Unaired Avatar: The Last Airbender Pilot Episode Released for Free
Nickelodeon has made the original, unaired pilot for Avatar: The Last Airbender available for all to watch.
Nerdist reports that the network released the pilot as part of a Twitch stream on Avatar's origins, titled Avatar: Creating the Legend. The low-budget episode, which debuts in the stream at around the 43-minute mark, was originally used to pitch the animated series to Nickelodeon executives, though it never actually aired on television.
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Instead, Avatar's pilot episode was made available for purchase on iTunes and some DVD sets but for many, this is the first opportunity to watch the early sample footage. The highly sought-after episode opens with Kya (whose name was changed to Katara when the season began production) explaining the war between the nations.
After the initial introduction, the episode introduces Aang, Kaya, and Sokka, who are in the middle of their adventures, as opposed to the team coming together after discovering Aang stuck in an iceberg in the hour-long premiere that aired in 2005. Momo also shows up in the episode despite not appearing in the broadcast series until the third episode.
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The original animated adventure series concluded with a widely lauded two-hour television movie in 2008, which we regard to be one of the best series finales of all time. Netflix dropped all three seasons of Avatar: The Last Airbender to its library in May, while The Legend of Korra arrived on the platform for US subscribers in August.
Netflix also has a live-action adaptation of ATLA in the works, however, original series creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko exited the project in June, later citing creative differences as the reason for their departure. Executive producer Dan Lin and his production company Rideback remain attached to the series, along with Nickelodeon.
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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.
FIFA 21 Won’t Feature Cross-Play, Even Across Console Generations
EA Sports has confirmed that FIFA 21 will not feature online cross-play, even across console generations in the same platofrm family.
The FIFA Direct Communication Twitter account announced the news in response to a question from the FUT Weekly Podcast about whether those who own the game on PS4 could play FIFA 21 online with friends on PS5.
"You won't be able to play across console generation or cross-play in FIFA 21," the tweet reads. "However, you will be able to carry over your FUT progression from PS4 to PS5 and Xbox 1 to Xbox Series X." This means that current-generation FIFA 21 players will not be able to play with their friends who purchase the game on next-gen consoles, even though the game supports Dual Entitlement - current-gen players will be able to upgrade to the next-gen version of FIFA 21 for free. Regardless, the next-gen version of the game will also not support cross-play, so Xbox Series X players will only be able to play with other users on the same platform, rather than the entire community across PS5 and PC. The saving grace is that if you do decide to upgrade, you'll be able to carry over your Fifa Ultimate Team, as long as you stick with the same console maker. In other FIFA 21 news, check out the changes coming to the game's career mode. EA has also announced a series of changes coming to FIFA 21 to combat trolling in online multiplayer matches. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.You won't be able to play across console generations or cross-play in #FIFA21.
However, you will be able to carry over your FUT progression from PS4 to PS5 and Xbox 1 to Xbox Series X. https://t.co/mUqU3zcAud — FIFA Direct Communication (@EAFIFADirect) August 10, 2020
Sega to ‘Aggressively’ Port Games to Steam After Persona 4: Golden Success
Sega intends to "aggressively" port games to Steam and other new platforms following the success of Persona 4 Golden's PC port, which launched in June of this year.
As reported by GamesIndustry.Biz, Sega's latest investor Q&A underlined the sales performance of Persona 4 Golden on Steam, which was "significantly higher than expected." The company has said that this will help govern its approach towards porting its older games onto new platforms.
"Going forward, we intend to aggressively promote the porting of previously launched titles to Steam and other new platforms," Sega explained. "Under such direction, we would like to take multi-platform rollout in account and prepare the PC version and others from the start."
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This suggests that Sega is open to porting more of its games to new platforms such as PC to capitalise on the success of "repeat sales," where players buy updated ports or remakes of classic titles.
Given the mention of preparing the PC version "from the start," it looks like Sega's future games will also keep the potential of the platform in mind during development. We've already seen games from the Yakuza series, Bayonetta and Vanquish spread to other platforms, but SEGA has plenty of other titles in the tank ready to be brought into the (Jet Set Radio) Future.
You can check out our 2008 review of Persona 4 here, in which we scored the game a 9 and called it "a significant improvement over the previous Persona games." If you're just digging into the PC port, check out our guide to making the best boxed lunches so you can boost your social links.
