Elon Musk claims one of his companies has implanted a device into a monkey’s brain, and hopes to make it play “mind pong” with another cyborg monkey. The billionaire, who owns a variety of science-based companies, discussed the augmented monkey in a speech hosted on private social app Clubhouse, according to Sky News. During the talk, he revealed that his brain-machine interface company, Neuralink, has “a monkey with a wireless implant in their skull with tiny wires". Neuralink is using the monkey as a test subject for its technology, something it previously did with two pigs. The ultimate aim of the company is to create a brain-computer interface, with current trials focused on potentially using the technology to treat people with brain and spinal injuries. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2017/03/28/elon-musk-wants-to-put-a-chip-in-your-brain-ign-daily-fix"] As part of these tests, Musk wants to make the monkey play video games in its own mind. “One of the things we're trying to figure out is whether we can have the monkeys playing mind pong with each other?,” he said. “That would be pretty cool." The device itself is made up of more than 3,000 electrodes that are capable of monitoring around 1,000 neurons. This is attached to threads slimmer than a hair, the so called “tiny wires” Musk spoke about. Animal welfare within the realm of science is, naturally, a concern for many groups, but Musk claimed that “You can't see where the implant is and he's a happy monkey." He claims that an inspector from the US Department of Agriculture said that the Neuralink laboratory was “the nicest monkey facility” they had examined. In less absurd news, Musk’s other company, Tesla, has produced a car fitted with a gaming PC that can play The Witcher 3. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.

Netflix has announced an all-new animated Sonic the Hedgehog series, Sonic Prime, set to premiere worldwide in 2022. The animated adventure will consist of 24 episodes, which will follow Sonic on a "high-octane adventure where the fate of a strange new multiverse rests in his gloved hands." Whilst that might sound like a familiar premise, Netflix notes that the series is "more than a race to save the universe," as the Blue Blur ultimately finds himself on "a journey of self-discovery and redemption." Sonic Prime will be a collaboration between SEGA and Wild Brain Studio, as the two companies are jointly handling production, distribution, and licensing of the series, alongside Ben 10 creators Man of Action Entertainment, who will be serving as showrunners and executive producers on the project, which was accidentally teased towards the end of last year. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/04/08/sonic-the-hedgehog-official-movie-easter-eggs-breakdown"] "Sonic is a beloved character and holds a special place in everyone's heart including my own," Netflix's Director of Original Animation, Dominique Bazay, said in a statement following the announcement. "I spent many hours with the blue blur as a kid and it's a privilege to be able to bring this character everyone knows and loves on a brand new adventure with Netflix -- one that a generation of loyal fans and brand new fans around the world can enjoy." The series based on the beloved video game — which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year — is said to build upon the momentum that was generated for the iconic character following the release of the Sonic the Hedgehog movie last year, with an all-new adventure that aims to "match the scale and scope of the epic adventures synonymous with the Sonic franchise." "Sonic the Hedgehog is a global entertainment icon that has captivated audiences since its video game debut in 1991," added SEGA's Ivo Gerscovich. "With over 1.14 billion game units sold and downloaded to date, an exciting feature film, a robust licensing program, and more, SEGA's iconic hedgehog continues to surprise and delight audiences worldwide. We're thrilled to partner with WildBrain, Man of Action Entertainment, and Netflix to speed into this new, animated chapter in the Sonic franchise." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-video-game-movie-in-development-almost&captions=true"] "This premium franchise is ideally suited to WildBrain's capabilities and it's already inspiring great things from our talented creative teams," WildBrain President Josh Scherba said in his statement. "We've witnessed first-hand the enduring popularity of this brand from the strong and steady global demand for our library of legacy Sonic series. We look forward now to bringing fresh and exciting Sonic content to fans both new and old." In addition to Netflix's Sonic Prime, coming in 2022, a sequel to the Sonic the Hedgehog movie is in the works, with Jeff Fowler, who helmed the 2020 film, reportedly returning to direct the SEGA Sonic-oriented project from a script by Pat Casey and Josh Miller. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is currently scheduled to race into theaters on April 8, 2022. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

