Month: August 2020

Here at IGN we occasionally like to showcase something from geekdom’s rich history — a pop-culture Time Capsule, if you will, that gives us a peek in to the past, perhaps providing a new appreciation for previous projects.

If you’d like, please check out the past few Time Capsules:

• Why Tim Burton wanted an ‘average’ Batman in Michael Keaton
• That time HBO and Tom Hanks made Alexander Hamilton the bad guy
• Watch how the original X-Men fight scenes were created 20 years later
• Could a Batman Forever Director’s Cut restore this giant dream bat deleted scene?
• Remember when Will Forte, as MacGruber, wrestled a match in WWE?

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This past week marked 15 years since young Will Stronghold discovered he not only had superpowers, but he’d inherited abilities from both his father, alpha-supe The Commander, and his mother, soaring siren Jetstream. And if that sentence means nothing to you then you need to watch Sky High abso-freakin-now.

Hey, parents. Watch Sky High with your kids! Hey, non-parents. Watch Sky High by your disposable income-having selves! Lovingly crafted during the initial superhero movie boom, but before the MCU burst onto the scene, 2005’s Sky High was a clever take on the world of capes, imagining a school that superhero parents send their teens to in order to train them for future adventures as a hero or – perish the thought – a sidekick (aka “hero support”).

Available to stream now on Disney+, and with rumblings of a possible sequel or sequel series headed to the platform, Sky High featured a marvelous mix of stars – from Kurt Russell and Kelly Preston (who, sadly, recently passed) to Bruce Campbell, Kids in the Halls’ Kevin McDonald and Dave Foley, and O.G. Wonder Woman Lynda Carter as the principal.

But not only that, as you’ll see in this extensive behind-the-scenes video, Sky High featured several future players as well, like The Flash’s Danielle Panabaker, The Expanse’s Steven Strait, The Knick’s Michael Angarano, Community’s Jim Rash, Succession’s Nicholas Braun, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead (who became somewhat of an insta-star afterwards)…

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Yes, new-to-school Will (Angarano) is the offspring of the world’s two most-popular superheroes: Kurt Russell’s Commander and Kelly Preston’s Jetstream (who run a real estate business as married alter-egos Steve and Josie). Will feels the pressure of his lineage every day, especially considering that he…hasn’t shown any signs of superpowers yet. Could he be a genetic anomaly, where traits skip a generation, and therefore a huge disappointment to all? And how will he deal with his school nemesis Warren Peace (Strait) or popular cheerleader Gwen Grayson (Winstead), who seems to have eyes for him? To get all these answers and more, you’ll have to travel high up into the sky.

Another fun Sky High tidbit, aside from the “no dating” rule for the teens revealed in the video above, is that the soundtrack is comprised of wall-to-wall ’80s covers. Yes, before the cover industry was taken over by slowed-down, calm, breathy versions of songs, Sky High, possibly to evoke an updated John Hughes feel, featured new versions of old tracks by Tears for Fears, Devo, Modern English, The Smiths, The Go-Gos, Talking Heads, and more. So if you love movies where most of the stars are way too young to know what music is being played, Sky High just checked another box off your very weird list! Perfect for an IGN Time Capsule look-back!

Sky High can be streamed on Disney+.

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Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

Fortnite’s version of Atlantis has officially arrived in the battle royale as Coral Castle.

Since the start of Fortnite’s Chapter 2: Season 3, the water level of the map has been lowering, and the latest update has revealed Coral Castle, which exists north of Sweaty Sands near the plane crash site.

Coral Castle, which you can see in the below screenshots, is surrounded by waterfalls and features ancient ruins, statues, coral, orbs with creatures inside, and much more.

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As reported by Fortnite Insider, data-miners had previously leaked that an Aquaman Atlantis POI would be headed to Fortnite.

Additionally, The Ancient Astronaut near Craggy Cliffs is now completely above water, Slurpy Swamp is back and now free of water on top of it, and the Fortilla has “completely changed orientation.”

Fornite’s map’s water level is is now at the “proper level” with this latest update, and Fortnite Insider questions if its time for the long-awaited cars to finally make their way into the game.

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For more on Fortnite, be sure to check out the Marvel’s Avengers crossover that will gift those who complete the PS4 beta of Marvel’s Avengers a Hulk Smashers pickaxe and an added style that makes them the gloves from Iron Man’s Hulkbuster armor.

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Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN who proudly took all the above screenshots in his Cleveland Browns outfit. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

NBC’s low-rated Hannibal lasted for three brilliant seasons before it finally got the chop, and in a new interview, creator Bryan Fuller, who recently shared some ideas for a possible fourth season, explained how he fought to cast relative-unknown Mads Mikkelsen in the role of Dr. Hannibal Lecter while NBC wanted a bigger name, along the lines of what they did with James Spader and The Blacklist.

Talking to Collider, Fuller said “there was a difference of opinion on what a traditional television network would want as a leading man and what we would want as an actor playing Hannibal Lecter to personify playing that character.”

“I think the network wanted somebody that was much more poppy, much more mainstream, much more American I think in some ways,” Fuller stated. “That was just them thinking about ‘Okay how do we get the biggest audience for our television show? We have to cast John Cusack as Hannibal Lecter and everybody will tune in because won’t that be surprising?’ I was like, ‘Well go ahead, make an offer.’”

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Fuller shared that whenever NBC suggested a name, he suggest they make an offer. An offer he knew would be turned down. “I’d say ‘Mads Mikkelsen’ and they’d say ‘No, how about Hugh Grant?’ and I’d say, ‘Great, make an offer, he’s gonna say no,’ then they’d make an offer and he’d say no, and I’d be like ‘What about Mads Mikkelsen?’ and they’d be like ‘Well what about John Cusack?’ and I’d say ‘Great, make an offer, he’s gonna say no’ and they’d make an offer and he’d say no and I’d say, ‘What about Mads Mikkelsen?’”

