Michael Keaton In Talks to Play Batman in The Flash Movie

Michael Keaton is reportedly preparing to reprise his role as Batman, but not in the movie you might be expecting. First reported by The Wrap and confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter, Keaton is currently in talks to appear in the upcoming Flash movie, appearing alongside Ezra Miller's Barry Allen. According to THR, Keaton's role won't be a simple cameo or one-off appearance. Instead, Warners hopes to include him as a recurring character in upcoming DC films, in a role compared to the one filled by Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2014/12/15/michael-keaton-im-batman-ign-news"] THR writes, "If a deal makes, Keaton wouldn’t just return for Flash but possibly for several other DC-oriented film projects. Sources tell THR that the role being envisioned for the veteran actor is akin to the role played by Samuel Jackson as Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, something of a mentor or guide or even string puller. Batgirl is one the projects in development that could fall under that win." This will mark Keaton's first time reprising the role in almost 30 years. Keaton previously played Bruce Wayne and his alter ego in 1989's Batman and 1992's Batman Returns, both directed by Tim Burton. At one point both Burton and Keaton were expected to return for a third movie, but both dropped out and Val Kilmer took over the Batman role in 1995's Batman Forever (which just celebrated its 25th anniversary). Keaton has previously voiced an interest in returning to the role, but only if Burton directs. It would seem he's changed his mind in that regard. THR doesn't indicate how Keaton's Batman will be drawn into the DCEU, but it's probably safe to assume Miller's speedster hero will open a breach between alternate DC Universes during the course of the movie. With Keaton's version of Bruce Wayne being positioned as an aging mentor figure, a la Batman Beyond, the studio may be looking to replace Ben Affleck's Batman with this alternate universe doppelganger. The Wrap writes the film's plot "will introduce general audiences to the idea of the multiverse, one of the of core concepts underpinning DC Comics... Matt Reeves upcoming “The Batman” will not be affected and Robert Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne is still viewed as the future of the franchise." Interestingly, this wouldn't be the first time a link has been formed between the DCEU and the world of Burton's Batman. The first episode of The CW's Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover features a cameo of the Burton-verse, labeled Earth-89. While Keaton himself doesn't appear in that scene, Robert Wuhl does reprise his role as journalist Alexander Knox. A later episode of Crisis featured an unexpected meeting between Grant Gustin and Miller's versions of Barry Allen. Could the Flash movie build on the events of Crisis? [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-dark-knight-trilogy-and-more-dc-movies-and-series-missing-on-hbo-max&captions=true"] Andy Muschietti (Stephen King's It) is set to direct the long-gestating Flash movie. In January, Muschietti reiterated the movie will be offering its own take on the iconic Flashpoint storyline, which previously inspired elements of the Flash TV series and 2013's Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox. The Flash is currently scheduled to open June 3, 2022. In unhappy DC movie news, we learned today that Batman Forever director Joel Schumacher has died. [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.

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Batman Movies Director Joel Schumacher Dies

Joel Schumacher, the director of Batman Forever and Batman & Robin among many other films, died on Monday. He was 80. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Schumacher died after a year-long battle with cancer. In addition to those two divisive Batman movies, Schumacher's many directing credits include Falling Down, The Lost Boys, Flatliners, St. Elmo's Fire, A Time to Kill, Dying Young, D.C. Cab, 8MM, The Incredible Shrinking Woman, The Number 23, Veronica Guerin, Tigerland, Phone Booth, Trespass, and The Phantom of the Opera. [caption id="attachment_2369790" align="alignnone" width="720"]

Joel Schumacher (Credit: Getty Images)[/caption] New York native Schumacher began his career as a costume designer and screenwriter before segueing to the director's chair. Schumacher was integral to helping launch the screen stardom of the Brat Pack and other young stars thanks to St. Elmo's Fire, Flatliners, and The Lost Boys, and his film The Client discovered the late Brad Renfro. Although widely derided, Schumacher's Batman movies brought a new and more colorful visual aesthetic and campy vibe to the franchise following the first two films directed by Tim Burton. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=batman-forever&captions=true"] After Michael Keaton passed on returning for a third Bat-film, Schumacher cast Val Kilmer as the Caped Crusader in 1995's Batman Forever. Schumacher and Kilmer had a famously bad time making the movie and after Kilmer opted not to return for another entry, Schumacher cast George Clooney as the new lead in Batman & Robin. 1997's Batman & Robin, near universally deemed the rock bottom of the Batman movie franchise, stopped the series in its tracks until Christopher Nolan rebooted it in 2005. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/06/07/how-batman-robin-changed-george-clooneys-career"]

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Original Diablo 2 Creators Share Thoughts On Rumored Remaster