MLB The Show 21, the latest instalment of the PlayStation-exclusive baseball series from Sony first-party developer San Diego Studio, has been announced for both PlayStation and Xbox consoles. Launching on April 20, it will be available across both generations, with PS4/Xbox One versions retailing at $59.99 USD/£59.99 GBP and the next-gen versions at $69.99 USB/£69.99 GBP. The advent of a new platform for the game also means cross-platform play and cross progression has been introduced, meaning MLB The Show 21 players can carry progression between both PlayStation and Xbox platforms, as well as play multiplayer with all players on both console families. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/01/mlb-the-show-21-announcement-with-fernando-tatis-jr-trailer"] Further new features will be revealed as part of a series of six Feature Premiere streams, starting in March. Another reveal will be held on February 3, which will show off the Collector’s Edition of the game. While you’ll have to wait until then to find out what is inside the more premium edition, the PlayStation Blog does suggest that only the Collector’s Edition will feature a free next-gen upgrade. “There will be no standard edition upgrade path from current gen to next gen,” says the article from Ramone Russell, game designer at developer San Diego Studio. “If you are interested in having access to the game on both current and next gen platforms, please wait for more info about the collector’s edition.” While the regular edition is the only one to be shown so far, the artwork does show off this year’s cover athlete: Fernando “El Nino” Tatis Jr. This won’t come as a surprise to some fans, as the cover - as well as the Xbox version - was leaked last week. To see how the series has fared recently, take a look at our MLB The Show 20 review. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. 

10-15% of all PS5s sold in the US are estimated to have been resold, earning huge profit for scalpers, according to a new report. Data engineer Michael Driscoll posted the latest in a series of reports on the scalping market, this time focused on PS5. The report scraped data for thousands of listings on eBay and StockX, up until January 16. Among other things, Driscoll included only listings that had actually sold, excluded any listing using terms commonly included in scam listings, excluded listings from low feedback accounts, and removed all results that sold for less than the recommended retail price. Driscoll was left with a figure of 157,000 PS5s sold at retail price or higher on eBay and StockX – 7.06% of of the 2.067 million PS5s VGChartz estimates were sold in the US up until January 16. Driscoll then looked into active listings on services such as OfferUp, Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist, coming to the conclusion that a likely 10-15% of PS5s have been resold in the US. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/ps5-scalpers-used-a-loophole-to-buy-stock-before-it-was-live-in-the-uk-ign-news"] Driscoll's report makes for very interesting reading beyond the headline figures. On eBay and StockX, the most recent estimated average price for a digital edition PS5 is $799 (twice its recommended price), while a disc edition is $849 (1.7 times recommend price). Driscoll estimates that scalpers have made $43.2 million in profit during that time, with eBay, PayPal, and StockX making a combined $15.9 million as a result of the resales. While we can't be completely sure of the figures involved (Sony has yet to release its own official data for launch) the report puts the scale of PS5 reselling into perspective, especially with scalping becoming a major talking point in the launch window of PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and new Nvidia and AMD graphics cards. Supply shortages and widespread use of automated bots have led to price inflation and repeated disappointment for normal customers. Some UK politicians are even calling on the practice to be made illegal as a result. [poilib element="accentDivider"] 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 newstips@ign.com.

Nintendo’s latest earning reports show that Pokémon Sword & Shield have sold over 20 million units, making it the best selling Pokémon game since Gold & Silver, and the first game since that generation to pass 20 million copies sold. As noted by Serbeii, Pokémon Sword & Shield has now sold 20.35 million units, with 1.3 million of those being sold in the past 3 months (Q3 2020). Those figures put it as the first Pokémon game to achieve more than 20 million copies since Gold & Silver, which sold 23.73 million copies following its launch in 1999. It’s also the third best selling Pokémon game of all time, behind Gold & Silver and Red/Green/Blue. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/11/13/pokemon-sword-and-pokemon-shield-review"] Since Gold & Silver, Pokémon’s sales have remained largely consistent - at least as far as the initial game launched in a generation - but all have sold within the 15-17 million region. The huge popularity of Sword & Shield marks a landmark game for the series, then. No doubt such figures are in part thanks to the mass popularity of the Nintendo Switch itself, which has now eclipsed sales of the Nintendo 3DS. As well as being the third best-selling Pokémon game, Sword & Shield is the 5th best selling game on Switch. It is surpassed only by Breath of the Wild (21.45m), Super Smash bros. Ultimate (22.85m), Animal Crossing: New Horizons (31.18m) and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (33.41m). We’ve got more news from Nintendo’s latest reports: Nintendo Switch Lite is about to overtake Wii U’s lifetime sales, and there are no plans for a new Switch model anytime soon. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. 