The casting of Mads Mikkelsen, according to Fuller, then made the marketing folks more or less tune out from the show. But that, in turn, gave the Hannibal team way more creative freedom. “They sort of gave up on it a little bit because we were casting a European guy as the face of [a show] they wanted to be more accessible,” he said. “I felt that they were right for their reasons but wrong for my reasons.”

“And so the gift of that, the gift of casting Mads Mikkelsen, is that their investment in the show became dramatically decreased,” Fuller continued, “and so that allowed us to do a lot of things that we wouldn’t have been able to do if they were saying, ‘No this show needs to get 10 million people watching it every week.’ Because then we would have to really be tied down to certain parameters of storytelling that were going to mesh with a mainstream audience. So Mads was the gift that allowed us to tell the story the way that we wanted to tell it, because the network was like, ‘Well it’s not the person that we wanted and we don’t really see him in this role,’ and we were like, ‘Fine, just let us make the show’.”

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In other TV news, you can read IGN’s review of The Umbrella Academy: Season 2 (along with an explainer of the ending if you’ve already finished), plus here’s everything we know about The Witcher prequel series, Blood Origin.

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Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

Guilty Gear Strive had a busy weekend during the Japan Fighting Game Publishers Roundtable, dropping three big announcements. Developer Arc System Works has confirmed that the game will be launching on PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam alongside the PlayStation 4 version in 2021.

The roster is also receiving two additional fighters. Newcomer Nagoriyuki, who was briefly seen in Guilty Gear Strive’s initial reveal, brings a vampire samurai energy to the mix, while the sword-wielding Leo Whitefang is also returning to action.

You can watch the two brawlers in action below, and also read an overview on each of them directly from Arc System Works:

Nagoriyuki

Nagoriyuki is the newest addition to the Guilty Gear universe. A vampire with a number of unique and powerful abilities, he wields a huge sword with impressive skill in battle and slashes at his enemies with punishing blows.

Leo Whitefang

Leo is one of the three “Allied Kings” of the Allied Kingdom of Illyria, and is responsible for the governing of Europe, the Middle East, and Oceania. He is also an accomplished warrior in his own right, with a relentless fighting style.

Guilty Gear Strive was originally scheduled for a 2020 release, but it was delayed until next year due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The team has pledged to use the extra time to further fine-tune Guilty Gear Strive based on all the feedback that was received from players during the April closed beta test.

Street Fighter 5 has improved tremendously over the last few years, evolving into a premiere competitive fighter with a great roster of characters. If you’ve yet to try the game for yourself, you’ll have a chance to do so for a full two weeks, and the trial version features all 40 characters.

Discussed during the Japanese Fighting Game Publishers Roundtable, there will be a free-to-play version of Street Fighter 5: Champion Edition available starting on August 5. It will run for about two weeks and features all of the game’s characters. Because of this, you’ll be able to start learning who your favorites are instead of being limited to only a few before deciding on a purchase.

Street Fighter 5 took a different approach to updated releases than the series has in the past. Rather than force players to buy entirely new versions of the game like the Arcade or Championship editions, these are now available as free updates to existing owners. This keeps the community together, though the game has still never come to Xbox One.

Street Fighter 5 is playable on PS4 and PC, and it was far from the only fighting game that received news this weekend. Soulcalibur 6 will see a key character make a return, and Guilty Gear Strive was confirmed for a PS5 launch in 2021.

Eighties and Nineties kids with discretionary income will want to take a look at this. The LEGO Nintendo Entertainment System is now available for purchase from the LEGO Store for $229.99. It’s not cheap, but this is an intricate set that can bring back childhood memories of sitting in the glow of a CRT television, NES controller in hand. Can you really put a price on that? (Turns out you can, and it’s $229.99). The set is currently exclusive to the LEGO Store. Word is that next year it will go out to other retailers.

Also available are the LEGO Super Mario Starter Pack along with a slew of add-ons at the LEGO Store.

Buy LEGO NES

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Ringing in at 2,646 pieces, this set has all kinds of bells and whistles. It includes a buildable NES console, with a working cartridge tray and lid, as well as a controller. You’ll also build a Super Mario Bros. cartridge and even insert it into the block-constructed console. Finally there’s a cathode-ray tube television that has a crank on the side. Turn the crank, and a portion of Super Mario Bros. World 1-1 scrolls by.

And if you pick up the LEGO Super Mario Adventures Starter Course, you can place the Mario figure from that set into a slot on top of the TV. The figure will then play the Mario theme and react to on-screen enemies as you scroll by.

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

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Bandai Namco has announced that Setsuka is coming to Soulcalibur VI. She’ll arrive in DLC 11 on August 4 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

A master of the blade with a lightning-fast offense and a passion for flowers, Setsuka is the third Season Pass 2 character following the release of Samurai Shodown’s Haohmaru back in March and Hilde in November last year.

Originally debuting in 2005’s Soulcalibur III, Setsuka would make one more appearance in Soulcalibur IV and then spent a decade on the sidelines while her student Patrokles appeared in Soulcalibur V.

In addition to Setsuka, Soulcalibur VI will also receive a free update that adds a classic costume for the flower-loving swordmaster, a balance sweep, the Murakumo Shrine Grounds stage and a new Grøh episode.

DLC 12 will release on August 4, bringing with it the Tekken-themed Character Creation Set E.

Soulcalibur VI wasn’t the only fighting game that revealed new information over the weekend, as the Japan Fighting Game Publishers Roundtable also featured updates on games such as Tekken 7, Guilty Gear Strive and Samurai Shodown.