Max Schaefer and Matt Uelmen, two of the developers responsible for legendary action RPG Diablo II, have given their thoughts on the rumored Diablo II Remaster, which is reportedly coming later this year. The statement comes from tomorrow's new episode of IGN Unfiltered, in which Ryan McCaffrey sat down with Echtra Games' Max Schaefer and Matt Uelmen to talk about Torchlight 3, Diablo 2, the action-RPG genre, and much more. Rumors of a Diablo II remaster have been circulating for some time, but earlier this year, those rumors came into sharper focus with sources suggesting it would be called Diablo 2: Resurrected. These rumors also come from the same source which correctly predicted the Overwatch 2, Diablo IV, and World of Warcraft: Shadowlands announcements. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2015/11/03/history-of-awesome-diablo-ii"] When asked what they would and would not want to see from the potential remaster, Schaefer said, "First of all, I think it's probably impossible to really capture it... It wasn't even a true 3D game, everything was rendered sprites and so to really capture the exact feel of what happens when you click in a 3D environment is going to be challenging at best." "[The development team on the remaster is] going to have to spend a lot of their time [on capturing that feeling], not just on recreating maybe slightly higher fidelity graphics and all that... that's the easy part. It's easy to go back and kind of 1:1, make the game look better. It's going to be the feel and the atmosphere that are kind of inherent in the technology that was behind it, which was... at this point we can look back and say it's kind of 'spaghetti code.'" "It was [built using a] custom engine... it was stuff that hadn't been done before. I would assume that a remaster is going to be done using an established graphics engine with its own conventions and its own quirks, and so much of what made [Diablo II] special was the feel and the intangibles, so it's a daunting task. The ideal remaster would be something that actually retains that feel and that atmosphere, that has a modern take on the graphics. Honestly, I hope they pull it off. I'm glad they're doing it and I don't have to." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="legacyId=20088065&captions=true"] Uelmen, Diablo's original composer, also gave his perspective on the potential remaster; "My only strong opinion is that it needs to have more violence, more gore, and more nakedness. Long as they do that, then they'll be true to the series, in terms of what we were going for, as artists." At that, Schaefer added, "Yeah, I'm going to agree with that. The game was made to be shocking and push boundaries and when you have an opportunity to remake it with modern graphics, you're going to be confronted very quickly with how much are you really going to want to reproduce something that was down to a few pixels in the original version, and not succumb to the temptation to make a censored version." "We're talking about modern Blizzard right now, and they have shareholders and things like that, that we didn't have to worry about back in the day," Shaefer laughed before continuing, "I'm curious as to what their approach is gonna be." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/02/21/diablo-creator-says-bringing-diablo-2-to-modern-pcs-would-be-extremely-difficult-ign-unfiltered"] For more on the best, brightest, most interesting minds in the games industry, be sure to check out every episode of Unfiltered, which includes interviews with Master Chief co-creator Marcus Lehto, 343's Bonnie Ross, Valve's Robin Walker & Chris Remo, Respawn's Stig Asmussen, and many, many more. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Brian Barnett writes wiki guides, deals posts, features, and much more for IGN. You can get your fix of Brian's antics on Twitter and Instagram (@Ribnax).

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Read the First Chapter of Star Wars: The High Republic – Light of the Jedi

Prepare to take your first step into a new era of Star Wars. Set 200 years before the events of the Skywalker Saga, the High Republic finds the Jedi at their peak as they watch over the galaxy during a time of peace. But it’s not long before that peace is disturbed by a devastating incident and the Knights of the Jedi Order must spring into action. The first novel to explore this era is Star Wars: The High Republic - Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule. We are excited to exclusively debut the first chapter of the upcoming book, out January 5, 2021 from publisher Del Rey, available for preorder now. Soule offered us some insight on the explosive events of the opening chapter, but if you’d rather go in blind, skip down to the excerpt now and read what he had to say afterward. [caption id="attachment_2368098" align="alignnone" width="720"]

Credit: Lucasfilm[/caption] Soule is a familiar face to Star Wars fans. He’s the writer of Marvel Comics featuring Darth Vader, Lando, Obi-Wan & Anakin, Poe Dameron, and The Rise of Kylo Ren. He’s also an accomplished novelist (check out 2018’s The Oracle Year), so it’ll be little surprise to hear he was one of several authors (the others being Claudia Gray, Justina Ireland, Daniel José Older, and Cavan Scott) who went on a secret retreat to Skywalker Ranch with a team of creative minds from Lucasfilm in order to create a brand new era for Star Wars storytelling. And now Soule is leading the charge on this new publishing initiative that will feature not only his novel but books for young adults and comics. Light of the Jedi is the flagship book for the High Republic era that reveals what happened that threw the galaxy into chaos and introduces us to a new cast of characters like stalwart Jedi Knight Avar Kriss and a Wookiee Jedi named Burryaga (already a fan-favorite before the book’s release). [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/27/star-wars-the-high-republic-explained"] As the preview for Light of the Jedi reveals (last chance to skip ahead and avoid spoilers...), it’s the seemingly accidental destruction of a large spaceship traveling through hyperspace that causes all of the calamity. In The Last Jedi, the Holdo Maneuver showed us just how dangerous a ship moving at hyperspace speeds can be, but the way Soule describes what happens in his story makes it sound considerably worse. “This excerpt is our first look at the moment that changes The High Republic forever,” Soule told IGN. “The destruction of the Legacy Run is the catalyst for a galaxy-wide disaster. Fragments of the destroyed cargo vessel begin flying out of hyperspace at super-accelerated speeds, meaning that deadly missiles of debris can appear anywhere at any time, from the Outer Rim to the Core. In this moment of crisis, the Republic turns to the guardians of peace and justice—the Jedi.” Soule continued, “The opening beats of Light of the Jedi depict an epic disaster, and a heroic, thrilling response by both the Republic and the Jedi to save lives and end the crisis. It's just the beginning, though. The Legacy Run disaster kicks off a much larger story; it really is just one piece of a much bigger saga.” Now, check out the excerpt from Light of the Jedi below. [caption id="attachment_2368099" align="alignnone" width="720"]

Cover by Joseph Meehan. Credit: Lucasfilm[/caption]

STAR WARS: THE HIGH REPUBLIC – LIGHT OF THE JEDI

By Charles Soule The Force is with the galaxy. It is the time of The High Republic: a peaceful union of like-minded worlds where all voices are heard, and governance is achieved through consensus, not coercion or fear. It is a time of ambition, of culture, of inclusion, of Great Works. Visionary Chancellor Lina Soh leads the Republic from the elegant cityworld of Coruscant, located near the bright center of the Galactic Core. But beyond the Core and its many peaceful Colonies, there is the Rim—Inner, Mid, and finally, at the border of what is known: The Outer Rim. These worlds are filled with opportunity for those brave enough to travel the few well-mapped hyperspace lanes leading to them, though there is danger as well. The Outer Rim is a haven for anyone seeking to escape the laws of the Republic, and is filled with predators of every type. Chancellor Soh has pledged to bring the Outer Rim worlds into the embrace of the Republic through ambitious outreach programs such as the Starlight Beacon. Order and justice are maintained on the galactic frontier by Jedi Knights, guardians of peace who have mastered incredible abilities stemming from a mysterious energy field known as the Force. The Jedi work closely with the Republic, and have agreed to establish outposts in the Outer Rim to help any who might require aid. The Jedi of the frontier can be the only resource for people with nowhere else to turn. Though the outposts operate independently and without direct assistance from the great Jedi temple on Coruscant, they act as an effective deterrent to those who would do evil in the dark. Few can stand against the Knights of the Jedi Order. But there are always those who will try….

