Formula E racer Daniel Abt has been disqualified and ordered to pay 10,000 euros ($10,900) to charity for illegally hiring a professional esports player to falsely compete as him in an official virtual race, the BBC reports.

[caption id="attachment_235606" align="alignnone" width="720"] 24 May 2019, Berlin: Motorsport: Preview Formula E Championship, E-Prix 2019, race at Tempelhof Airport. Daniel Abt from Team Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler speaks at the press conference the day before the Formula E Championship. Photo: Britta Pedersen/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa (Photo by Britta Pedersen/picture alliance via Getty Images)[/caption] For those not in the know, virtual racing has taken on a new life in various leagues across the globe, due to the complications of hosting real-world racing events during the COVID-19 pandemic. Companies like iRacing, a subscription-based PC gaming platform that contracts with multiple real-world racing leagues, have been working with NASCAR to host digital races, with pro drivers getting behind controllers rather than actual cars. Like any sport, professional racing has its drama between players, but the change to digital racing has added a new layer. According to AP News, five-time NASCAR champion Kyle Larson was fired for using a racial slur during one digital race. [caption id="attachment_2356069" align="alignnone" width="720"] 66 German driver Daniel Abt of Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler Formula E Team drive her single-seater during the 3rd edition of Monaco E-Prix, in port neighborhood in Monaco, France (Photo by Andrea Diodato/NurPhoto via Getty Images)[/caption] Abt, a 27-year-old German racer sponsored by Audi, has since apologized for hiring another player to pose as him, and was also stripped of all points he’s earned over the course of the “Race at Home Challenge,” which features drivers competing from their home setups. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1344"] A NASCAR race as seen in iRacing.[/caption]

"I did not take it as seriously as I should have,” Abt said. "I am especially sorry about this because I know how much work has gone into this project on the part of the Formula E organisation. I am aware that my offence has a bitter aftertaste but it was never meant with any bad intention."

Abt’s imposter? A pro gamer by the name of Lorenz Hoerzing, who was similarly disqualified from all future rounds of another racing series called the Challenge Grid.

Mercedes driver Stoffel Vandoorne, who placed second during the race in question, stated on his Twitch stream that he suspected Abt of using another player to race in his name. Two-time Formula E champion Jean-Eric Vergne supported Vandoorne’s accusation.

"Please ask Daniel Abt to put his Zoom next time he's driving, because like Stoffel said I'm pretty sure he wasn't in," Vergne said.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/04/15/f1-2020-announce-trailer"]

According to ESPN, the Formula E organization has not made any official statement on how the determination that Abt was cheating was made, but the-race.com site, which runs its own series of virtual races, says it understood that event organizers had cross-referenced Abt’s IP address with that of the actual player at his wheel.

Racers are typically visible on a Zoom camera, but the-race.com states that the face of the person who was supposed to be Abt was blocked from view by equipment.

It’s unclear if Abt will be subjected to any additional penalties or loss of sponsorship as a result of his actions.

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Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/pit crew for IGN.

Overwatch’s new Workshop mode is giving fans plenty of wiggle room to mod the game. Typically, that just means altering game or physics rules, like making the ground cause damage - a "the floor is lava" mode, if you will. One fan by the username of Therister has taken things a little far, though, giving the French assassin Widowmaker actual functioning robot spider legs that can vault her into the air and stick to walls.

Check out this monstrous creation in the video below.

Overwatch Widowmaker + Spider Girl

CODE: 5D4FX Creator: Therister pic.twitter.com/Qvy1jR5Q76 — Naeri X 나에리 (@OverwatchNaeri) May 24, 2020

 

Therister’s creation basically replaces Widow’s normal bipedal legs with four elongated limbs, each with a sort of purple foot that can stick onto surfaces. Normally, Widow can only shoot a grappling hook to sort of leap into the air, which helps her reach high areas, but she’s still effectively rooted onto flat horizontal surfaces like most other characters.

[caption id="attachment_235604" align="alignnone" width="720"] Source: Therister.[/caption]

Not so with these new robot spider legs. The video shows off Widow reaching previously unreachable locations on the map’s architecture, climbing onto the roofs of the buildings outside the attacking team’s spawn point and others, which even flight-based characters like Pharah or Echo would have difficulty reaching. Not only that, Widowmaker can use the spider legs to make some pretty distant leaps from wall to wall and stick to the surface, allowing her a sniping position that any Overwatch League pro would probably envy. It doesn’t seem to stop her from entering the King’s Row subway station either. Nowhere is safe.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/19/overwatch-review-2020-update"]

If you want to give Therister’s creation a try, the Overwatch Workshop code is 5D4FX.

 Don’t forget to check out our updated review of Overwatch to see what we think of the game after four years of moving the payload. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/Mercy main for IGN. Kill it with fire with him on Twitter.

Overwatch’s new Workshop mode is giving fans plenty of wiggle room to mod the game. Typically, that just means altering game or physics rules, like making the ground cause damage - a "the floor is lava" mode, if you will. One fan by the username of Therister has taken things a little far, though, giving the French assassin Widowmaker actual functioning robot spider legs that can vault her into the air and stick to walls.

Check out this monstrous creation in the video below.

Overwatch Widowmaker + Spider Girl

CODE: 5D4FX Creator: Therister pic.twitter.com/Qvy1jR5Q76 — Naeri X 나에리 (@OverwatchNaeri) May 24, 2020

 

Therister’s creation basically replaces Widow’s normal bipedal legs with four elongated limbs, each with a sort of purple foot that can stick onto surfaces. Normally, Widow can only shoot a grappling hook to sort of leap into the air, which helps her reach high areas, but she’s still effectively rooted onto flat horizontal surfaces like most other characters.

[caption id="attachment_235604" align="alignnone" width="720"] Source: Therister.[/caption]

Not so with these new robot spider legs. The video shows off Widow reaching previously unreachable locations on the map’s architecture, climbing onto the roofs of the buildings outside the attacking team’s spawn point and others, which even flight-based characters like Pharah or Echo would have difficulty reaching. Not only that, Widowmaker can use the spider legs to make some pretty distant leaps from wall to wall and stick to the surface, allowing her a sniping position that any Overwatch League pro would probably envy. It doesn’t seem to stop her from entering the King’s Row subway station either. Nowhere is safe.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/19/overwatch-review-2020-update"]

If you want to give Therister’s creation a try, the Overwatch Workshop code is 5D4FX.

 Don’t forget to check out our updated review of Overwatch to see what we think of the game after four years of moving the payload. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/Mercy main for IGN. Kill it with fire with him on Twitter.

It's Always Sunny's Rob McElhenney, who recently unleashed a new "quarantine" episode of his Apple TV series Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet, has assured fans that - yes - once Sunny returns, we're going to see an episode that takes on the COVID-19 crisis. In a recent chat with NME, McElhenney recalled Season 9 of Always Sunny, which had ‘The Gang Gets Quarantined." "Well, we actually do have an episode...where we quarantine ourselves in the bar," he said. "I think there’s a big flu going around Philadelphia or something like that. “When we come back, don’t worry, we will address all this in the way only Sunny can!” [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/15/mythic-quest-ravens-banquet-official-quarantine-teaser-trailer-rob-mcelhenney-danny-pudi"] Though there's no official word yet from FX regarding new seasons, McElhenney insists that "Sunny very much still exists." "We’re still in active negotiations for season 15 and 16 and we’re hoping that as soon as we get out of Mythic Quest season, we jump right into something new with Sunny.' With Sunny now prominently in its second decade, how much more gas is in the tank? “How many years do I have on this planet? I’ll do it forever,” McElhenney said. "If people keep watching it and we keep having fun, why would we ever stop? It’s my dream job.” In other TV news, check out everything we know about Netflix's Umbrella Academy ahead of Season 2, Steve Carell talking about his new Netfix comedy Space Force, and more on Ruby Rose's exit from The CW's Batwoman. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=rick-and-morty-the-10-biggest-wtf-moments&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

It's Always Sunny's Rob McElhenney, who recently unleashed a new "quarantine" episode of his Apple TV series Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet, has assured fans that - yes - once Sunny returns, we're going to see an episode that takes on the COVID-19 crisis. In a recent chat with NME, McElhenney recalled Season 9 of Always Sunny, which had ‘The Gang Gets Quarantined." "Well, we actually do have an episode...where we quarantine ourselves in the bar," he said. "I think there’s a big flu going around Philadelphia or something like that. “When we come back, don’t worry, we will address all this in the way only Sunny can!” [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/15/mythic-quest-ravens-banquet-official-quarantine-teaser-trailer-rob-mcelhenney-danny-pudi"] Though there's no official word yet from FX regarding new seasons, McElhenney insists that "Sunny very much still exists." "We’re still in active negotiations for season 15 and 16 and we’re hoping that as soon as we get out of Mythic Quest season, we jump right into something new with Sunny.' With Sunny now prominently in its second decade, how much more gas is in the tank? “How many years do I have on this planet? I’ll do it forever,” McElhenney said. "If people keep watching it and we keep having fun, why would we ever stop? It’s my dream job.” In other TV news, check out everything we know about Netflix's Umbrella Academy ahead of Season 2, Steve Carell talking about his new Netfix comedy Space Force, and more on Ruby Rose's exit from The CW's Batwoman. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=rick-and-morty-the-10-biggest-wtf-moments&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

After almost two decades of playing Wolverine in the X-Men franchise, Hugh Jackman's tenure as the iconic Marvel mutant came to an end in 2017's Logan, which saw our hero perish from wounds sustained while protecting young Laura (aka "X-23") and other mutant children from the Reavers. It's a decision that director James Mangold, who also helmed 2013's The Wolverine, says was logical. Comicbook.com spoke to Mangold, ahead of its upcoming Logan Watch Party, and he explained "The process is a lot less of a committee than you'd think. It was really Hugh [Jackman] and I at first. It seemed logical, that if it were going to be his last film, that he's either going to ride off onto the horizon or die, that you need to have some kind of curtain on his story." "You either have the Shane ending where he rides off on the mountain to parts unknown," he added, "which had largely been the way his character was resolved in every preceding movie, or you'd kill him." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=best-superhero-directors-cuts-you-can-stream-now&captions=true"] "The reason the choice was at our feet was because you needed the sense of closure," Mangold continued. "You needed some sense of an ending if you were going to end, if you were dealing with the legacy of Hugh's many performances and many films, and trying to set this part in some definitive way." Mangold's The Wolverine wound up on our short list of Best Superhero Director's Cuts that you can now stream, along with Zack Snyder's Watchmen, The Rogue Cut of X-Men: Days of Future Past and more. A few weeks back, we dug up Hugh Jackman's first filmed audition and screen test for 2000's X-Men for a loving look back at the actor's Weapon X legacy. In other comic book movie news, Zack Snyder's cut of Justice League is headed to HBO Max in 2021 after Warner Bros. spends around $20-30 million to complete hotly-anticipated project. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/21/justice-league-the-snyder-cut-official-hbo-max-announcement"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

After almost two decades of playing Wolverine in the X-Men franchise, Hugh Jackman's tenure as the iconic Marvel mutant came to an end in 2017's Logan, which saw our hero perish from wounds sustained while protecting young Laura (aka "X-23") and other mutant children from the Reavers. It's a decision that director James Mangold, who also helmed 2013's The Wolverine, says was logical. Comicbook.com spoke to Mangold, ahead of its upcoming Logan Watch Party, and he explained "The process is a lot less of a committee than you'd think. It was really Hugh [Jackman] and I at first. It seemed logical, that if it were going to be his last film, that he's either going to ride off onto the horizon or die, that you need to have some kind of curtain on his story." "You either have the Shane ending where he rides off on the mountain to parts unknown," he added, "which had largely been the way his character was resolved in every preceding movie, or you'd kill him." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=best-superhero-directors-cuts-you-can-stream-now&captions=true"] "The reason the choice was at our feet was because you needed the sense of closure," Mangold continued. "You needed some sense of an ending if you were going to end, if you were dealing with the legacy of Hugh's many performances and many films, and trying to set this part in some definitive way." Mangold's The Wolverine wound up on our short list of Best Superhero Director's Cuts that you can now stream, along with Zack Snyder's Watchmen, The Rogue Cut of X-Men: Days of Future Past and more. A few weeks back, we dug up Hugh Jackman's first filmed audition and screen test for 2000's X-Men for a loving look back at the actor's Weapon X legacy. In other comic book movie news, Zack Snyder's cut of Justice League is headed to HBO Max in 2021 after Warner Bros. spends around $20-30 million to complete hotly-anticipated project. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/21/justice-league-the-snyder-cut-official-hbo-max-announcement"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

Here's the reason Magik, Wolfsbane, and the rest of the team will arrive in your local multiplex...someday.

Here's the reason Magik, Wolfsbane, and the rest of the team will arrive in your local multiplex...someday.

Mass Effect 2 writer Patrick Weekes took to Twitter late last week to discuss how one of the game’s most infamously awkward romance prompts made it into the game, as first reported by Fanbyte.

Spoilers for Mass Effect 2 below:

In Mass Effect 2, if players opt for the female version of Commander Shepard, they’re eventually presented with the chance to romance Thane, the green-skinned drell assassin. Thane’s a bit of a complicated fellow. He’s an assassin who prefers to kill his targets up close and relatively painlessly, and being intensely spiritual, he prays for his forgiveness after each assassination. Unfortunately, Thane’s line of work eventually caught up to him and his family. His wife, Irikah, was killed by a band of mercenaries whose leader had been assassinated by Thane, and Thane left his son Kolyat in the care of his extended family. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2016/09/10/history-of-awesome-mass-effect"] As the player, we learn a lot of this during our major conversations with Thane, where the duality of Thane’s troubled life and his softspoken nature clash. Literally moments after Thane reveals details about his wife's tragic murder, the player is presented with two dialogue options: “Just focus on your son” and the laughably unsubtle “I want you, Thane.” Weekes took the opportunity to explain how a combination of a tight schedule, bug reports, and the restrictions of 2009-era game development (no major game patches) resulted in one of the franchise’s most awkward dialogue paraphrases.

"Late 2009. I'm on Mass Effect 2," Weekes says. "Given that we're only a few months from ship, Mass Effect 2 is also on me. I'm one of a few writers left on the project, tackling bugs. A bug comes in saying that there's a lack of clarity around the opt-in to Thane's romance -- you only get one chance to choose to romance him, and they're missing it, and therefore missing a bunch of content. And some folks are opting in by accident, too. Thane's writer has left the team, so I look at the conversation. It's a great conversation! But I can also see how you could look at the dialogue options and not realize that one of them is you saying, "Let's start a relationship." So, yes, needs to be fixed.

"2020 Brain: Wouldn't the big heart icon make that clear? Aha, but this is 2009. ME2 (and even ME3) didn't use icons to indicate that you were entering a relationship. No hover text on big choices, either! (See also, "How people accidentally ended up showering with Traynor.")

2020 Brain: Wouldn't the big heart icon make that clear?

Aha, but this is 2009. ME2 (and even ME3) didn't use icons to indicate that you were entering a relationship. No hover text on big choices, either! (See also, "How people accidentally ended up showering with Traynor.") — Patrick Weekes (@PatrickWeekes) May 22, 2020

"2020 Brain: Okay, so let's rewrite the end of the scene, touching the original writer's lines as lightly as possible, to add a clean chance to opt into a romance with Thane. "Aha, but this is LATE 2009. This scene is LOCKED. No dialogue changes possible. Game DONE, yo. Thane is talking about how his wife died. He's never told anyone. A Shepard who wants to romance Thane tells him she's there for Thane to lean on, whatever he needs. "Original paraphase was something like, "I'm here for you." The writer (Chris L'Etoile) did an amazing job. "But players who wanted to romance Thane didn't understand that this dialogue choice was their one and only chance to get onto a romance path with him. "And players who DIDN'T want to romance Thane didn't like stumbling onto it by accident. "2009 Me: So I have no heart icon, I can't change the dialogue at all. Literally I can do is change the paraphrase, and I have to change it so nobody has any doubt about what this line indicates. "2009 Me: Nailed it."

"Did 2009 Me think this was a good paraphrase?" Weekes continued. "WOW NO! Was it the best 2009 Me could come up with to be 100% clear, with no other changes available and paraphrases limited to 30 characters? APPARENTLY YES! Every time I see this play on Twitch, the player makes fun of the paraphrase. "Subtle, Shepard!" And they are totally right! I wish we'd caught this earlier, so I could've changed the lines or done SOMETHING less clunky than this. But this is what last-minute fixes look like."

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/09/9-live-action-game-trailers-better-than-most-video-game-movies"] Weekes finished their Twitter thread saying they're glad that game developers have the tools to include more explicit icons and text that makes it clear what you're character is getting into before committing to a dialogue choice. When asked what they'd do differently using that same 2009 tech, Weekes said they'd change the prompt to you "'You matter to me, Thane.' < 30 characters, about as clear, and much cleaner as a topic transition." Years later, it's still pretty funny. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer for IGN, and he's here for you. Romance him on Twitter.