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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.
A Total War Saga: Troy Review – My Kingdom For A Centaur
The Aegean Sea is a raging inferno. You may have heard tales of a great war between the ancient Greeks and the Trojans, a feud kindled by divine intervention, stoked by love and betrayal, and finally extinguished in an epic siege. In the newest Total War Saga, the Paris-Helen-Menalaus love triangle is the spark that doesn't just ignite the Trojan War of legend--it turns the entire eastern Mediterranean into a tinderbox.
As a more focused, more specific take on Total War, Troy has an epic tale to tell. But to the benefit of the series' strategic legacy, Homer's writings set the scene rather than deliver a script, leaving plenty of room for those of us who haven't memorised The Iliad to enjoy crashing one enormous army into another and watching the world burn.
At first, Troy seems a bit small. There's just the one map upon which the campaign is played. But that map is absolutely massive, taking in all of mainland Greece, a hefty slab of the western coast of modern-day Turkey and dozens of islands in between. The diverse geography provides a healthy mix of terrain types across the map, which in turn present different strategic challenges: The densely forested mainland is ideal for ambushes and funnelling armies through its mountainous corridors while the islands in the Aegean may be more exposed but any invading force is likely to have suffered attritional losses making the treacherous journey by sea.
Continue Reading at GameSpotA Total War Saga: Troy Review – Kings Of The Bronze Age
The Aegean Sea is a raging inferno. You may have heard tales of a great war between the ancient Greeks and the Trojans, a feud kindled by divine intervention, stoked by love and betrayal, and finally extinguished in an epic siege. In the newest Total War Saga, the Paris-Helen-Menalaus love triangle is the spark that doesn't just ignite the Trojan War of legend--it turns the entire eastern Mediterranean into a tinderbox.
As a more focused, more specific take on Total War, Troy has an epic tale to tell. But to the benefit of the series' strategic legacy, Homer's writings set the scene rather than deliver a script, leaving plenty of room for those of us who haven't memorised The Iliad to enjoy crashing one enormous army into another and watching the world burn.
At first, Troy seems a bit small. There's just the one map upon which the campaign is played. But that map is absolutely massive, taking in all of mainland Greece, a hefty slab of the western coast of modern-day Turkey and dozens of islands in between. The diverse geography provides a healthy mix of terrain types across the map, which in turn present different strategic challenges: The densely forested mainland is ideal for ambushes and funnelling armies through its mountainous corridors while the islands in the Aegean may be more exposed but any invading force is likely to have suffered attritional losses making the treacherous journey by sea.
Continue Reading at GameSpotTenet Tickets Available for Pre-Sale This Week
Tickets for Christopher Nolan's Tenet go on sale this Friday.
Warner Bros. sent exhibitors details about Tenet's theater rollout starting with advance ticket sales for sneak preview showings, according to Indiewire.
Tickets for those showings will go on sale Aug. 21, with showings set to begin Aug. 31. Tickets for standard showings of Tenet will be available for purchase starting Aug. 27 for when the movie hits U.S. theaters on Sept. 3.
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According to the contract sent to exhibitors, theaters can hold one showing per night per screen anytime after 5 p.m. unless the theater has premium format viewing like IMAX available. Those screens may show the movie twice.
Theaters that do show the film must not only abide by local ordinances regarding health safety, but also the National Association of Theater Owners safety standards, which are currently in a draft stage.
"These special terms are being offered to its exhibitor customers specifically for Tenet to address the special circumstances in the market...including high commercial risk from uncertain consumer demands, reopening rules, health and safety regulations, and socially distancing capacity issues," the contract reads.
"Exhibitor specifically represents and warrants to Warner that it shall comply at all times with all applicable laws and regulations at its theater(s), including without limitation, all laws, orders and standards relating public health and safety, such as rules and protective measures against the contraction and spread of COVID-19 or other illnesses and applicable voluntary health and safety measures and protocols regarding these matters as may be promulgated by the exhibition industry, such as NATO's published health and safety protocols."
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As the first of the big Hollywood studios to release a major title theatrically since the pandemic hit, Warner Bros. is reportedly asking for Warner Bros. is asking for a steep 63 percent "for all weeks of the engagement. That is at the high end, and its inclusion is significant because it varies from some deals in which top chains have preset expectations for how much they will pay based on total domestic gross."