CHAPTER ONE

HYPERSPACE. THE LEGACY RUN. 3 HOURS TO IMPACT. All is well. Captain Hedda Casset reviewed the readouts and displays built into her command chair for the second time. She always went over them at least twice. She had more than four decades of flying behind her, and figured the double-check was a large part of the reason she was still flying. The second look confirmed everything she’d seen in the first. “All is well,” she said, out loud this time, announcing it to her bridge crew. “Time for my rounds. Lieutenant Bowman, you have the bridge.” “Acknowledged, captain,” her first officer replied, standing from his own seat in preparation to occupy hers until she returned from her evening constitutional. Not every long-haul freighter captain ran their ship like a military vessel. Hedda had seen starships with stained floors and leaking pipes and cracks in their cockpit windows, lapses that speared her to her very soul. But Hedda Casset began her career as a fighter pilot with the Malastare-Sullust Joint Task Force, keeping order in their little sector of the Mid-Rim. She’d started out flying an Incom Z-24, the single-seat fighter everyone just called a Buzzbug. Mostly police action missions, hunting down pirates and the like. Eventually, though, she rose to command a heavy cruiser, one of the largest vessels in the fleet. A good career, doing good work. She’d left Mallust JTF with distinction, moved on to a job captaining merchant vessels for the Byrne Guild—her version of a relaxed retirement. But thirty-plus years in the military meant order and discipline weren’t just in her blood—they were her blood. So, every ship she flew now was run like it was about to fight a decisive battle against a Hutt Armada, even if it was just carrying a load of ogrut hides from world A to world B. This ship, the Legacy Run, was no exception. Hedda stood, accepting and returning Lieutenant Jary Bowman’s snapped salute. She stretched, feeling the bones of her spine crackle and crunch. Too many years on patrol in tiny cockpits, too many high-G maneuvers—sometimes in combat, sometimes just because it made her feel alive. The real problem, though, she thought, tucking a stray strand of gray hair behind one ear, is too many years. She left the bridge, departing the precise machine of her command deck and walking along a compact corridor into the larger, more chaotic world of the Legacy Run. The ship was a Kaniff Yards Class-A Modular Freight Transport, almost as old as she was. That put the craft a bit past her ideal operational life, but well within safe parameters if she was well-maintained and regularly serviced—which she was. Her captain saw to that. The Run was a mixed-use ship, rated for both cargo and passengers—hence “modular” in its designation. It was composed of a huge central compartment, shaped like a long, triangular prism, with engineering aft and the rest of the space allotted for cargo. The bridge connected to the central hull via long boom arms, one of which she was traversing at that very moment. Additional smaller modules could be attached to the central section, up to a hundred and forty-four, swapped in and out at the yard depending on what was needed for a given run. Hedda liked the ship’s variable qualities, because it meant you never knew what you were going to get, what weird challenges you might face from one job to the next. She had flown the ship once when half its cargo allotment was reconfigured into a huge water tank, to carry a gigantic saberfish from the storm seas on Spira to the private aquarium of a countess on Abregado. Hedda and her crew had gotten the beast there safely—not an easy gig. Even harder, though, was getting the creature back to Spira three cycles later, when the blasted thing got sick because the countess’ people had no idea how to take care of it. She gave the woman credit, though—she paid full freight to send the saberfish home. A lot of people, nobles especially, would have just let it die. This particular trip, in comparison, was as simple as they came. The Legacy Run’s cargo sections were about eighty percent filled with settlers heading to the Outer Rim from overpopulated Core and Colonies worlds, seeking new lives, new opportunities, new skies. She could relate to that. Hedda Casset had been restless all her life. She had a feeling she’d die that way too, looking out a viewport, hoping her eyes would land on something she’d never seen before. Because this was a transport run, most of the ship’s modules were basic passenger configurations, with open seating that converted into beds that were, in theory, comfortable enough to sleep in. Sanitary facilities, storage, a few holoscreens, small galleys, and that was it. For settlers willing to pay for the increased comfort and convenience, some had droid-operated auto-canteens and private sleeping compartments, but not many. These people were frugal. If they had money to begin with, they probably wouldn’t be heading to the Outer Rim to try to scrape out a future. The dark edge of the galaxy was a place of challenges both exciting and deadly. More deadly than exciting, in truth. Even the road to get out here is tricky, Hedda thought, her gaze drawn by the swirl of hyperspace outside the large porthole she happened to be passing. She snapped her eyes away, knowing she could end up standing there for twenty minutes if she let herself get sucked in. You couldn’t trust hyperspace. It was useful, sure, it got you from here to there, it was the key to the expansion of the Republic out from the Core, but no one really understood it. If your navidroid miscalculated the coordinates, even a little, you could end up off the marked route, the main road through whatever hyperspace actually was, and then you’d be on a dark path leading to who knew where. It happened even in the well-traveled hyperlanes near the galactic center, and out here, where the prospectors had barely mapped out any routes…well, it was something you had to keep an eye on. She put it out of her mind and continued on her way. The truth was, the Legacy Run was currently speeding along the most well-traveled, well-known route to the Rim worlds. This was a milk run. Ships moved along this hyperlane constantly, in both directions. Nothing to worry about. But more than nine thousand souls aboard this ship were depending on Captain Hedda Casset to get them safely to their destination. She worried. Hedda exited the corridor and entered the central hull, emerging in a large, circular space, an open spot necessitated by the ship’s structure that had been repurposed as a sort of unofficial common area. A group of children kicked a ball around, as adults stood and chatted nearby, or just stretched out in a zone that was different than the zone in which they awakened every morning. The space wasn’t fancy, just a bare junction spot where several short corridors met—but it was clean. The ship employed—at its captain’s insistence—an automated maintenance crew that kept its interiors neat and sanitary. One of the custodiodroids was spidering its way along a wall at that very moment, performing one of the endless tasks required on a ship the size of the Run. She took a moment to take stock of this group—twenty people or so, all ages, from a number of worlds. Humans, of course, but also a few scale-skinned Trandoshans, a family of Bith and even an Ortolan, blue skin and long snout and the big, ponderous flaps protruding from the side of its head—you didn’t see many of those around. But no matter their planet of origin, they were all just ordinary people, biding time until their new lives could begin. One of the kids