A team of fans is working on not one, but two versions of a Shenmue 1+2 remake mod, which will transfer the contents of Sega’s Shenmue 2018 rerelease into Unreal Engine 4 and add a variety of enhancements. Announced in a post on the Shenmue Dojo forums, the Shenmue Dragon and Phoenix Collection is an “engine replacement mod”, designed with the idea of bringing the gameplay of the 2018 Shenmue 1+2 release in line with the more modern Shenmue 3. It takes all the models, textures, animations, and gameplay from the 2018 rerelease and transfers them to Unreal Engine 4, the engine used for Shemue 3. This will allow for the addition of ray tracing and physically based rendering of materials for a more realistic look. The engine change has also allowed the team to stitch the whole game world together as a seamless map, rather than separate areas divided by loading screens. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/08/21/the-first-16-minutes-of-shenmue-remastered-gameplay"] Importantly, the team is producing two distinct versions of this Shenmue 1+2 mod; the Dragon Edition and the Phoenix Edition. The Dragon Edition is a “1:1 port” that is, as close as the team can make it, a straight engine replacement for the 2018 rerelease. Aside froim Unreal Engine 4 enhancements, this is planned to be the original games “warts and all''. The Phoenix Edition, on the other hand, is a “full UE4 reimagining of the games''. Like the Dragon Edition, it will be a full transfer of the game to Unreal Engine 4, but with new features designed to modernise the experience. The team has yet to finalise what those features are, but cite a new stamina system as one of the more major changes in mind, as well as smaller changes such as new cassettes in the Tomato Store. As with almost all modding projects, there is no release date set. But progress is currently further down the line than just plans; the team have the assets ported to Unreal Engine 4 and are able to take in-engine screenshots. Of course, being a mod, this is a non-profit project from fans with no intention of being sold. Presumably, when complete the mod will require players to own the Shenmue 1+2 rerelease for it to work. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/08/22/the-first-19-minutes-of-shenmue-2-remastered-gameplay"] In a way, this project is similar to the official Shenmue remake that was cancelled. That remake was based on the original assets and looked similar to the original versions, but would have featured improved rendering and details. The 2018 rerelease of Shenmue 1+2 was sadly buggy, but was still well received by fans. Less well received was the long awaited Shenmue 3, which we said was mediocre in our review from 2019. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. 

Nintendo has reportedly said that it isn't planning to announce a new model of Switch 'anytime soon'. In an investor Q&A following the announcement of Nintendo's latest earnings report, Bloomberg's Takashi Mochizuki reports that Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa was asked whether the company would announce an upgraded model of the Switch. His response: "Not anytime soon". That response has immediately led to discussion of whether it is or isn't a clue as to a future announcement. Previously, Nintendo has offered more concrete denials of a new model, and Furukawa's apparent phrasing here leaves the door more open to an announcement at a later date. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/21/is-a-switch-pro-coming-in-2021-nvc-544"] It's worth pointing out that David Gibson, a games business analyst in the same Q&A session, reported a slightly different answer to the same question, saying that there was "no new model plan" beyond the release of Mario and Monster Hunter special edition Switch models. Nintendo usually releases a full transcription of the Q&A shortly after the event, which should help clear up that phrasing. Rumours have swirled about the release of a 'Switch Pro' or 'Super Switch' for some time. Early last year, reports suggested it could come during 2020 but, speaking to IGN, analysts are more conflicted about whether a Pro model could emerge in 2021. Whether it arrives or not, we can be sure that Switch will be doing very well for Nintendo. The company just announced that the console had passed the 3DS, after reaching almost 80 million units sold. The Switch Lite model alone is about to outsell Wii U, too. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=a-history-of-nintendo-hardware-1977-to-now&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] 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 newstips@ign.com.

As part of the company's latest earnings report, Nintendo has revealed that the Nintendo Switch Lite is about to outsell the Wii U. Since its launch in 2019, the smaller, dockless Nintendo Switch Lite has sold 13.53 million units. The figure can be seen in Nintendo's recently released Consolidated Financial Highlights document. Such volume of sales means the Switch Lite is very close to beating the Wii U's lifetime total unit sales, which are recorded as 13.56 million units on the Nintendo website. The Switch Lite will likely surpass that benchmark in the coming months, if it hasn't already. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/09/26/nintendo-switch-lite-review"] Surpassing Wii U sales is par for the course for the Switch now. Following its launch in 2017, the base Nintendo Switch took less than a year to outsell the preceding console, shifting 14 million units by January 2018. You can learn more about Nintendo's recent financial news by reading our study of the report, which notes that Animal Crossing: New Horizons has surpassed 31 million copies sold, as of December 31, 2020. Analysts are currently conflicted on the prospect of a new Nintendo Switch Pro in 2021, due to the tremendous popularity of the current model. In other Wii U news, check out our article about how everything you love about the Nintendo Switch was done by the Wii U first. We reviewed the console upon its launch back in 2012, scoring it a 7.6 and calling it a "mix of awesome new ideas and mediocre execution." [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Nintendo has announced that, as of December 31, 2020, the Nintendo Switch has officially passed the 3DS with 79.87 million console units sold. Furthermore, Animal Crossing: New Horizons has reached 31.18 million copies sold. As revealed in Nintendo's latest financial earnings release for the nine month period ending December 31, 2020, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is getting ever closer to passing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's 33.41 million units sold as the best-selling Nintendo Switch game. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the third-best selling Switch game with 22.85 million units sold, followed by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's 21.45 million units, Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield's 20.35 million units, and Super Mario Odyssey's 20.23 million units. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/11/24/the-best-nintendo-switch-games-fall-2020-update"] Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield have also become the first Pokemon games to sell over 20 million units since Pokemon Gold and Silver. During the nine months ending December 31, 2020, titles released in the fiscal year beginning on April 1, 2020, saw a ton of success. Super Mario 3D All-Stars sold 8.32 million units, Paper Mario: The Origami King sold 3.05 million units, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity sold 2.84 million units, Pikmin 3 Deluxe sold 1.94 million units, and Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit sold 1.08 million units. Games released in previous fiscal years also continued to sell well in these nine months, led by Animal Crossing: New Horizons' 19.41 million units. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sold 8.64 million units, Ring Fit Adventure sold 5.95 million units, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild sold 4.04 million units, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate sold 4.01 million units. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/27/super-mario-3d-world-bowsers-fury-the-final-preview"] 29 Nintendo Switch titles sold over one million copies, including 9 games from other software publishers. Nintendo Switch hardware sales reached 24.10 million units in this time period, which is a 35.8% increase year-on-year, and software sales reached 176.10 million units, which is a 43.0% increase year-on-year. It is also interesting to note that the Nintendo Switch Lite has sold 13.53 million units in its lifetime, meaning it is close to passing the Wii U’s 13.56 million units. Digital sales also accounted for 40.9% of all software sales, which is a 12.3% increase year-on-year. Digital sales also saw an increase of 104.9% when compared to 2019. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/31/the-biggest-game-releases-of-february-2021"] Mobile and IP related income saw an increase of 13.8% year-on-year. While we don't know Nintendo's full plan for 2021, we do have Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, Monster Hunter Rise, New Pokemon Snap, and Bravely Default 2 to look forward to in the next couple months. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com. Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Despite the GameStop/Reddit stock situation not being over, the rights to a movie based on these events is already in the works. As reported by Deadline, MGM has acquired the book proposal The Antisocial Network from New York Times best-selling author Ben Mezrich. This book will look to tell the story of "a ragtag group of amateur investors, gamers, and internet trolls who brought Wall Street to its knees." Insiders have said that Mezrich and his reps too the book proposal to market last week, and by Friday night MGM had acquired the rights to a film adaptation. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/28/what-is-going-on-with-gamestop-stock-ign-now"] This project will reunite MGM's Michael DeLuca and Mezrich, who worked together to adapt Mezrich's The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal into what would be known as The Social Network. Mezrich also wrote the book Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas For Millions, which was later adapted into the film 21. GameStop's share price was hovering around $3 per share in 2020, but following a battle between short-sellers and the subreddit r/WallStreetBets, the stock value has increased over 1,700%. As of this writing, the stock price is at $325 USD. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/26/reddit-investor-group-drives-gamestop-stock-to-record-highs-ign-news"] AMC and Nokia's stock also saw a big increase, and these developments led to stock trading apps like Robinhood to controversially halt trading of these volatile stocks. While it is unclear as to how this story ends, Hollywood is already preparing to make their money off one of the biggest stories of the year. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com. Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.