Pulp Fiction star Samuel L. Jackson has snapped back against Quentin Tarantino’s comments that superheroes have killed the movie star.

During an interview with The View, as reported by Entertainment Weekly, the actor, who is also a long-time collaborator of Tarantino’s, refuted the filmmaker’s comments.

“It takes an actor to be those particular characters, and the sign of movie stardom has always been, what, asses in seats? What are we talking about?” said Jackson. “That's not a big controversy for me to know that apparently, these actors are movie stars. Chadwick Boseman is Black Panther. You can't refute that, and he's a movie star.”

Tarantino recently riled Hollywood with comments suggesting that the stars of Marvel’s movies are no longer movie stars… and it’s the MCU and its characters that are now the box office draw.

“You have all these actors who have become famous playing these characters,” he said. “But they're not movie stars. Right? Captain America is the star. Or Thor is the star. I mean, I'm not the first person to say that. I think that's been said a zillion times… but it's like, you know, it's these franchise characters that become a star.”

It’s not the first time Tarantino has been seemingly down on Marvel movies, also stating that he would never make a Marvel or DC film.

“You have to be a hired hand to do those things,” he explained. “I’m not a hired hand. I’m not looking for a job.”

Jackson notably plays Nick Fury in the MCU, so he’s not exactly unbiased… but pushback from such a frequent collaborator must sting, at least a little.

Unfortunately, he’s not the only Marvel star to slam Tarantino's comments.

“If the only gatekeepers to movie stardom came from Tarantino and Scorsese, I would never have had the opportunity to lead a $400 million plus movie,” said Shang-Chi star Simu Liu.

He also said he's proud to work with a studio that has made "sustained efforts to improve diversity onscreen”.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever recently continued that push for diversity, introducing the likes of new MCU characters Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) as well as Namor (Tenoch Huerta).

IGN’s review of Wakanda Forever gave it 7/10 and said: “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever had to be a sequel to a cultural juggernaut, a tease of upcoming MCU adventures, and of course, a loving farewell. There are stretches where the struggle to balance those mandates scatters the focus of the story, but nuanced and committed performances from the returning cast keep it grounded when it counts.”

Want to read more about Black Panther? Check out our rankings of Marvel’s Phase 4 movies and TV shows as well as the big questions we have for the future of the MCU after Black Panther 2.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Elden Ring is one of the biggest video game success stories of 2022, but now its developer, FromSoftware, is making headlines due to rumors of crunch and low pay at its development studio.

FromSoftware's latest title earned widespread critical acclaim, and its quality has been reflected in the sales charts as well. The game broke into the mainstream in a big way, having one of the biggest game launches on YouTube ever.

Unfortunately, like so many wildly successful AAA video game titles, it didn't take long for conversations of crunch, long overtime hours, and low salaries to surround developer FromSoftware.

The discourse began in March, shortly after Elden Ring's release. First spotted by The Gamer, it turns out that a handful of FromSoftware employees were turning to a Japanese job board called Career Connection to discuss poor working conditions and low pay.

For context, Career Connection is essentially a Japanese version of Glassdoor, where current or former employees can leave reviews of their employer to inform potential future applicants about working conditions at a company.

The reviews of FromSoftware left on Career Connection range from 2012 to 2019, with FromSoftware's employee satisfaction rating sitting at 2.6 out of 5 stars. Employee reviews cite low compensation for the workload, 40 months of overtime per month, no maternity leave, and more.

Now, months after folks started to notice the reviews of poor conditions at FromSoftware, GamesIndustry.biz has revealed more stories from FromSoftware employees about what it's like to work at the Elden Ring developer. According to the report, multiple sources said there is in fact "some level of crunching" at FromSoftware.

The extent of the crunch at the studio seems to vary from department to department. One of GamesIndustry.biz's sources said they have barely had to work any overtime.

Another said, "During critical periods of game releases, I often had to work early mornings and overtime for two to three months."

One source claimed that overtime wages are only half of their usual hourly rate, which differs from most Japanese companies where hourly wages usually increase in the late hours.

