Florian Munteanu, perhaps best known as Viktor Drago in Creed II, is joining the cast of the upcoming Borderlands film to play Krieg. Krieg is one of the six playable characters from Borderlands 2 and part of the game's Psycho class. Munteanu joins the rest of the star-studded cast of this movie which features Cate Blanchett as Lilith, Jamie Lee Curtis as Dr. Tannis, Jack Black as Claptrap, Kevin Hart as an ex-soldier turned mercenary, and Ariana Greenblatt as Tiny Tina, whom Krieg is in charge of protecting. [caption id="attachment_248448" align="alignnone" width="720"] Florian Munteanu[/caption] "Florian brings real humanity and multiple layers to a character who on the surface seems totally insane and brutally savage," Roth said in a statement about today's announcement. "Krieg was by far the most difficult role to cast, and Florian brought him to life and grounded him in a way that I didn't know was possible. He's going to be a brilliant Krieg and will fit in perfectly with our incredible cast." With the announcement of Munteanu as Krieg, Hart remains the only announced actor in the movie without a name-designated role, although his character's "ex-soldier turned mercenary" description seems to hint at Roland. In the games, Krieg is from a bandit family and was treated rather unfairly by his mother for being weaker than the rest. This fuels him to grow stronger, but it's not until he's captured by Dr. Benedict that he becomes the Krieg of Borderlands 2. Dr. Benedict experiments on him and many others, which turns them into "Psychos." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/11/jack-black-joins-borderlands-movie-cast-as-claptrap"] Krieg eventually breaks out of Dr. Benedict's facility, kills Dr. Benedict, and becomes a bit of a torn soul akin to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. One half of Krieg's personality is that of a Psycho and the other is his former, more sane self. Eventually, Psycho Krieg takes over and that's who we see in the game. It's unclear what route the Borderlands movie will take Krieg, but there's plenty of lore in Borderlands 2 and Borderlands 3 — an entire DLC dedicated to the character called Pyscho Krieg and the Fantastic Fustercluck was released in the latter — to go off of. The casting announcement, however, describes Krieg as the "musclebound, rhetorically challenged protector of Tiny Tina." The Borderlands movie was announced in February of last year and has continued to add stars like Munteanu and Blanchett to the film. It's being directed by Hostel's Eli Roth and produced alongside Avi and Ari Arad of Arad Productions and Erik Feig of Picturestart, with Gearbox CEO, Randy Pitchford, and Take-Two Interactive CEO, Strauss Zelnick, set to executive produce the movie. HBO's Chernobyl creator, Craig Mazin, is writing the screenplay. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-video-game-movie-in-development-almost&captions=true"] Roth has said he wants to reward dedicated Borderlands cosplayers by casting them in the film and killing off their characters. Check out IGN's breakdown of every video game movie currently in development to keep up with this movie and the many others based on video games. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes. 

Turns out, putting something as simple-seeming as doors into a video game is really hard, even for big studios like Naughty Dog. A conversation on Twitter today about doors began when Death Trash developer Stephan Hövelbrinks tweeted the following about implementing doors in games:

Doors #gamedev pic.twitter.com/7CJgKin1dE

— Stephan Hövelbrinks (@talecrafter) March 9, 2021

To summarize: doors push players into small areas, block their paths, but unlike walls have a lot of other potential problems such as being locked or unlocked, being able to be destroyed (and thus no longer be there anymore), and more. And to be clear, Hövelbrinks is specifically talking about doors that can open and close and players can walk through without loading into a new area, rather than doors that are static or act as portals. Boss Fight design director and former BioWare Austin designer Damion Schubert also weighed in, describing in more detail what these issues can entail: for example, NPCs might not be able to find their way through a space because of how doors interact with their paths, or if they try to use the door at the same time as an NPC or a player. There are visual problems, too, related to doors clipping through other objects or getting stuck, or related to the animation of a player reaching out to open said door.

This immersion breaking is really the core of the issue. What breaks immersion is when a game aspect, mechanically, draws attention to itself in a negative fashion. Doors - EVEN IMPLEMENTED WELL - do this frequently. And players usually don't even NOTICE they aren't there.