looked up. “Captain Casset!” the boy said, a human, olive-skinned with red hair. She knew him. “Hello, Serj,” Hedda said. “What’s the good word? Everything all right here?” The other children stopped their game and clustered around her. “Could use some new holos,” Serj said. “We’ve watched everything in the system.” “All we got is all we got,” Hedda replied. “And stop trying to chip into the archive to see the age-restricted titles. You think I don’t know? This is my ship. I know everything that happens on the Legacy Run.” She learned forward. “Everything.” Serj blushed and looked toward his friends, who had also, suddenly, found very interesting things to look at on the absolutely uninteresting floor, ceiling and walls of the chamber. “Don’t worry about it,” she said, straightening. “I get it. This is a pretty boring ride. You won’t believe me, but in not too long, when your parents have you plowing fields or building fences or fighting off rancors you’ll be dreaming of the time you spent on this ship. Just relax and enjoy.” Serj rolled his eyes and returned to whatever improvised ball game he and the other kids had devised. Hedda grinned and moved through the room, nodding and chatting as she went. People. Probably some good, some bad, but for the next few days, her people. She loved these runs. No matter what eventually happened in the lives of these folks, they were heading to the Rim to make their dreams come true. She was part of that, and it made her feel good. Chancellor Soh’s Republic wasn’t perfect—no government was or ever could be—but it was a system that gave people room to dream. No, even better. It encouraged dreams, big and small. The Republic had its flaws, but all things considered, it could be a hell of a lot worse. Hedda’s rounds took over an hour—she made her way through the passenger compartments, but also checked on a shipment of supercooled liquid tibanna to make sure the volatile stuff was properly locked down (it was), inspected the engines (all good), investigated the status of repairs to the ship’s environmental recirculation systems (in progress and proceeding nicely) and made sure fuel reserves were still more than adequate for the rest of the journey with a comfortable margin besides (they were.) The Legacy Run was exactly as she wanted it to be. A tiny, well-maintained world in the wilderness, a warm bubble of safety holding back the void. She couldn’t vouch for what was waiting for these settlers once they dispersed into the Outer Rim, but she would make sure they got there safe and sound to find out. Hedda returned to the bridge, where Lieutenant Bowman all but leapt to his feet the moment he saw her enter. “Captain on the bridge,” he said, and the other officers sat up straighter. “Thank you, Jary,” Hedda said, as her second stepped aside and returned to his post. Hedda settled in to her command chair, automatically checking the displays, scanning for anything out of the ordinary. All is well, she thought. KTANG. KTANG. KTANG. KTANG. An alarm, loud and insistent. The bridge lighting flipped into its emergency configuration—bathing everything in red. Through the front port, the swirls of hyperspace looked off, somehow. Maybe it was the emergency lighting, but they had a…reddish tinge. It looked…sickly. Hedda felt her pulse quicken. Her mind snapped into combat mode without thinking. “Report!” she barked out, her eyes whipping along her own set of screens to find the source of the alarm. “Alarm generated by the navicomp, captain,” called out her navigator, Cadet Kalwar, a young Quermian. “There’s something in the hyperlane. Dead ahead. Big. Impact in ten seconds.” The cadet’s voice held steady, and Hedda was proud of him. He probably wasn’t that much older than Serj. She knew this situation was impossible. The lanes were selected because they were free of potential debris, their clarity calculated down to a meter of resolution. Any granules missed would be detected and evaded by the shipboard navidroids making adjustments along the vector. Lightspeed collisions along established lanes were mathematical absurdities. She also knew that even though it was impossible, it was happening, and that ten seconds was no time at all at speeds like the Legacy Run was traveling. You can’t trust hyperspace, she thought. Hedda Casset tapped two buttons on her command console. “Brace yourselves,” she said, her voice calm. “I’m taking control.” Two piloting sticks snapped up out from the armrests of her captain’s chair, and Hedda grasped them, one in each hand. She spared herself the time for one breath, and then she flew. The Legacy Run was not an Incom Z-24 Buzzbug, or even one of the new Republic Longbeams. It was a sixty-year-old freighter at the end of—if not beyond—its operational lifespan, loaded to capacity, with engines designed for slow, gradual acceleration and deceleration, and docking with spaceports and orbital loading facilities. It maneuvered like a moon. The Legacy Run was no warship. Not even close. But Hedda flew it like one. She saw the obstacle in their path with her fighter pilot’s eye and instincts, saw it advancing at incredible velocity, large enough that both her ship and whatever it was would be disintegrated into atoms, dust drifting forever through the hyperlanes. There was no time to avoid it. The ship could not make the turn. There was no room, and there was no time. But Captain Hedda Casset was at the helm, and she would not fail her ship. The tiniest tweak of the left control stick, and a larger rotation of the right, and the Legacy Run moved. More than it wanted to, but not less than she believed it could, and the huge freighter slipped past the obstacle in their path, the thing shooting past their hull so close Hedda was sure she felt its passing ruffle her hair despite the many layers of metal and shielding between them. But they were alive. No impact. The ship was alive. Turbulence, and Hedda fought it, feeling her way through the jagged bumps and ripples, closing her eyes, not needing to see to fly. The ship groaned, its frame complaining. “You can do it, old gal,” she said, out loud. “We’re a couple of cranky old ladies and that’s for sure, but we’ve both got a lot of life to live. I’ve taken damn good care of you, and you know it. I won’t let you down if you won’t let me down.” Hedda did not fail her ship. It failed her. The groan of overstressed metal became a scream. The vibrations of the ship’s passage through space took on a new timbre Hedda had felt too many times before. It was the feeling of a ship that had moved beyond its limits, whether from taking too much damage in a firefight or, as here, just being asked to perform a maneuver that was more than it could give. The Legacy Run was tearing itself apart. It had seconds to live, at most. Hedda opened her eyes. She released the control sticks and tapped out commands on her console, activating the bulkhead shielding that separated each cargo module in the instance of a disaster, thinking that perhaps it might give some of the people aboard a chance. She thought about Serj and his friends, playing in the common area, and how emergency doors had just slammed down at the entrance to each passenger module, possibly trapping them in a zone that was shortly about to become vacuum. She hoped the children had gone to their families when the alarms sounded. She didn’t know. She just didn’t know. Hedda locked eyes with her first officer, who was staring at her, knowing what was about to happen. He saluted. “Captain,” Lieutenant Bowman said, “it’s been an—” The bridge ripped open. Hedda Casset died, not knowing if she had saved anyone at all.

