you’ve acquired all the pick-ups they house.
As you find new items–such as a spring that enables you to bounce over gaps or a cigarette lighter that lets you melt ice–you can unlock new regions of the map or return to previous areas to find secrets in classic Zelda fashion, a facet of the genre that is as inherently compelling here as it so often is, even if the execution is slightly off. The random order in which items are acquired does have a tendency to flatten out the experience. Some items have multiple uses, lending a degree of redundancy that diminishes the impact of obtaining a new piece of gear. Still, it’s rewarding to nab a new ability and start mulling over all the possibilities, the new places you can now explore. It’s a high that never diminishes.
Perhaps as a consequence of the non-linear item progression, fighting regular enemies doesn’t require you to use items other than your sword. They can be damaged by several of your items–the lighter sets things on fire and does useful damage over time while the bow, hammer, axe and bombs can all be effective–but there isn’t a single enemy that, for example, must be staggered with the hammer before taking damage from your sword. With little variation it’s sufficient to mash the attack button in order to survive any non-boss encounter.
Bosses themselves are smartly designed even if they hew closely to the Zelda archetype. The rule of threes applies here, as each boss requires you to perform the same set of steps three times in order to beat it. And each one demands the use of a certain ability you’ve picked up, though the precise execution tends to not be telegraphed. Quite a few of the bosses had me puzzling things out for several attempts before the eureka moment hit and I knew exactly what I had to do. Fortunately in such instances, death isn’t a hassle and you find yourself respawning in the chamber before the boss room.
The procedural aspects of Lenna’s Inception lay a solid foundation upon which to build. On top you’ll find a handful of NPC quests to follow, some of which test your lateral thinking as you chuckle along with the mischievous sense of humour of the writing. Moments of oddness abound. I found what the game described as a “urine potion” before cheerfully informing me that I would have to drink it to discover what effect it had. My first follower companion was a chicken that would relentlessly peck enemies to death. My last was a librarian who could hurl books with pinpoint accuracy. At one point I donned a growth tunic and ran around as a giant Lenna until she couldn’t fit through the door to escape the dungeon. Surprises like these are scattered throughout the entire game and are never less than a joy to discover. There’s even an option to play the entire game with either 8-bit or 32-bit graphics.
Lenna’s Inception is a lighthearted Zelda-style adventure fuelled by levity and a taste for the bizarre. At its heart, though, it’s a testament to the powers of procedural generation. On balance it gains more than it loses, delivering an endlessly rearrangeable, replayable quest that suffers only slightly from the lack of a guiding human touch.
