As pandemic lockdown has brought an unearthly quiet to our streets, a different kind of unearthly has infected the streets of Los Santos. Gangs of players dressed in neon alien costumes are embroiled in a battle, beating each other to death with baseball bats, night sticks, and hatchets. What was once a practical joke has evolved into a war, and the final climactic battle takes place this week, where the runways of Los Santos International Airport will become the battleground for GTA Online’s most bizarre community phenomenon. If you’ve logged on to Grand Theft Auto Online within the past couple of weeks you’ll no doubt have witnessed groups of players causing chaos. The basic premise of the war is that those wearing green alien bodysuits are agents of anarchy, attacking players at random and restricted by just one ‘moral code’: no guns. Those wearing purple alien costumes are out to stop the greens, acting as a sort of vigilante army protecting other players. Over a matter of days those missions have blurred, and now it’s largely just a case of green versus purple in a strange echo of the turf war fought between GTA’s Families and Ballas. [poilib element="poll" parameters="id=72955e2f-5312-4293-8d2e-542dfc80cf6c"] With the war dominating GTA Online, from the lobbies to the subreddit, a final battle has been declared by players. On May 15 at 8pm Eastern Time, the war will conclude in a colossal showdown at Los Santos International Airport, and afterwards things can go back to normal. At least, as normal as GTA Online can be in the wake of this community-shifting event. That’s the end point of the alien gang wars story. But what of the start? Well, that’s all down to Adam Long. On April 15, Long published a video to Reddit. The clip shows him and a few friends - all dressed in neon green alien bodysuits - pull a handbrake turn on Los Santos’ pier and bail out of their van, startling another player. They then beat him to death with baseball bats and drive away. As of writing, the video has over 28,000 upvotes, and has inspired an all-encompassing movement. [poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=On%20May%2015%20the%20war%20will%20conclude%20in%20a%20colossal%20showdown%20at%20Los%20Santos%20International%20Airport."]“The idea came originally when I saw a post on r/gtaonline about two weeks before I posted the alien video,” says Long. “The video was a chap just walking around the Vespucci canals when all of a sudden these two vans full of players just pull up and chase him down before beating him up.” Long intended to recreate the video with his friends, planning to do it dressed as “rednecks”. But one of his crew came out of the clothes store in a green alien bodysuit, and so the green alien gang was born. “Our country is on lock-down, so we were constantly looking for new stuff to do on lots of different games,” Long says while explaining why he and his friends pulled the in-game prank. Lockdown is one reason behind the wildfire-like spread of the alien gang wars - almost everyone I’ve spoken to about the phenomenon is of school age and now forced to stay at home - but social media has provided more fuel for the fire. “It's even more fun just watching all the posts on Reddit, TikTok, and YouTube of the community just coming together and having so much fun during these crazy times,” says Long. TikTok has been a surprisingly strong arm of the alien gang wars movement. The right GTA Online clip posted to the micro-video social network can lead to big boosts in follower counts, and generate viral memes. TikTok content creator Zhi Ko, known online as Nekoztek, quickly saw the potential in getting behind this new phenomenon. Despite having never made Grand Theft Auto videos before, he began to run updates on the alien gang wars. His follower count jumped. “All of a sudden all my notifications are kids DMing me asking me ‘Hey, can you please play with me?’” he says, despite not being a previously established GTA personality. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/12/gta-online-the-diamond-casino-heist-trailer"] “When I started my TikTok it was going to be mainly about general facts and technology,” Ko, who works in the blockchain industry, explains. “It wasn’t going to be curated around gaming or specifically GTA. I’m trying not to post just GTA videos, but it’s very difficult when all these kids are asking all this stuff and I want to respond to them. I’m trying to produce at least a minimum of four or five TikToks a day, now my friend is telling me I need to start producing ten!” With the community behind the war growing at an exponential rate, it needed a home. Intergalactics, created by Florent Gradit-Perier, is one of two major subreddits dedicated to the alien gang wars. When Gradit-Perier, known on Reddit as FloFlan, created the subreddit and its associated Discord server and in-game Crews, the green versus purple element of the war had yet to break out. The craze was simply anarchy on the streets of Los Santos. “I set up Intergalactics Inc because I wanted to unite all the aliens to be more coordinated and make the war funnier,” Gradit-Perier says. “It wasn't a purple vs green [war] but just aliens jumping on poor random players.” [poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=%E2%80%9CWith%20everything%20going%20on%20in%20our%20world%2C%20the%20alien%20war%20has%20made%20quarantine%20more%20enjoyable.%E2%80%9D"]Even now, with the green and purple gangs firmly established in the community - as well as numerous break-out factions including the Men in Black and Republican Space Rangers - it’s hard to see any kind of true hierarchical organisation. But Gradit-Perier points to his subreddit for proof that people are working together in their own ways. “I saw some clips on our Subreddit with 15 aliens on a bus, or just chilling in the street,” he says. “We're both unified and chaotic, but in a good way, a happy chaos!” Alongside r/intergalactics is r/GreenVSPurple, set up by Reddit user tapwaterbread. While the subreddit also has aims of bringing alien players together, it has an interesting side goal: “it also allowed for the main subreddit to become less flooded with alien content,” says tapwaterbread. Unsurprisingly, the alien war isn’t enjoyed by all GTA Online players. Their usual home has been transformed into a ganking arena, and it can feel impossible to escape. And that’s why, explains Ko, the final battle has been declared. “This final battle came from Reddit,” he says. “They were talking about how the core game of GTA was being ruined, and this war had to be over. It was getting to a point where you can’t even get on GTA without seeing a hundred aliens going around killing you every five seconds.” [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2017/05/17/the-history-of-grand-theft-auto-ign-secret-origin"] While those who want GTA Online to return back to normal are no doubt cautiously waiting for the final battle to be over, for the warriors of the alien gang war the showdown is set to be the shining star of some of the game’s most enjoyable times. “It has made GTA 5 so much more fun for me and my friends,” says Lui, creator of the Official Purple Gang Discord server. “It’s really easy to make friends and play with them on here and find some greens.” “I think the alien war has made GTA Online a lot more fun and has brought back a lot of veteran players to the game,” agrees tapwaterbread. “With everything going on in our world and us being stuck at home for most of the day, the alien war has definitely made my quarantine more enjoyable.” Ko highlights how important the war and viral TikTok videos can be for lonely people stuck in lockdown. “Imagine being a kid who can’t even go see his friends because of this quarantine, and all of a sudden you have a thousand people who want to play games with you because of your clips.” With the final battle fast approaching, this new community is already planning how it will adapt to life on the other side of the Los Santos International Airport showdown. “We host car meets every two days and gang meet-ups too sometimes to keep us all together,” says Lui. And the Official Purple Gang Discord isn’t the only group adopting non-alien activities to do with newfound allies; servers I’ve visited are already planning name changes to reflect their new identities in peacetime. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/01/where-will-gta-6-take-place"] Of course, some of the war’s supporters hope this fight won’t be the last of its kind. “I hope that Rockstar will make something similar to this in the future,” says Lui. Ko also thinks Rockstar would be sensible to pay attention to the phenomenon. “I’m curious about how the game will evolve from here,” he says. “What future conflict will come from this? How will Rockstar adapt to this?” He notes that he’d like to see an official “Gangs” DLC expansion for GTA Online. Rockstar is, of course, watching. On May 7 the developer made the alien bodysuits - which usually cost a huge $358,000 of in-game cash to buy - temporarily free of charge for all players. And since guns are prohibited by the war’s code, it means there’s now no in-game charge for anything required to take part. You just need to suit up, hijack a car, and you’re part of something huge. At a time when the world is feeling more isolated than it ever has, being a part of something unifying is perhaps more important than ever. The fact that the players of GTA Online created this alien gang war themselves, with no input from Rockstar at all, only makes it all the more impressive and uplifting. In-game concerts may distract for an evening, but pledging allegiance to a gang? Well, that’s for life. Or at least until May 15. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer, and occasional from-the-Los-Santos-frontlines reporter. You can follow him on Twitter. 