You can preorder Star Wars: The High Republic - Light of the Jedi now. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joshua is Senior Features Editor at IGN. If Pokemon, Green Lantern, or Game of Thrones are frequently used words in your vocabulary, you’ll want to follow him on Twitter @JoshuaYehl and IGN.

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Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra Characters Headed to Smite

Aang and Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender and Korra and Naga from The Legend of Korra will be headed to Smite with the July 2020 Avatar Battle Pass. Announced by Smite, the Avatar: The Last Airbender/The Legend of Korra crossover also received a reveal trailer that shows the characters in action. All three characters will be skins of existing characters. The Master Wizard Merlin will become Aang, the Japanese God Susano will become Zuko, and the Norse Goddess of Winter Skadi will become Korra, with her trusty pet polar bear Naga coming along for the ride. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/22/smite-avatar-battle-pass-trailer"] There will also be special Prestige Tracks that will allow players to become Avatar Aang Merlin, Blue Spirit Susano, and Avatar Korra Skadi. "We went overboard with detail, capturing each Avatar character’s unique personality and referencing fan-favorite moments from the shows,” said Travis Brown, Executive Producer of SMITE. “These are essentially all-new characters that happen to use the same abilities as existing SMITE Gods – and we can’t wait for our more than 30 million fans to play with them." The Avatar Battle Pass has even more Avatar/The Legend of Korra goodness, ranging from "an in-game representation of Appa to an emote honoring unlucky cabbage vendors." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-25-best-adult-cartoon-tv-series&captions=true"] The full reveal of the crossover skins and more will be broadcast live on Twitch.TV/SmiteGame on Wednesday, June 24, 2020, at 12pm PT/3pm ET/8pm BST. Smite was first released in 2014 and is now available on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Last year, we also called it one of the Top 10 Free-To-Play Games on Steam. [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 who is very excited for this as Avatar: The Last Airbender is one of his favorite shows of all time.. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

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Lucifer Season 5: Part 1 Streaming on Netflix From August 21

Netflix has officially announced that Lucifer Season 5: Part 1 will drop on the streaming service on August 21. The streaming giant shared a devilish "66.6-second" sizzle reel on Twitter, showcasing Lucifer's "sexiest" moments from the series. At the end of the video montage, it confirmed that Season 5 of the Tom Ellis-led drama will be emerging from the depths of hell in just under two months time.

and now, for your viewing enjoyment, we present 66.6 seconds of #lucifer's hottest, sexiest, most downright devilish moments. season 5 part 1 drops august 21 on @netflix pic.twitter.com/ooSoH0f6jX
— Lucifer (@LuciferNetflix) June 22, 2020

The fifth season of Lucifer was originally set to be a 10-episode run, however, Netflix significantly expanded the episode count while the show was still in production, ordering six additional episodes to take the grand total up to 16. These episodes are set to be released in two batches on the platform, with Part 2's premiere expected to be announced at a later date. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-best-netflix-original-movies-and-tv-shows&captions=true"] Despite being labelled as the "fifth and final season" when the series was originally picked up by Netflix, there's been no reference to it being Lucifer's swan song in any of the latest promo material; this could signal some devilishly good news for Lucifans who have been campaigning for the show's continuation ever since it was cancelled by Fox after just three seasons on the air. Earlier this year, Tom Ellis reportedly closed a deal to return as the title character in a potential sixth season. Executive producers Ildy Modrovich and Joe Henderson were also reported to have inked new deals for another run of the supernatural series, very loosely based on Neil Gaiman's depiction of the Devil from the Sandman comic book and its spinoff Lucifer. For now, though, we already have a date with the devil: Lucifer Season 5 lands on Netflix on August 21. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

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Crash Bandicoot 4 Coming to PS4, Xbox One This Year

Activision has announced Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, a brand new, canonical sequel to Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped. Spyro Reignited Trilogy developer Toys for Bob is behind the brand new adventure, which is set to be released on October 2, 2020 for PS4 and Xbox One for $59.99. It’s About Time is built from the ground-up as a new experience in the spirit of the original three Crash games developed by Naughty Dog for the original PlayStation. Players can play either as Crash or Coco Bandicoot for the full adventure, with other playable characters thrown into the mix like Neo Cortex. Featuring a brand new art style, marking a departure from what Vicarious Visions created for the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, It’s About Time will feature new platforming moves, new masks with special abilities, two major control schemes, and plenty more. To get all the major first details, IGN spoke with Toys for Bob Design Producer Lou Studdert to learn about Crash’s brand new adventure. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/22/crash-bandicoot-4-its-about-time-official-trailer"]

Why Crash 4?