8/ — Damion Schubert, Zen Designer (@ZenOfDesign) March 9, 2021

The Last of Us 2 co-director Kurt Margenau also chimed in to note that Naughty Dog had its own struggles with doors. "We knew that doors in a stealth scenario would add some level of player authorship to the space and give more opportunities to escape situations. They block [line of sight] and slow enemies down. This was in line with wanting the player to re-establish stealth more often. "But we are also a game that is incredibly polished animation-wise. If a player is going to open a door, it can’t just magically fly open, the character has to reach to the doorknob and push it open. But what about closing it behind you? How do you do that while sprinting? "We played around with several prototypes to allow the player to manually close the door behind them. They were all not great. We tried holding buttons, all kinds of weird schemes. Then how do you animate it? Don’t want to suck the player into an animation while escaping. "Long story short: in combat tension the doors will slowly automatically close. This is the most player-favoring, as player door opening slows you down very little, we don’t even take control away, but they block AI more effectively." Margenau went on to add that effectively, Naughty Dog had to create an entire new physics object (the door) that players can push, but that can also push the player -- an enormous challenge for any studio. Plenty of other developers had things to say about doors. Remedy gameplay designer Sergey Mohov, for example: "I don't exactly know how many man-months went into the door system in Control, but more than most abilities and weapons, for sure," he said. Other developers also chimed in about the troubles with doors, including Naughty Dog audio lead Neil Uchitel saying that door sound design is also a massive challenge, and Obsidian design director Josh Sawyer, who said doors are "one of the first things we implement in any of our games." [poilib element="accentDivider"] Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Turns out, putting something as simple-seeming as doors into a video game is really hard, even for big studios like Naughty Dog. A conversation on Twitter today about doors began when Death Trash developer Stephan Hövelbrinks tweeted the following about implementing doors in games:

Doors #gamedev pic.twitter.com/7CJgKin1dE

— Stephan Hövelbrinks (@talecrafter) March 9, 2021

To summarize: doors push players into small areas, block their paths, but unlike walls have a lot of other potential problems such as being locked or unlocked, being able to be destroyed (and thus no longer be there anymore), and more. And to be clear, Hövelbrinks is specifically talking about doors that can open and close and players can walk through without loading into a new area, rather than doors that are static or act as portals. Boss Fight design director and former BioWare Austin designer Damion Schubert also weighed in, describing in more detail what these issues can entail: for example, NPCs might not be able to find their way through a space because of how doors interact with their paths, or if they try to use the door at the same time as an NPC or a player. There are visual problems, too, related to doors clipping through other objects or getting stuck, or related to the animation of a player reaching out to open said door.

This immersion breaking is really the core of the issue. What breaks immersion is when a game aspect, mechanically, draws attention to itself in a negative fashion. Doors - EVEN IMPLEMENTED WELL - do this frequently. And players usually don't even NOTICE they aren't there.

8/ — Damion Schubert, Zen Designer (@ZenOfDesign) March 9, 2021

The Last of Us 2 co-director Kurt Margenau also chimed in to note that Naughty Dog had its own struggles with doors. "We knew that doors in a stealth scenario would add some level of player authorship to the space and give more opportunities to escape situations. They block [line of sight] and slow enemies down. This was in line with wanting the player to re-establish stealth more often. "But we are also a game that is incredibly polished animation-wise. If a player is going to open a door, it can’t just magically fly open, the character has to reach to the doorknob and push it open. But what about closing it behind you? How do you do that while sprinting? "We played around with several prototypes to allow the player to manually close the door behind them. They were all not great. We tried holding buttons, all kinds of weird schemes. Then how do you animate it? Don’t want to suck the player into an animation while escaping. "Long story short: in combat tension the doors will slowly automatically close. This is the most player-favoring, as player door opening slows you down very little, we don’t even take control away, but they block AI more effectively." Margenau went on to add that effectively, Naughty Dog had to create an entire new physics object (the door) that players can push, but that can also push the player -- an enormous challenge for any studio. Plenty of other developers had things to say about doors. Remedy gameplay designer Sergey Mohov, for example: "I don't exactly know how many man-months went into the door system in Control, but more than most abilities and weapons, for sure," he said. Other developers also chimed in about the troubles with doors, including Naughty Dog audio lead Neil Uchitel saying that door sound design is also a massive challenge, and Obsidian design director Josh Sawyer, who said doors are "one of the first things we implement in any of our games." [poilib element="accentDivider"] Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