Tenet is set to open in over 70 international territories starting Aug. 26, with the film opening in limited release in the US on Sept. 3.
While waiting for the movie, read about how Tenet has less CGI than most rom-coms, according to director Christopher Nolan. Also be sure to check out the movie's latest poster.
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Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.
The Exorcist Reportedly Getting a 2021 Reboot
The Exorcist looks to be the latest classic horror franchise getting a 21st Century reboot. That's according to Deadline, who reports Morgan Creek Entertainment is gearing up for a theatrical reboot to hit in 2021.
Nothing else is known about the Exorcist reboot as of yet, though theoretically the project will have to ramp up pre-production and casting soon if it is indeed going to see release next year.
Ironically, /Film dug up an old tweet from 2015 indicating the production company would never remake the beloved 1973 movie. Clearly, things have changed in the last five years.
Directed by William Friedkin and based on the novel by William Peter Blatty, The Exorcist stars Linda Blair as Regan MacNeil, a young girl possessed by the demon Pazuzu. The film also stars Ellen Burstyn as Regan's mother Chris, Jason Miller as Father Karras and Max von Sydow as Father Merrin.
Despite horror films rarely garnering much attention at the Oscars, The Exorcist was nominated for ten Academy Awards and won two. The original movie spawned four spinoffs, including 1977's The Exorcist II: The Heretic and 1990s The Exorcist III and two separate prequels, 2004's Exorcist: The Beginning and 2005's Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist.
More recently, The Exorcist was partially rebooted as a TV series on Fox, one which acts as a direct sequel to the original movie and ignores the others in the series. Despite widespread critical acclaim, Fox cancelled the series after its second season. Presumably, the 2021 movie will wipe the slate clean and offer an updated take on the Blatty novel.
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If you need to get your horror fix while waiting for The Exorcist reboot, check out IGN's Top 100 horror movies of all time, and see the best horror movies you can stream on Netflix right now.
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Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
Directed by William Friedkin and based on the novel by William Peter Blatty, The Exorcist stars Linda Blair as Regan MacNeil, a young girl possessed by the demon Pazuzu. The film also stars Ellen Burstyn as Regan's mother Chris, Jason Miller as Father Karras and Max von Sydow as Father Merrin.
Despite horror films rarely garnering much attention at the Oscars, The Exorcist was nominated for ten Academy Awards and won two. The original movie spawned four spinoffs, including 1977's The Exorcist II: The Heretic and 1990s The Exorcist III and two separate prequels, 2004's Exorcist: The Beginning and 2005's Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist.
More recently, The Exorcist was partially rebooted as a TV series on Fox, one which acts as a direct sequel to the original movie and ignores the others in the series. Despite widespread critical acclaim, Fox cancelled the series after its second season. Presumably, the 2021 movie will wipe the slate clean and offer an updated take on the Blatty novel.
[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-25-best-horror-movies&captions=true"]
If you need to get your horror fix while waiting for The Exorcist reboot, check out IGN's Top 100 horror movies of all time, and see the best horror movies you can stream on Netflix right now.
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Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.Jurassic World DLC Released in Minecraft
Minecraft has announced a new Jurassic World themed DLC that will let players manage their very own dinosaur theme park in Minecraft.
The Jurassic World DLC lets players craft and train dinosaurs, build exhibits and manage the operations of a fun amusement park that’s crawling with dinosaurs. The DLC includes the Jurassic World park with locations from the films, 21 skins, and over 60 dinosaurs.
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Essentially, Minecraft has released a Jurassic World park simulator that’s playable in Minecraft. This is about as close as players can get to a standalone Jurassic World management sim.
Aside from maintaining the park, there are expeditions players can go on to discover more dinosaur DNA for use in hybrids, and disasters players can solve for a high score.
Players can get the Jurassic World DLC for $7.99 in the Minecraft Marketplace. Players can also redeem a Blue Hoodie for free from the Character Creator.
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Matt T.M. Kim is a reporter for IGN.