Naming the next Crash game Crash Bandicoot 4 comes with a lot of expectations — in the ensuing years since Crash Bandicoot: Warped ended the beloved trilogy of Crash games developed by Naughty Dog, the marsupial’s subsequent adventures often received less favorable reception. Studdert explained how Toys for Bob understood the expectations that came with this naming convention, describing how it also allows the team to convey both the story and, importantly, the gameplay players can expect. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=crash-bandicoot-4-its-about-time-first-screenshots&captions=true"] “It's not just Crash 4 because narratively we're continuing off of where Crash 3 ended, where, Uka Uka, N. Tropy, and Neo Cortex are trapped in time and space. But we're also continuing off of the gameplay of the original trilogy,” Studdert said. “It's actually going back and looking at what worked so well about the original games. It's bringing back that authentic, wholly unique to Crash gameplay, which is the unique perspective shifts of going into camera, being chased by things running out of camera switching to side scrolling.”

Crash Bandicoot 4 Gameplay

Crash Bandicoot 4 is built from the ground up, not based on existing or recovered code, but it will attempt to of course emulate the platforming gameplay fans of the original trilogy are familiar with. And that means Crash 4 is sticking to the traditional camera setup of those games, rather than becoming something more open world. “Our intent was to give folks the sequel they never got,” Student continued, noting that the developer’s focus was on “tense, precise execution that is so ingrained in the DNA of Crash and bringing that to today's standards.” [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/22/crash-bandicoot-4-first-gameplay-details"] But Crash won’t just be running, jumping, spinning, and ground slamming. It’s About Time’s various locations have also facilitated the introduction of several new platforming moves. Crash can now wallrun, grind on and below rails, and rope swing to allow for various new challenges. “It's been this fun balancing act of us taking what we love about those original games and the feeling of those linear pathways, but then at the same time layering in new challenging asks for the players, new ways of finding all of the boxes, crates, finding hidden gems, finding all this different content throughout the level,” Studdert explained, noting the new levels and challenges have been built with a focus on elevating "the replayability of the game."

“A True Sequel” to the Original Crash Trilogy, But a New Look

Through and through, Toys for Bob wants to emphasize that this is “a true sequel” to the original Crash trilogy. But, as is apparent from the first trailer and gameplay, this sequel incorporates a new, more animated look reminiscent of the cartoony, detailed characters of Toys for Bob’s Spyro Reignited Trilogy, which we praised in our review of those remakes. Studdert explained how this colorful, zany art style aimed to capture the spirit of the character and allowed for a more ambitious world design. “While we are retaining the old-school gameplay of those unique perspectives, we wanted to open up the worlds from a visual standpoint,” Studdert said. “So that means larger vistas, huge scale, huge places that you're going to get to go that couldn't have happened on the original consoles and games. It's taking that animated personality amplifying that fun, and then also giving you these amazing unique times and dimensions to explore.” [poilib element="poll" parameters="id=f28af99d-b8d5-4044-8d6b-d4bcc25757be"] That aim to capture the old and blend it with the new is true of Toys for Bob’s work on the actual gameplay as well, which is built in a “completely different engine, built from the ground up” for Crash 4, rather than reusing work from the N. Sane Trilogy. But Studdert explained that Toys for Bob’s experience working in part on the Crash remake trilogy and the Crash Team Racing did come into play when designing Crash 4. “Having our hands in those games really allowed us to kind of analyze the foundational elements of what truly makes a Crash level feel like a Crash level, from how enemies are incorporated to the pace of a level, to the amount of encounters to the way they fold in on each other,” he said.

How Difficult Is Crash Bandicoot 4?

The original Crash trilogy has some notoriously tough levels. Just say the phrase “Road to Nowhere” to any self-respecting Crash fan and they’ll understand. Thankfully, Crash 4 is aiming to outdo the challenge of past Crash games while providing a smoother ramp in difficulty. “We want to have less difficulty spikes,” Studdert said when asked about the difficulty compared to the original three games. “We want to onboard the players and get them into the story, but at the same time we wanted to see if we can actually exceed the difficulty of the original games. We wanted to see if we could add in extra modes, extra challenges, extra things that we'll be talking about later to really bring the pain. A true Crash fan wants that level of difficulty, and I think we've met and exceeded.”