The Disney+ streaming service has surpassed 100 million global paid subscribers since its initial launch just 16 months ago on November 12, 2019. Bob Chapek, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, made the announcement during the company's annual shareholders meeting: [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=disney-spotlight-march-2021&captions=true"] “The enormous success of Disney+ -- which has now surpassed 100 million subscribers—has inspired us to be even more ambitious, and to significantly increase our investment in the development of high-quality content,” Chapek informed the shareholders. “In fact, we set a target of 100+ new titles per year, and this includes Disney Animation, Disney Live-Action, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic. Our direct-to-consumer business is the Company’s top priority, and our robust pipeline of content will continue to fuel its growth." Disney+ is now available in 59 countries and continues to increase its stake in the global streaming market. While Netflix still holds the top spot with a whopping 200 million subscribers as of January 2019, it's impressive how quickly Disney is acquiring new viewers considering its only been on the market for 16 months. Disney+ has served as an easy way to watch popular Disney classics, and also as a launchpad for original programs and movies. For more on Disney+, be sure to check out what Marvel boss Kevin Feige revealed about the upcoming The Falcon and The Winter Soldier series, everything new coming to Disney+ in March, and find out why the WandaVision finale is not the end for Wanda or Vision. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/07/marvels-falcon-and-the-winter-soldier-official-trailer"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] David Griffin still watches DuckTales in his pajamas with a cereal bowl in hand. He's also the TV Editor for IGN. Say hi on Twitter.

The Disney+ streaming service has surpassed 100 million global paid subscribers since its initial launch just 16 months ago on November 12, 2019. Bob Chapek, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, made the announcement during the company's annual shareholders meeting: [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=disney-spotlight-march-2021&captions=true"] “The enormous success of Disney+ -- which has now surpassed 100 million subscribers—has inspired us to be even more ambitious, and to significantly increase our investment in the development of high-quality content,” Chapek informed the shareholders. “In fact, we set a target of 100+ new titles per year, and this includes Disney Animation, Disney Live-Action, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic. Our direct-to-consumer business is the Company’s top priority, and our robust pipeline of content will continue to fuel its growth." Disney+ is now available in 59 countries and continues to increase its stake in the global streaming market. While Netflix still holds the top spot with a whopping 200 million subscribers as of January 2019, it's impressive how quickly Disney is acquiring new viewers considering its only been on the market for 16 months. Disney+ has served as an easy way to watch popular Disney classics, and also as a launchpad for original programs and movies. For more on Disney+, be sure to check out what Marvel boss Kevin Feige revealed about the upcoming The Falcon and The Winter Soldier series, everything new coming to Disney+ in March, and find out why the WandaVisio finale is not the end for Wanda or Vision. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/07/marvels-falcon-and-the-winter-soldier-official-trailer"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] David Griffin still watches DuckTales in his pajamas with a cereal bowl in hand. He's also the TV Editor for IGN. Say hi on Twitter.

A new Xbox Game Pass / Falcon and the Winter Soldier commercial uses Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson and the MCU's "blip" to sell viewers on Game Pass. The commercial features Sam going into a store that only sells Xbox games and telling the Microsoft employee that he missed 5 years of his life, including his nephews growing up. Sam says he has a lot to catch up on and asks the store employee for help. But that's not just any long-haired, geeky Microsoft employee, it's Aaron from Captain America: The Winter Soldier, who points to an Xbox Series X and S on display. A montage ensues of Xbox games with an announcer talking about discovering new games on the service. Actor DC Pierson returns to play Aaron in his second MCU appearance. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/09/xbox-the-falcon-and-the-winter-soldier-what-did-i-miss-trailer"] A debate ensued on Twitter, if you can believe it, about whether that was actually Aaron from Winter Soldier. Pierson replied to a thread of tweets confirming that it's him. The official Xbox Twitter account chimed in by saying, "Aaron is definitely employee of the month."

Aaron is definitely employee of the month

— Xbox (@Xbox) March 9, 2021

In The Winter Soldier, Aaron was an Apple Store employee. Now that Microsoft has shut down all but four Microsoft stores, maybe Sam can get Aaron a job working for the Avengers. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=marvels-the-falcon-and-the-winter-soldier-character-posters&captions=true"] The Falcon and the Winter Soldier debuts March 19 on Disney+. Four character posters were released, and producer Kevin Feige recently spoke about how the series will explore Falcon taking over as Captain America. Feige also provided updates on She-Hulk, Moon Knight, and more. As for Game Pass, it was announced that Microsoft's acquisition of Bethesda has gone through, which means there will be new Bethesda games on Game Pass by the end of the week. This comes after Microsoft put games like Dirt 5 and Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire on Game Pass at the end of February. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Petey Oneto is a freelance writer for IGN.