Nintendo has announced that Paper Mario: The Origami King will be released on Nintendo Switch on July 17, 2020. Paper Mario: The Origami King is a brand new adventure that has Mario teaming up with his new partner, Olivia, as "they team up with unlikely allies like Bowser and the Toads to battle evil Folded Soldiers." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/14/paper-mario-the-origami-king-announcement-trailer"] Princess Peach invites Mario and Luigi to the kingdom's origami festival, but she looks a bit more...papery than usual. It turns out King Olly, who claims to be the ruler of Origami Kingdom, has hatched a "devious" plot that only Mario and his friends could solve. Oh, and Olivia is actually King Olly's sister! Paper Mario will have new abilities at his disposal, including the 1,000-Fold Arms ability that will allow players to extend Mario's arms to interact with the environment and solve puzzles. There will also be a new ring-based battle system that requires both "puzzle-solving skills and a quick wit." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=paper-mario-the-origami-king-screenshots&captions=true"] Paper Mario: The Origami King is the first title since 2016's Paper Mario: Color Splash that was released on the Wii U. In our review, we said "Paper Mario: Color Splash is a step in the right direction for the series after the 3DS’s Paper Mario: Sticker Star, continuing its shift from RPG to action-adventure game while also introducing some smart changes to its battle system." “Paper Mario: The Origami King delivers a grand new adventure on Nintendo Switch for players to wrap themselves up in,” said Nick Chavez, Nintendo of America’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “This game marks the debut of the Paper Mario series on Nintendo Switch, expanding the vast library of games with another standout entry in a beloved franchise.” [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2016/10/05/paper-mario-color-splash-review"] Paper Mario: The Origami King may very well be the first game that will help celebrate Super Mario Bros. 35th anniversary, one that, if the reports are true, will see the release of remasters of many of Mario's classic adventures, including Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy. [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 can't wait and is so excited he just can't hide it. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