Crash’s New Mask Power-ups, Modern vs. Retro Modes

Core to the story of Crash 4 will be the, well, four Quantum Masks that Crash and Coco will encounter. Each of these guardians of space and time offers a different ability, and will be findable throughout the game at specific locations, like you would with an Aku Aku mask. “Crash and Coco need to seek out the four quantum masks…[which] will help to re-fix the timeline,” Studdert explained of the duo’s objective this time around in their battle against Dr. Neo Cortex. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/18/crash-bandicoot-puzzle-teaser"] The first two masks Toys for Bob is discussing are Kipuna-Wa, which offer the powers of time manipulation, and the other is Eka-Eka, the gravity mask. Like Aku Aku, they’ll both appear available at certain points in levels for players to activate to overcome certain obstacles. “At certain points in the levels, they'll come to your aid and they actually become suits on Crash and Coco,” Studdert said as he explained their powers, with the time mask allowing players to slow down time, while the gravity mask will let players alter Crash or Coco’s gravity as they navigate through a level. And as the original trilogy is known for its many secret paths and levels, I asked Studdert about whether Crash 4 would include a similar level of discoverable content, and he had as best of an answer as I could hope for. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2017/06/29/crash-bandicoot-n-sane-trilogy-review"] But being true to that original trilogy also means the gameflow — players can switch between two modes, Modern and Retro, which changes how lives and Wumpa fruit collection is catalogued. Wumpa will now actually go toward end-of-level goals, and can be used as another currency in both modes. But in Retro mode, players can still have a set number of lives, collect 100 Wumpa fruit to gain a new life, and succeed or fail by those parameters. "If you die, you're going to restart at a checkpoint [in Modern mode], as simple as that,” Studdert said. “That means, 'Okay, what do we then do with Wumpa?' So what we've done is we've changed wumpa collection to be part of that collection currency of collectibles, end-of-level rewards. Retro is actually retaining the lives and game over system from the original game. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Stay tuned to IGN for more on Crash Bandicoot 4, but be sure to watch the first gameplay and debut trailer above. And for more on Toys for Bob's most recent work, check out our review of the Spyro Reignited Trilogy below. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/11/12/spyro-reignited-trilogy-review"] Jonathon Dornbush is IGN's Senior News Editor, host of Podcast Beyond!, and virtual bandicoot expert. Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush.

Posted in Uncategorized

Crash Bandicoot 4 Coming to PS4, Xbox One This Year

Activision has announced Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, a brand new, canonical sequel to Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped. Spyro Reignited Trilogy developer Toys for Bob is behind the brand new adventure, which is set to be released on October 2, 2020 for PS4 and Xbox One for $59.99. It’s About Time is built from the ground-up as a new experience in the spirit of the original three Crash games developed by Naughty Dog for the original PlayStation. Players can play either as Crash or Coco Bandicoot for the full adventure, with other playable characters thrown into the mix like Neo Cortex. Featuring a brand new art style, marking a departure from what Vicarious Visions created for the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, It’s About Time will feature new platforming moves, new masks with special abilities, two major control schemes, and plenty more. To get all the major first details, IGN spoke with Toys for Bob Design Producer Lou Studdert to learn about Crash’s brand new adventure. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/22/crash-bandicoot-4-its-about-time-official-trailer"]

Why Crash 4?

Naming the next Crash game Crash Bandicoot 4 comes with a lot of expectations — in the ensuing years since Crash Bandicoot: Warped ended the beloved trilogy of Crash games developed by Naughty Dog, the marsupial’s subsequent adventures often received less favorable reception. Studdert explained how Toys for Bob understood the expectations that came with this naming convention, describing how it also allows the team to convey both the story and, importantly, the gameplay players can expect. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=crash-bandicoot-4-its-about-time-first-screenshots&captions=true"] “It's not just Crash 4 because narratively we're continuing off of where Crash 3 ended, where, Uka Uka, N. Tropy, and Neo Cortex are trapped in time and space. But we're also continuing off of the gameplay of the original trilogy,” Studdert said. “It's actually going back and looking at what worked so well about the original games. It's bringing back that authentic, wholly unique to Crash gameplay, which is the unique perspective shifts of going into camera, being chased by things running out of camera switching to side scrolling.”

Crash Bandicoot 4 Gameplay

Crash Bandicoot 4 is built from the ground up, not based on existing or recovered code, but it will attempt to of course emulate the platforming gameplay fans of the original trilogy are familiar with. And that means Crash 4 is sticking to the traditional camera setup of those games, rather than becoming something more open world. “Our intent was to give folks the sequel they never got,” Student continued, noting that the developer’s focus was on “tense, precise execution that is so ingrained in the DNA of Crash and bringing that to today's standards.” [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/22/crash-bandicoot-4-first-gameplay-details"] But Crash won’t just be running, jumping, spinning, and ground slamming. It’s About Time’s various locations have also facilitated the introduction of several new platforming moves. Crash can now wallrun, grind on and below rails, and rope swing to allow for various new challenges. “It's been this fun balancing act of us taking what we love about those original games and the feeling of those linear pathways, but then at the same time layering in new challenging asks for the players, new ways of finding all of the boxes, crates, finding hidden gems, finding all this different content throughout the level,” Studdert explained, noting the new levels and challenges have been built with a focus on elevating "the replayability of the game."

“A True Sequel” to the Original Crash Trilogy, But a New Look

Through and through, Toys for Bob wants to emphasize that this is “a true sequel” to the original Crash trilogy. But, as is apparent from the first trailer and gameplay, this sequel incorporates a new, more animated look reminiscent of the cartoony, detailed characters of Toys for Bob’s Spyro Reignited Trilogy, which we praised in our review of those remakes. Studdert explained how this colorful, zany art style aimed to capture the spirit of the character and allowed for a more ambitious world design. “While we are retaining the old-school gameplay of those unique perspectives, we wanted to open up the worlds from a visual standpoint,” Studdert said. “So that means larger vistas, huge scale, huge places that you're going to get to go that couldn't have happened on the original consoles and games. It's taking that animated personality amplifying that fun, and then also giving you these amazing unique times and dimensions to explore.” [poilib element="poll" parameters="id=f28af99d-b8d5-4044-8d6b-d4bcc25757be"] That aim to capture the old and blend it with the new is true of Toys for Bob’s work on the actual gameplay as well, which is built in a “completely different engine, built from the ground up” for Crash 4, rather than reusing work from the N. Sane Trilogy. But Studdert explained that Toys for Bob’s experience working in part on the Crash remake trilogy and the Crash Team Racing did come into play when designing Crash 4. “Having our hands in those games really allowed us to kind of analyze the foundational elements of what truly makes a Crash level feel like a Crash level, from how enemies are incorporated to the pace of a level, to the amount of encounters to the way they fold in on each other,” he said.