FromSoftware employees also spoke about low pay at the studio. One source said their "salary is not adequate," and added that their coworkers felt the same. According to the data on Career Connection, the average annual income for a FromSoftware employee is 3.41 million yen, which comes out to just under $25,000 USD.

It is worth noting that the yen is very weak to the dollar right now, so that direct conversion from Yen to USD may not be entirely representative of the employee compensation. However, FromSoftware operates in Tokyo, where the cost of living is higher than most other places in Japan.

Even with some negative accounts, other FromSoftware employees said working at the studio has been a great experience. One employee even likened it to FromSoftware's own Dark Souls, saying, "There's a lot of struggle to get things right, but if you get over the hump it is very satisfying. It's just like you defeated a boss in Dark Souls."

Elden Ring publisher Bandai Namco announced a pay raise for all its employees following the success of Elden Ring, so we'll have to see if FromSoftware follows suit by raising pay for the developers behind the game.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

The Addams Family spin-off Wednesday has already broken Netflix records with the most hours viewed in a single week of any Netflix TV show ever.

The hit TV show starring Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams has already racked up a massive 341.2 million hours viewed, despite the fact that it only debuted last week.

“Being an outcast has never been more IN as Wednesday, the supernatural infused mystery charting Wednesday Addams' years at Nevermore Academy, debuted in the #1 spot with a record-breaking 341.2M hours viewed,” confirmed Netflix in a statement.

If that number wasn’t already impressive enough, it looks as though Wednesday even managed to topple Stranger Things for the top spot.

“The series now holds the record for the most hours viewed in a week for an English-language TV series on Netflix. Starring Jenna Ortega as Wednesday with an impressive cast of characters and directed and executive produced by Tim Burton, with showrunners Al Gough and Miles Millar, the series was #1 in 83 countries - tied with Stranger Things 4.”

Stranger Things recently broke the overall viewership record, massing a colossal 1.15 billion hours in its first 28 days on the service.

Whether or not Wednesday can top that impressive figure remains to be seen.

That said, it’s off to a great start – the show’s debut week is already pulling in record numbers, and with an impressive central performance, it looks as though this show could have legs.

“Ortega’s ability to act with her eyes and the choice to save the few emotional moments for when they really matter make Wednesday an effective lead,” said IGN’s Amelia Emberwing.

In fact, IGN’s review of Wednesday Season 1 gave it 7/10 and said: “Wednesday introduces a whole new generation to the Addams family with creepy and kooky hijinks and an incredible performance from Jenna Ortega. Some tertiary characters struggle from weak writing while more interesting players are kept on the sidelines, but it’s not enough to bog down the series too much.”

It’s creepy, it’s kooky, and its viewing figures are altogether ooky.

Want to read more about Wednesday? Check out why Jenna Ortega didn’t want to rehash Christina Ricci’s Wednesday Addams as well as our deep dive into the new Addams Family show.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

NASA’s Orion capsule has now traveled further from Earth than any previous spacecraft designed to carry humans into the hostile environment beyond our planet’s atmosphere. The capsule was launched as part of the Artemis 1 mission, which represents an early step in NASA’s ongoing endeavour to return our species to the surface of the Moon in the next decade.

The previous distance record for a crew worthy spacecraft was held by the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission, which was planned to be NASA’s third attempt to land on the Moon. However, during the outbound flight a malfunction caused an oxygen tank to explode, crippling the spacecraft and putting its crew in mortal danger.

This led NASA to abandon the landing attempt, and instead focus all of its efforts on the task of returning the three man crew — which was composed of astronauts James Lovell, Fred Haise and John Swigert — safely back to Earth.

Apollo 13 went down in history as a successful rescue, during which Lovell and his crew set the distance record for a crewed spaceflight by travelling an incredible 248,655 miles from Earth.

Unlike the Apollo 13 mission, Artemis 1 is completely uncrewed. This is because NASA’s latest outing is designed to test the Orion capsule to the limit in order to ensure that it can actually protect astronauts during a longhaul flight.