Monster CPU Is 100,000 Times More Powerful Than the Xbox Series X
The Xbox Series X and PS5 are set to release with the most advanced processors ever to power a home console, putting them on par with some modern gaming PCs. While there are rumors of new incoming graphics cards that’ll blow even those out of the water, one lesser-known chip maker has already done it.
Meet the Cerebras Wafer Scale Engine Generation 2, an absolutely massive, dinner plate-sized processor featuring 850,000 cores and 2.6 trillion transistors. While this gargantuan CPU, which is designed for supercomputers, might seem completely unrelated to the upcoming consoles, the chip here and the ones powering the next Xbox and PlayStation were all made by TSMC using the same 7nm process – so in a way, they’re all siblings.
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Image Credit: Tom's Hardware[/caption]
The major difference with the Cerebras Wafer Scale Engine Generation 2 is, of course, it’s just much, much larger. In fact, compared to Xbox Series X's 8 cores and 15.4 billion transistors, Cerebras’ chip has 849,992 more cores and 2,598,460,000,000 more transistors. The PS5 and its 8-core processor is similarly outclassed.
To produce anywhere near the same level of processing power, you would need somewhere in the ballpark of 106,250 next-gen consoles. I hope your wallet is ready.
Via Tom’s Hardware
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Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
Kevin Lee is IGN's Hardware and Roundups Editor. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam
Meet the Cerebras Wafer Scale Engine Generation 2, an absolutely massive, dinner plate-sized processor featuring 850,000 cores and 2.6 trillion transistors. While this gargantuan CPU, which is designed for supercomputers, might seem completely unrelated to the upcoming consoles, the chip here and the ones powering the next Xbox and PlayStation were all made by TSMC using the same 7nm process – so in a way, they’re all siblings.
[caption id="attachment_2394517" align="aligncenter" width="650"] Image Credit: Tom's Hardware[/caption]
The major difference with the Cerebras Wafer Scale Engine Generation 2 is, of course, it’s just much, much larger. In fact, compared to Xbox Series X's 8 cores and 15.4 billion transistors, Cerebras’ chip has 849,992 more cores and 2,598,460,000,000 more transistors. The PS5 and its 8-core processor is similarly outclassed.
To produce anywhere near the same level of processing power, you would need somewhere in the ballpark of 106,250 next-gen consoles. I hope your wallet is ready.
Via Tom’s Hardware
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Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
Kevin Lee is IGN's Hardware and Roundups Editor. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspamOculus VR Will Start Requiring Facebook Accounts, and Users Aren’t Happy
Oculus announced that starting on October 2020, first-time users on an Oculus VR headset will need to log in using a Facebook account, and that support for independent Oculus accounts will end after January 1, 2023.
This announcement has shown to be an unpopular move for users who wish to keep their Oculus accounts separate from Facebook. Or for those who don’t have Facebook accounts, to begin with, and don’t wish to have one.
In a new blog post, Oculus announced the change coming to the Oculus account. First-time users for Oculus headsets like the Quest will need a Facebook account to log into the ecosystem, and existing users will need to merge their Oculus and Facebook accounts. Oculus users who don’t merge accounts can use their Oculus accounts for two years, but support will end in 2023. After this, they’ll still be able to use the device “but full functionality will require a Facebook account.” [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/23/half-life-alyx-review"] Facebook says this is a way to streamline the account systems for Oculus, which was bought by the social media company in 2014 for approximately $2 billion. Facebook also says that merging the accounts will allow for “more Facebook powered multiplayer and social experiences coming soon in VR, like HOrizon, where you can explore, play, and create worlds.” The immediate response to the news on social media sites like Twitter have been met with skepticism. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-ign-valve-game-review&captions=true"] Facebook as a company has come under fire in recent years for a variety of reasons ranging from security breaches, improper handling of user data, and more recently criticized for its role in spreading misinformation. For those reasons, some users may own Oculus VR headsets but not Facebook accounts. This decision would force VR users to join a social media service they may not want to. Would requiring a Facebook account deter you from using an Oculus VR headset? Sound off in the comments. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt T.M. Kim is a reporter for IGN.Today, we’re announcing some important updates to how people log into Oculus devices, while still keeping their VR profile. Starting in October 2020, everyone using an Oculus device for the first time will need to log in with a Facebook account. // https://t.co/SMeDOXgehN
— Oculus (@oculus) August 18, 2020