How Difficult Is Crash Bandicoot 4?

The original Crash trilogy has some notoriously tough levels. Just say the phrase “Road to Nowhere” to any self-respecting Crash fan and they’ll understand. Thankfully, Crash 4 is aiming to outdo the challenge of past Crash games while providing a smoother ramp in difficulty. “We want to have less difficulty spikes,” Studdert said when asked about the difficulty compared to the original three games. “We want to onboard the players and get them into the story, but at the same time we wanted to see if we can actually exceed the difficulty of the original games. We wanted to see if we could add in extra modes, extra challenges, extra things that we'll be talking about later to really bring the pain. A true Crash fan wants that level of difficulty, and I think we've met and exceeded.”

Crash’s New Mask Power-ups, Modern vs. Retro Modes

Core to the story of Crash 4 will be the, well, four Quantum Masks that Crash and Coco will encounter. Each of these guardians of space and time offers a different ability, and will be findable throughout the game at specific locations, like you would with an Aku Aku mask. “Crash and Coco need to seek out the four quantum masks…[which] will help to re-fix the timeline,” Studdert explained of the duo’s objective this time around in their battle against Dr. Neo Cortex. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/18/crash-bandicoot-puzzle-teaser"] The first two masks Toys for Bob is discussing are Kipuna-Wa, which offer the powers of time manipulation, and the other is Eka-Eka, the gravity mask. Like Aku Aku, they’ll both appear available at certain points in levels for players to activate to overcome certain obstacles. “At certain points in the levels, they'll come to your aid and they actually become suits on Crash and Coco,” Studdert said as he explained their powers, with the time mask allowing players to slow down time, while the gravity mask will let players alter Crash or Coco’s gravity as they navigate through a level. And as the original trilogy is known for its many secret paths and levels, I asked Studdert about whether Crash 4 would include a similar level of discoverable content, and he had as best of an answer as I could hope for. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2017/06/29/crash-bandicoot-n-sane-trilogy-review"] But being true to that original trilogy also means the gameflow — players can switch between two modes, Modern and Retro, which changes how lives and Wumpa fruit collection is catalogued. Wumpa will now actually go toward end-of-level goals, and can be used as another currency in both modes. But in Retro mode, players can still have a set number of lives, collect 100 Wumpa fruit to gain a new life, and succeed or fail by those parameters. "If you die, you're going to restart at a checkpoint [in Modern mode], as simple as that,” Studdert said. “That means, 'Okay, what do we then do with Wumpa?' So what we've done is we've changed wumpa collection to be part of that collection currency of collectibles, end-of-level rewards. Retro is actually retaining the lives and game over system from the original game. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Stay tuned to IGN for more on Crash Bandicoot 4, but be sure to watch the first gameplay and debut trailer above. And for more on Toys for Bob's most recent work, check out our review of the Spyro Reignited Trilogy below. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/11/12/spyro-reignited-trilogy-review"] Jonathon Dornbush is IGN's Senior News Editor, host of Podcast Beyond!, and virtual bandicoot expert. Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush.

Posted in Uncategorized

SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated Review – Expired Nostalgia

Nearing the end of SpongeBob's journey under the sea, you're tasked with guiding a ball through a giant Rube Goldberg machine in Mermaid Man's Lair. Once you activate the machine you have to match the ball’s painstakingly slow speed while using SpongeBob's arsenal of bubble abilities to make sure it doesn’t fall over. It’s a simple task in concept, but trying to execute it is some of the most unfun and Sisyphean gameplay in recent memory. In one section of the puzzle, all you need to do is stand on a button, and that button opens a gate for you to bowl a bubble into so you can progress. The only problem is that during SpongeBob's wind-up animation for bowling, he walks forward. That means you fall off of the button, which closes the gate and prevents you from bowling the bubble where you intended, when you intended. These kinds of gameplay barricades are common, and force you to restart and face your demons again, and again, and again.

SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated is rarely amusing or challenging, and completing it is an entirely dry experience. It looks nice, and brings back fond memories of a classic cartoon through iconic set pieces and tight voice acting, but its uncomfortable and outdated mechanics make you feel frustratingly trapped and are ultimately outclassed by countless other modern and classic platformers.

SpongeBob is a show built on rapid-fire humour and good pacing, but this game misses that mark. The game is a remake of the 2003 cult classic 3D collect-a-thon platformer of the same name. There were three versions of the original: a 2D platformer, a 3D platformer, and one full of minigames. This version took me around 20 hours to play through the main story and get a bunch of bonus collectibles, and from the movement to the jokes, the whole thing feels slow, with none of the comedic timing that makes the show so beloved.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Posted in Uncategorized

SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated Review – Expired Nostalgia

Nearing the end of SpongeBob’s journey under the sea, you’re tasked with guiding a ball through a giant Rube Goldberg machine in Mermaid Man’s Lair. Once you activate the machine you have to match the ball’s painstakingly slow speed while using SpongeBob’s arsenal of bubble abilities to make sure it doesn’t fall over. It’s a simple task in concept, but trying to execute it is some of the most unfun and Sisyphean gameplay in recent memory. In one section of the puzzle, all you need to do is stand on a button, and that button opens a gate for you to bowl a bubble into so you can progress. The only problem is that during SpongeBob’s wind-up animation for bowling, he walks forward. That means you fall off of the button, which closes the gate and prevents you from bowling the bubble where you intended, when you intended. These kinds of gameplay barricades are common, and force you to restart and face your demons again, and again, and again.

SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated is rarely amusing or challenging, and completing it is an entirely dry experience. It looks nice, and brings back fond memories of a classic cartoon through iconic set pieces and tight voice acting, but its uncomfortable and outdated mechanics make you feel frustratingly trapped, and are ultimately outclassed by countless other modern and classic platformers.