The capsule and its European-made service and propulsion module surpassed Apollo 13’s distance record on the 11th day of the Artemis 1 mission, as the spacecraft travelled in a distant retrograde lunar orbit.

At 3 p.m. CST on November 28, Orion reached the most distant point that it will travel to during its 25 day mission — a staggering 268,563 miles from planet Earth.

“Because of the unbelievable can-do spirit, Artemis I has had extraordinary success and has completed a series of history making events,” commented NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “It’s incredible just how smoothly this mission has gone, but this is a test. That’s what we do – we test it and we stress it.”

According to NASA, the mission has gone so smoothly to this point that it is contemplating adding a further seven test objectives to the flight that are geared towards reducing the risk to future crews that will fly aboard the capsule.

Orion will remain in its current orbit for a few more days before executing a burn to leave the Moon’s influence and return to Earth on December 1. The mission will conclude in a dramatic re-entry on December 11, during which the capsule’s all important heat shield will be put to its test.

If all goes well, and Orion survives the 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit temperatures that are expected during re-entry, then the capsule will splash down safely in the Pacific Ocean to be picked up by recovery crews from NASA and the U.S. Military.

Whilst Artemis 1 may have taken the record for the most distant flight from Earth by a spacecraft designed to carry humans, it’s worth remembering that the crew of Apollo 13 will retain the record for the most distant crewed spaceflight.

Be sure to check out IGN's Science page to stay up to date with all the biggest developments in space exploration.

Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer

Red Dead Redemption 2 has surpassed its previous record for the highest number of concurrent players on PC since its launch three years ago.

As reported by Eurogamer, SteamDB shows Red Dead Redemption 2 racked up 66,492 concurrent players on November 24. This was significantly higher than its previous record of 55,271 that was recorded on December 26 2019, soon after the title’s November 5 PC Release.

The recent upsurge in players was likely spurred on by Steam’s seasonal Autumn sale which saw the game reduced by 67%. Publisher Take-Two Interactive revealed earlier this year that Red Dead Redemption 2 has sold over 45 million copies to date since its release.

Despite its undeniable success, developer Rockstar Games announced in July that Red Dead Online wouldn’t receive any further “themed content updates”, as development resources were instead being pushed towards the creation of Grand Theft Auto 6.

A week after the announcement, committed fans held a funeral for Red Dead Online, during which members of the community dressed in black and paid their respects.

In our 10/10 review, IGN said Red Dead Redemption 2 is "a gorgeous depiction of an ugly period that’s patient, polished, and a huge amount of fun to play, and it’s combined with Rockstar’s best storytelling to date."

Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer

Red Dead Redemption 2 has surpassed its previous record for the highest number of concurrent players on PC since its launch three years ago.

As reported by Eurogamer, SteamDB shows Red Dead Redemption 2 racked up 66,492 concurrent players on November 24. This was significantly higher than its previous record of 55,271 that was recorded on December 26 2019, soon after the title’s November 5 PC Release.

The recent upsurge in players was likely spurred on by Steam’s seasonal Autumn sale which saw the game reduced by 67%. Publisher Take-Two interactive revealed earlier this year that Red Dead Redemption 2 has sold over 45 million copies to date since its release.

Despite its undeniable success, developer Rockstar Games announced in July that Red Dead Online wouldn’t receive any further “themed content updates”, as development resources were instead being pushed towards the creation of Grand Theft Auto 6.

A week after the announcement, committed fans held a funeral for Red Dead Online, during which members of the community dressed in black and paid their respects.

In our 10/10 review, IGN said Red Dead Redemption 2 is "a gorgeous depiction of an ugly period that’s patient, polished, and a huge amount of fun to play, and it’s combined with Rockstar’s best storytelling to date."

Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer

Microsoft has announced the Xbox Games with Gold line-up for December 2022 includes Colt Canyon and Bladed Fury.

Revealed on the Xbox Wire, the two Games with Gold offerings will be available to anyone with Xbox Live Gold or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, with Colt Canyon available first from December 1 to 31 and Bladed Fury available from December 16 to January 15.