2K has announced the recently unveiled PGA Tour 2K21 will be teeing off on August 21, 2020 for PS4, Xbox One, Switch, Stadia, and PC via Steam. 2K first revealed the game with a short teaser trailer last week. Developed by Canadian-based specialist sports game outfit HB Studios, PGA Tour 2K21 will see HB’s The Golf Club series transform into a fully 2K-branded franchise alongside the publisher’s leading NBA series. The rebrand will feature 15 licensed PGA Tour courses, each scanned using “cutting-edge technology”. Like The Golf Club series, it will also feature a custom course designer. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/14/pga-tour-2k21-announcement-trailer"] Cover athlete Justin Thomas will be joined by 11 other pros and the game will feature a wide range of licensed golf equipment and gear. 2K is also promising “broadcast-style presentation with state-of-the-art graphics, dynamic cutscenes, and a seamless replay system”, plus play-by-play commentary from veteran golf broadcaster Luke Elvy and former pro Rich Beem. “Golf is hotter than ever with celebrities, athletes, and musicians playing the game and sharing their experiences on social media every day,” said 2K marketing VP Chris Snyder alongside the announcement. “Our goal is to create the most authentic golf simulation experience ever, and HB Studios brings that authenticity in PGA Tour 2K21, which is a true 2K game in every sense, incorporating realism, depth and fun that appeals to golf aficionados and casual fans alike.” HB’s The Golf Club was released in 2014, and was followed by a sequel in 2017. The third instalment, however, saw HB partner with 2K; The Golf Club 2019 Featuring the PGA Tour was launched in 2018. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Luke is Games Editor at IGN's Sydney office and, back in 1965, Sports Illustrated said he was going to be the next Arnold Palmer. You can find him on Twitter sporadically @MrLukeReilly.

The lineup for EVO 2020 has been revealed, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is missing from the roster. EVO Online will replace the physical competition this year due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, but that isn't the only major change, with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate cut from the lineup, most likely due to issues with the game's online performance. Smash is an EVO staple, and while the organizers haven't commented on the games omission, it's believed that it may have been too difficult to run an online Smash tournament due to the game's lacking netcode. You can watch the lineup announcement video below, which teases five weekends of fighting games, with games like Dragonball FighterZ, Tekken 7 and Street Fighter V: Championship Edition leading the lineup.

Introducing Evo Online! pic.twitter.com/ecf8gxNGUW

— EVO (@EVO) May 14, 2020

The tournament will also feature four open online tournaments and run from July 4th to August 2. Signup and event info will be revealed soon, with more details available on the official Evo website. The full line-up for the competition is as follows:

• Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late
• Dragon Ball FighterZ
• Tekken 7
• Street Fighter V: Champion Edition
• SoulCalibur VI
• Granblue Fantasy: Versus
• Samurai Shodown
• Skullgirls Encore
• Mortal Kombat 11
• Killer Instinct
• Them's Fightin' Herds

In other Super Smash Bros. Ultimate news, check out this absurd player-built controller that tazes the user when they're playing as Pichu.  [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

A deleted tweet suggests that GTA V will be the next free game on the Epic Games Store. If you head over to the Epic Games Store site, you can see a mystery game window, which we're set to learn more about later today. However, after rumours swirled yesterday, a deleted tweet from the Epic Games Store Twitter account all but confirmed that GTA V will be today's mystery game. Luckily, Twitter user Wario64 caught the tweet before it was deleted, and you can see the advertisement in full below. According to the tweet, you'll be able to grab the game for free until May 21, and keep it forever.