A new Xbox Game Pass / Falcon and the Winter Soldier commercial uses Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson and the MCU's "blip" to sell viewers on Game Pass. The commercial features Sam going into a store that only sells Xbox games and telling the Microsoft employee that he missed 5 years of his life, including his nephews growing up. Sam says he has a lot to catch up on and asks the store employee for help. But that's not just any long-haired, geeky Microsoft employee, it's Aaron from Captain America: The Winter Soldier, who points to an Xbox Series X and S on display. A montage ensues of Xbox games with an announcer talking about discovering new games on the service. Actor DC Pierson returns to play Aaron in his second MCU appearance. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/09/xbox-the-falcon-and-the-winter-soldier-what-did-i-miss-trailer"] A debate ensued on Twitter, if you can believe it, about whether that was actually Aaron from Winter Soldier. Pierson replied to a thread of tweets confirming that it's him. The official Xbox Twitter account chimed in by saying, "Aaron is definitely employee of the month."

Aaron is definitely employee of the month

— Xbox (@Xbox) March 9, 2021

In The Winter Soldier, Aaron was an Apple Store employee. Now that Microsoft has shut down all but four Microsoft stores, maybe Sam can get Aaron a job working for the Avengers. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=marvels-the-falcon-and-the-winter-soldier-character-posters&captions=true"] The Falcon and the Winter Soldier debuts March 19 on Disney+. Four character posters were released, and producer Kevin Feige recently spoke about how the series will explore Falcon taking over as Captain America. Feige also provided updates on She-Hulk, Moon Knight, and more. As for Game Pass, it was announced that Microsoft's acquisition of Bethesda has gone through, which means there will be new Bethesda games on Game Pass by the end of the week. This comes after Microsoft put games like Dirt 5 and Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire on Game Pass at the end of February. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Petey Oneto is a freelance writer for IGN.

If you've ever wondered what Spider-Man would look like as a 100-foot-tall Japanese mecha, Mondo has the answer. The company is kicking off a new line of Marvel Mecha figures that reimagine iconic Marvel heroes as giant kaiju-battling robots, and Spidey is first in line., IGN can exclusively offer a closer look at the first two figures in the Marvel Mecha series, a traditional red and blue version of Spider-Man and a limited black costume variant. Click through the slideshow gallery below to see both figures: [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=marvel-mecha-spider-man-figures-coming-from-mondo&captions=true"] Both versions of the Spider-Man figure measure in at 10 inches tall and have 30 points of articulation. The figures include a number of accessories like swords, web shields and other webbing effects. These figures were designed in-house at Mondo by Remy Paul and sculpted by Jay Kushwara. Mondo is also teasing at least two more figures in the series, with both Black Panther and Captain America next in line for the Marvel Mecha treatment. While they aren't based on any existing Marvel Comics storylines, there is a mythology fueling the Marvel Mecha line. Mondo's Tim Wiesch developed a storyline for the series and is writing a series of mini manga comics that will accompany each release (sort of like the classic Masters of the Universe figures). Here's Mondo's official summary of that story:

Late in the early 23rd Century mankind took its first real steps onto the galactic stage. A new Plasma Engine technology had made the exploration of the furthermost limits of the Milky Way achievable within an incredibly short amount of time. And explore they did. Within the span of just two generations humankind would call hundreds of planets home. To protect all of these new expeditions, the Governments of Earth created an elite space fighting force known as MECHA where only the best of the best are given the opportunity to pilot the most incredible force in the galaxy. But in those outer reaches of space, an unknown terror was emerging. Merchant vessels and military ships alike were found abandoned or, even worse, with no survivors throughout the galaxy in a rapidly accelerating pattern. Across all known space the Mecha are on high alert but without concrete evidence of what they should be looking for very little has been done to protect the space travelers. That is about to change…

Both figures are available to preorder now through Mondo's website. The red and blue figure is priced at $160 and the symbiote variant is priced at $170. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/04/21/spawn-creator-todd-mcfarlane-on-remastering-a-beloved-90s-action-figure"] In other recent toy news, Hasbro teased a series of vintage-style Star Wars: The Black Series figures to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Lucasfilm, while Spawn creator is teasing a followup to his massively successful Spawn figure Kickstarter. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

If you've ever wondered what Spider-Man would look like as a 100-foot-tall Japanese mecha, Mondo has the answer. The company is kicking off a new line of Marvel Mecha figures that reimagine iconic Marvel heroes as giant kaiju-battling robots, and Spidey is first in line., IGN can exclusively offer a closer look at the first two figures in the Marvel Mecha series, a traditional red and blue version of Spider-Man and a limited black costume variant. Click through the slideshow gallery below to see both figures: [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=marvel-mecha-spider-man-figures-coming-from-mondo&captions=true"] Both versions of the Spider-Man figure measure in at 10 inches tall and have 30 points of articulation. The figures include a number of accessories like swords, web shields and other webbing effects. These figures were designed in-house at Mondo by Remy Paul and sculpted by Jay Kushwara. Mondo is also teasing at least two more figures in the series, with both Black Panther and Captain America next in line for the Marvel Mecha treatment. While they aren't based on any existing Marvel Comics storylines, there is a mythology fueling the Marvel Mecha line. Mondo's Tim Wiesch developed a storyline for the series and is writing a series of mini manga comics that will accompany each release (sort of like the classic Masters of the Universe figures). Here's Mondo's official summary of that story:

Late in the early 23rd Century mankind took its first real steps onto the galactic stage. A new Plasma Engine technology had made the exploration of the furthermost limits of the Milky Way achievable within an incredibly short amount of time. And explore they did. Within the span of just two generations humankind would call hundreds of planets home. To protect all of these new expeditions, the Governments of Earth created an elite space fighting force known as MECHA where only the best of the best are given the opportunity to pilot the most incredible force in the galaxy. But in those outer reaches of space, an unknown terror was emerging. Merchant vessels and military ships alike were found abandoned or, even worse, with no survivors throughout the galaxy in a rapidly accelerating pattern. Across all known space the Mecha are on high alert but without concrete evidence of what they should be looking for very little has been done to protect the space travelers. That is about to change…

Both figures are available to preorder now through Mondo's website. The red and blue figure is priced at $160 and the symbiote variant is priced at $170. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/04/21/spawn-creator-todd-mcfarlane-on-remastering-a-beloved-90s-action-figure"] In other recent toy news, Hasbro teased a series of vintage-style Star Wars: The Black Series figures to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Lucasfilm, while Spawn creator is teasing a followup to his massively successful Spawn figure Kickstarter. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

The live-action Powerpuff Girls series at The CW has found its three leads with Chloe Bennet, Dove Cameron, and Yana Perrault playing the superpowered sisters. According to Variety, Bennet has been cast as Blossom, Cameron as Bubbles, and Perrault as Buttercup. Bennet and Cameron both previously appeared on ABC’s Agents of Shield together. The live-action Powerpuff Girls is set years after the events of the children’s cartoon. The three Powerpuff Girls are now “disillusioned twenty-something-year-olds” who resent they lost their childhoods to crime-fighting, and have to learn to work together again in the face of a new threat. [caption id="attachment_2484407" align="alignnone" width="594"] Source: Chloe Bennet has been cast as Blossom. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)[/caption] In the cartoons, Blossom was the de facto leader of the Powerpuff Girls. According to Variety’s synopsis, Blossom holds several advanced degrees, but is suffering from repressed superhero trauma leading her to live life as an anxious recluse. She hopes to regain her role as a leader in the series. Meanwhile, Bubbles is still the same sparkling character as she was in the past, but is now interested in recapturing her fame by saving the world. And Buttercup in the series has spent most of her life living anonymously and trying to leave behind her past. [caption id="attachment_2484410" align="alignnone" width="594"] Dove Cameron will play Bubbles. Source: (Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images)[/caption] In both Bubbles and Buttercup’s case, their outward personas hide secret depths that may seem opposite to how they appear on the surface. [caption id="attachment_2484411" align="alignnone" width="414"] Yana Perrault will play Buttercup. Source: (Photo by Daniel Zuchnik/Getty Images)[/caption] Bennet is known for playing Daisy “Skye” Johnson on Agents of SHIELD for seven seasons. While Cameron was seen on Disney Channel shows like the “Descendants.” Perrault is known for her musical roles including the Alanis Morissette musical “Jagged Little Pill.” Diablo Cody and Heather Regnier are writing the pilot, and Greg Berlanti, David Madden, and Sarah Schecter are on board as producers. The last time the Powerpuff Girls were on TV was in a 2016 animated reboot for Cartoon Network. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt T.M. Kim is News Editor at IGN.