Originally launching in 2020, Colt Canyon is a 2D pixel art shooter where players take on the role of a cowboy on a mission to save his kidnapped partner from ruthless bandits.

Exploring the Colt Canyon will reward players with hidden treasures and weapons, but naturally also features various dangers and more than enough TNT.

Bladed Fury was released in 2018 as a 2D fantasy action game based on a slightly surreal version of Chinese history and mythology. Playing as the exiled Princess Ji, players must traverse the side-scrolling environment as they chain combos and destroy all manners of gods and monsters.

New games approaching also means that November's Games with Gold will soon leave the service, so be sure to download Roman Empire RTS Praetorians and co-op twin-stick shooter Dead End Job before it's too late.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Microsoft has announced the Xbox Games with Gold line-up for December 2022 includes Colt Canyon and Bladed Fury.

Revealed on the Xbox Wire, the two Games with Gold offerings will be available to anyone with Xbox Live Gold or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, with Colt Canyon available first from December 1 to 31 and Bladed Fury available from December 16 to January 15.

Originally launching in 2020, Colt Canyon is a 2D pixel art shooter where players take on the role of a cowboy on a mission to save his kidnapped partner from ruthless bandits.

Exploring the Colt Canyon will reward players with hidden treasures and weapons, but naturally also features various dangers and more than enough TNT.

Bladed Fury was released in 2018 as a 2D fantasy action game based on a slightly surreal version of Chinese history and mythology. Playing as the exiled Princess Ji, players must traverse the side-scrolling environment as they chain combos and destroy all manners of gods and monsters.

New games approaching also means that November's Games with Gold will soon leave the service, so be sure to download Roman Empire RTS Praetorians and co-op twin-stick shooter Dead End Job before it's too late.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Update 11/29/2022: Golf has finally been added to Nintendo Switch Sports with Nintendo confirming the free update is now available to all users.

Previously only confirmed for a Holiday 2022 launch, Nintendo announced on Twitter that Nintendo Switch Sports owners can download the update as of November 29.

The golf mode features 21 holes pulled from Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort alongside the online Survival Golf mode that sees several players compete simultaneously.

Original Story 09/13/2022: Nintendo Switch Sports is far from done, as more sport is on the way: golf will be added to the game at last.

At today's Nintendo Direct, it was revealed that golf is being added to the game in the next free update. It will include 21 holes from the original Wii Sports series, so prepare for a little nostalgia. But that's not all; there's a new online mode - Survival Golf - which sees eight players compete on the same course, at the same time, to stay in a multiplayer golf match. Players are eliminated based on their number of strokes - get the most strokes and you're out.

The update will come a little later than initially expected, though: rather than the initially promise Fall launch, the free DLC will be available from Holiday 2022.

We gave Nintendo Switch Sports a 7 at launch, saying it "successfully recaptures the party game magic of Wii Sports, but quickly falls victim to a lack of depth that holds it back from achieving greatness." It has since seen a summer update that incorporate Ring Fit's leg strap controls, and we more recently learned that entering a special code at a certain point in the game will unlock the most powerful man in existance: Matt.

Catch up on everything announced during today's Nintendo Direct in our roundup right here.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Features Editor.

Nvidia has announced that its graphically enhanced upgrade Portal RTX is arriving on December 8.

Revealed in a blog post, the December release date marks a small delay from the company's original November launch plan but fans still only have another week or so to wait.

The free DLC for Portal upgrades the 2007 puzzle game with ray tracing and remade high resolution textures. DLSS2 allows for full ray tracing while Nvidia's latest DLSS 3 technology improves the frame rate 2.8 times over for those who own an RTX 40-series graphics card.

Portal RTX was announced during Nvidia's GTC keynote in September alongside RTX Remix, the tool used to remaster the game with ray tracing.

Nvidia said the tool would also be made available so players could upgrade other games, but it's unclear if this will launch alongside the Portal update or be released later.

In our 8/10 review of Portal, IGN said: "The idea behind Portal ends up being more brilliant than Portal itself. Regardless, we definitely had a lot of fun with what is there and appreciate the level of polish and thought that went into the presentation."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.