Tweet ad is deleted, so here you go pic.twitter.com/3oja0C3418

— Wario64 (@Wario64) May 14, 2020

GTA V is already available on PC via Steam and the Rockstar Games Launcher. It's not clear just yet what additional content the game will arrive with - we'll be sure to hear more about that when the news is revealed officially later today. This follows the news from late April which saw GTA V leave Xbox Game Pass, being replaced by Red Dead Redemption 2 on May 7. If you're looking for a reason to get into GTA V some seven years after its release, check out our review, where we called it a "preposterously enjoyable, landmark game." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2015/04/18/grand-theft-auto-5-pc-review"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Spoilers ahead for the Mission: Impossible movies! [poilib element="accentDivider"] The seventh and eighth installments of the Mission: Impossible franchise will bring back past characters -- even those who perished in the previous films. "Any character, dead or alive, is fair game to return," director Christopher McQuarrie revealed during an appearance on the Light the Fuse podcast (via THR). Indeed, Mission: Impossible 7 and 8 will see the return of former IMF head Eugene Kittridge (once again played by Henry Czerny) from the original 1996 film. (In his tweet announcing Czerny's casting, McQuarrie warned, "There is no escaping the past...") In addition to series star Tom Cruise, the next M:I sequels also bring back Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, and Vanessa Kirby. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/07/13/mission-impossible-in-7-minutes-2018-update"] On the podcast, McQuarrie went on to say that he's already cut a flashback scene involving a now-dead character because it didn't suit the movie he was making. But do McQuarrie's comments mean Henry Cavill's M:I - Fallout bad guy August Walker could return? Or perhaps Alec Baldwin's Alan Hunley, who also died in Fallout? Or is the plan to dig even further back in the series to the likes of Ethan's mentor-turned-enemy Jim Phelps (played by Jon Voight) or any of Ethan's teammates who also died in that first movie? Maybe the next two sequels will also see Jeremy Renner reprise his role as IMF Agent William Brandt, who appeared in Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation? Time will tell. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/07/30/christopher-mcquarrie-breaks-down-mission-impossible-fallouts-bathroom-scene"] Mission: Impossible 7 was poised to shoot a major sequence in Italy when that country went into lockdown and production on the Tom Cruise film was shut down indefinitely. With the resumption of filming still unclear, Paramount has changed the wide release of Mission: Impossible 7 from July 23, 2021, to November 19, 2021. Mission: Impossible 8, previously scheduled for wide release on August 5, 2022, has now been pushed to November 4, 2022.

Filmmaker Genndy Tartakovsky's long-gestating CG-animated Popeye movie is reportedly back in development at a new home. Tartakovsky was previously attached to direct Sony Pictures Animation's feature film version of the classic comic strip character but exited the project in 2015. IGN has confirmed that Sony Pictures Animation is no longer developing a Popeye animated movie. According to Animation Magazine, Tartakovsky has teamed with King Features to bring the animated movie to life. King Features owns the Popeye brand along with other such classic cartoons and comic strips as Betty Boop, Flash Gordon, The Phantom, Beetle Bailey, and Mandrake the Magician. No word yet on what stage of development Tartakovsky and King Features are at with their version of the spinach-munching, cantankerous sailor man. [caption id="attachment_235178" align="alignnone" width="720"] Popeye, as depicted in Genndy Tartakovsky's test footage.[/caption] Sony released proof of concept footage from Tartakovsky's Popeye back in 2014. "It's not a clip, it's not a trailer, it's nothing from the actual movie," Tartakovsky said at the time. "It's just something that kind of represents what we wanted to do." You can view Tartakovsky's Popeye test footage here. Tartakovsky directed three entries in the Hotel Transylvania franchise for Sony Pictures Animation. He's earned both Emmy and Annie Awards during his career, with his credits including Star Wars: Clone Wars, Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack, and Primal.

BEYOND! On this week's episode of IGN's weekly PlayStation show Podcast Beyond!, host Jonathon Dornbush is joined by Brian Altano, Max Scoville, and Lucy O'Brien to talk about the biggest PlayStation news of the week, including the return of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Unreal's impressive Unreal Engine 5 PS5 tech demo, and much more. Watch the latest episode of Podcast Beyond! below, and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/13/tony-hawks-pro-skater-remastered-unreals-ps5-tech-demo-beyond-episode-644"] Be sure to read all of the first details about Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 and 2, watch and learn more about the Unreal Engine 5 tech demo, and check out the latest on the PS5. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=unreal-engine-5-playstation-5-tech-demo&captions=true"] Download or listen to the show on these platforms:

• Direct Download

• YouTube

• Apple Podcasts/iTunes

• Spotify

• Stitcher

• PlayerFM

• Podbay

• TuneIn

• Podbean

• Feedburner

Podcast Beyond! is live every Wednesday. For the latest on PS5, check out the PS5 full specs list, why we're excited about PS5's 3D audio focus, an analysis of what teraflops really mean for the PS5 and Xbox Series X, and check out images of the allegedly PS5 dev kit and controller. [poilib element="poll" parameters="id=97140c9d-47ff-415a-94e4-2c5eb2c11481"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jonathon Dornbush is IGN's Senior News Editor, host of Podcast Beyond!, and PlayStation lead. Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush.