Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker creative supervisor Neal Scanlan has opened up about why The Eye of the Webbish Bog was cut from the opening scene of Episode IX. In an interview with Collider, Scanlan, who started working as a creature creator on Star Wars movies following the Lucasfilm-Disney acquisition, explained that the extended opening scene was probably cut down because "there was too much time being spent" on something that could be "explained much quicker", though he confirmed that the "sequence exists." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/12/star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker-kylo-ren-and-emperor-palpatine-clip"] "That was a character that was designed very early on in the day," he said of The Eye of the Webbish Bog, described in The Rise of Skywalker novelisation. "Jake Lunt [Davies], who's one of my concept designers, we were all playing around with this idea and talking about it and he did this drawing and J.J. saw it and went, 'That is amazing.' "It was one of those moments where it was like, 'This has to be in the movie.' So we actually did build it and we took it to a place called Black Park in the UK, which is close to Pinewood Studios, where we shot it in a lake on location, and that sequence exists. Unfortunately, it didn't make it to the movie story, plot-wise, etc. It was a fully practical character shot in a location, and it is amazing." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/21/exegol-explained-star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker"] Explaining why he thought the scene ended up on the cutting room floor, Scanlan added: "I think it maybe was too lengthy an explanation for something that [Abrams] was able to explain in the movie much quicker, eventually. J.J.'s movies move very quickly, don't they? And it was all part of Kylo Ren's journey and I think he just felt that there was too much time being spent on something which he explained much quicker. "So that's all it was, really. Runtime is always my biggest fear on any movie. So much of what we do, so much of what we shoot—and I'm sure this is the same for every department—you invest so much time and love in it and you hope it'll make the final cut, but it doesn't always do that because the movie would be four hours long. Which would be great! [Laughs]."

Official unused concept art for #TheRiseOfSkywalker showcase designs for "The Oracle" alien and its baby's head! More leaked concept art here: https://t.co/Wzohk14uLO pic.twitter.com/1PuinzWciJ

— Star Wars Direct (@StarWars_Direct) January 20, 2020

The cut scene, featuring The Eye of The Webbish Bog, was recently detailed in an excerpt from The Rise of Skywalker novelization, wherein Kylo Ren encounters the strange creature protecting the Sith Wayfinder before acquiring the device on his quest to find Exegol – which provides further context for Ren's on-screen confrontation with the Alazmec. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-mandalorian-the-best-aliens-weapons-and-tech&captions=true"] Scanlan, however, is holding on to the hope that the "fully practical" spider-like being might be brought back out of the creature shop for a future adventure in the galaxy far, far away, as he admitted that he would like to see the character revisited in the Disney+ series The Mandalorian. "I hope that we can maybe bring that back in some way shape or form on the TV series [The Mandalorian] or that we can revisit that character in some way because it was a haunting image and a very unusual image," he told the outlet. "But one which I think was incredibly Star Wars. So yeah, somewhere there's footage of that." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/01/03/the-mandalorian-season-1-review"] Unfortunately, it might be some time before we get a proper look at the Mustafar-monster-dweller, as there hasn't been any indication of deleted scenes being included on the bonus features of The Rise of Skywalker's digital and home releases. Plus, The Mandalorian Season 2 recently wrapped production without any mention of the Webbish Bog, which is probably for the best as adorable Baby Yoda might have mistaken its tentacles for those of an edible amphibian. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

This week in Red Dead Online, claim special Rewards and Offers for reaching certain Rank breakpoints, along with significant ammo discounts.

This week in Red Dead Online, claim special Rewards and Offers for reaching certain Rank breakpoints, along with significant ammo discounts.

Norman Reedus has said that he’s in talks to do “other stuff” with Hideo Kojima. The news comes in the wake of new rumours suggesting Kojima Productions is working on a new Silent Hill game. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/28/is-kojima-productions-teasing-a-new-silent-hill"] Reedus made the comment while filming an episode of Wired’s ‘Answers the Web’s Most Searched Questions’, in which famous people discuss Google autocomplete suggestions based on their name. While discussing the ‘why norman reedus death stranding’ question, Reedus explained that his friendship with Kojima has resulted in further talks for things beyond Death Stranding. “So we did Death Stranding which was a huge hit, and we’re in talks to do other stuff,” said Reedus. Earlier in the video he explains that he was set to work with Kojima on “a different game”, a reference to Silent Hills, which was due to be made in collaboration with director Guillermo del Toro and published by Konami. The project was cancelled, but Kojima and Reedus’ partnership continued on to Death Stranding. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2014/09/18/silent-hills-concept-trailer-tgs-2014"] While Silent Hills may have been cancelled, there are currently rumours that Kojima Productions has begun work on a new Silent Hill game. In some recent tweets, it appears that the studio has been hinting that this is what its working on, and another report has suggested that Konami is working on a “soft reboot” of the series. Could it be that Kojima, Konami, and Reedus have all reunited? Only time will tell. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter. 

A PC version of Horizon Zero Dawn has been confirmed, after months of rumours. In an interview with PlayStation Blog, Head of PlayStation Worldwide Studios (and ex-managing director of Guerrilla Games) Hermen Hulst announced the news: "Yes, I can confirm that Horizon Zero Dawn is coming to PC this summer…. There will be more information coming from Guerrilla, from the new studio directors [Michiel van der Leeuw, JB van Beek, and Angie Smets] pretty soon." We first heard about a PC port in January, when anonymous sources said that it would be the first exclusive game from a Sony first party developer to make the jump. Those previous reports said that the game would hit both Steam and Epic Games Store, but that remains unclear at time of writing. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2017/02/20/horizon-zero-dawn-review"] When asked about what this means for the future of major PlayStation games making the jump to PC, Hulst tempered any idea that this meant day-and-date PC releases of PlayStation exclusives. "I think it’s important that we stay open to new ideas of how to introduce more people to PlayStation, and show people maybe what they’ve been missing out on. "And to maybe put a few minds at ease, releasing one first-party AAA title to PC doesn’t necessarily mean that every game now will come to PC. In my mind, Horizon Zero Dawn was just a great fit in this particular instance. We don’t have plans for day and date [PC releases], and we remain 100% committed to dedicated hardware." That's a marked difference in approach from Xbox, which has made its Play Anywhere scheme – in which Xbox Game Studios games are cross-buy and cross-save across PC and Xbox One – a cornerstone of its recent sales tactics. [ignvideo url="https://uk.ign.com/videos/celebrating-horizon-zero-dawns-anniversary-and-our-horizon-sequel-hopes-a-beyond-special-episode"] We recently celebrated Horizon's third anniversary with a special episode of Podcast Beyond!, and picked a notional sequel as one of the games that would make PS5 a force to be reckoned with. Horizon developer Guerrilla has recently been hiring for a game that could maybe, just maybe, be that sequel, after seeking staff with multiplayer experience to work on an "epic open world experience". [poilib element="accentDivider"]

A new Panzer Dragoon VR game has been announced today to celebrate 25 years since the first game in the series came out in Japan. This new game reimagines and combines the Sega Saturn trilogy.

It's being made by Japanese game studio Wildman Inc. under the working title Panzer Dragoon Voyage Record. It completely reworks - not remakes - Panzer Dragoon, Panzer Dragoon Zwei, and Panzer Dragoon Saga with new graphics for modern VR headsets.

Sorry, this is not a full VR remake. But you will meet Blue Dragon (TYPE-01), Lagi, Prototype Dragon(TYPE-02), Guardian Dragon, Atolm Dragon! https://t.co/kjvAD5SGVT

— Panzer Dragoon Voyage Record (@PanzerDragoonVR) March 10, 2020

 

You play as a dragon rider in first-person, armed with a handgun, and shoot enemies with the VR controller as you fly across skyscapes. It's been in development since 2014 and has even been on show at some game events between then and now. When shown the game is at events, players sit on a rodeo seat that emulates the feeling of being sat on a dragon as it flaps as it wings, while a fan blows wind at their face.

This VR game is different to the Panzer Dragoon remake for Nintendo Switch that was announced during a Nintendo Direct in 2019 as that's being made by another studio.

The original Panzer Dragoon trilogy of games came out for the Sega Saturn in 1995, 1996, and 1998. The first two are rail-shooters that have you fighting against a dark dragon in the first game, and an airship in the second game, which is actually a prequel.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2015/09/26/history-of-awesome-sega-saturn"]

The third game dropped the on-rails nature of the previous two games as it was an RPG complete with random encounters. It allowed for free exploration for the first time in the series, even on foot, while battles were a mix of turn-based and real-time elements.

Exactly which VR headsets Panzer Dragoon Voyage Record will be available on hasn't been confirmed yet. It doesn't have a firm release date either, but it should be out before March 2021, hopefully sooner.

[poilib element="accentDivider"]

Chris Priestman is a freelancer who writes news for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

‘Avatar [Aang Project]’ was the first creation I followed in Dreams. Coincidentally, I’d recently finished a rewatch of Nickelodeon’s incredible series, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and bemoaned the fact that there never was a truly excellent gaming take on the show’s magical martial arts, despite it feeling perfect for the medium. Then I finally made the time to check out Dreams when it was still in early access and found someone calling themselves Elca Gaming was already making the game I’d assumed didn’t exist. And then I found out that it was already a huge deal. I don’t remember how I found it, exactly, but what I stumbled across was little more than a promise for what Aang Project could be: an Avatar ability-testing area and some proof-of-concept locations. But what a promise it was. Elca Gaming was working on complete movesets for each of the show’s four elemental Bending styles, a usable glider, Momo the lemur as a separate playable character and, going by the map, a playable retelling of the show’s three-season arc in some of its most memorable locations. Despite its clearly early state, it was already looking right and, more importantly, feeling right. I went to check for more and found that I was far from the first person intrigued by Elca Gaming’s work. Last May, the creator had used his YouTube channel to upload a montage of his first 80 hours of work. As of right now, that video has 3.3 million views. Across Elca Gaming's videos of the project as a whole, you're look at well over 8 million views in total. The early playable version I stumbled across is among the most thumbed-up work-in-progress projects inside Dreams right now. There’s a case to be made that this is one of the most-anticipated games being developed inside Dreams – and yet, amazingly, the man making it has no prior experience in game development. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/10/avatar-the-last-airbender-game-made-in-dreams"]

Dream Project

Colin Gluth used to work in online marketing in Germany, using his evenings to post Let’s Play videos on his YouTube channel. When the Dreams beta first arrived he jumped in, intrigued by the idea, but didn’t spend enough time to get truly familiar. When it hit full early access a year later, however, he chose to dive in headfirst: he spent hours learning the tools and then searched for a long-term project to sink his teeth into. “There were several reasons why I chose Avatar,” he tells me over email. “I replayed several PS2 Avatar games in the beginning of last year and noticed a lack of mechanics that would have fit perfectly in the world of Avatar; also I never really felt like [I was] reliving the show or revisiting the iconic places shown in the series. Once Early Access for Dreams dropped, I just started rewatching the show. Another thing that pushed me to do it was [...] the huge potential a game like this could have, considering there is a very hungry Avatar fanbase still out there, just like me, crying for a new Avatar game.” He wasn’t wrong. After quietly working on his game, uploading videos of his latest creations as he went, the YouTube algorithm suddenly clicked into place and began recommending his montage video to millions of people’s sidebars across the world. His sudden success on YouTube (and subsequently Twitch, where he livestreams development of new features) has allowed given him the flexibility to go “pretty much full-time” on the project. “Honestly, I can’t really comprehend these numbers,” he tells me when I ask about how it feels to suddenly have this many eyes on his work, “I just keep my head down, work on the game while reading comments and feedback I get and continue to make videos. I usually try to answer every comment, but with so much interest it is not possible anymore. I do read everything, though.” One benefit of Dreams is that Gluth’s work can speak for itself – those intrigued by what they've seen on YouTube can load up the regularly updated pre-alpha build he’s made public and try out what he’s been showing off. Comments inside Dreams regularly talk about which videos have sent them to his creator profile, offer constructive feedback on what he could make next and, most of all, express an excitement for the eventual full release that feels more familiar to the comments sections under AAA gaming trailers than homemade fan projects. The truly ludicrous thing is that Gluth has no background in games development whatsoever. “I can’t draw, code, animate, model, or anything else related to that,” he explains. “The only thing that could influence my development skills in any form are my general interest in art and design. Dreams’ tools, however, make everything very accessible. If you can imagine it, you can create it.” It sounds like a marketing pitch, but his work bears that out. Someone with no prior experience is making the Avatar game of Avatar fans’ dreams, and it's been made possible because of, well, Dreams. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=aang-project-18-screenshots-of-avatar-the-last-airbender-fan-game&captions=true"]

The Avatar's Journey

Gluth’s put around 700 hours into Dreams as he speaks to me, with the majority of that going into his game (as well as the background systems he’s creating for it, which he uploads for others to use in their own creations). He has a lot more dev time ahead of him: “I don’t have a specific release window for the game because I want it to be as good as possible. The good thing is that I don’t have any pressure from anybody to finish it in a specific time frame. The most important thing for me is that I am happy with the full release and it has as little bugs as I can manage. It is also good that I always have a fairly stable version online in Dreams that people can play and report bugs, so I can fix them as soon as they pop up. I very loosely aim for next year, but again, no pressure on that.” Perhaps the biggest question right now is what form this game will actually take when it is done. We know it will be a 3rd-person action game at its heart, but the pre-alpha build understandably doesn’t offer much of a sense of its structure. Right now, Gluth is working on its moment-to-moment elements – how Aang controls, what abilities he has, and how the world interacts with him – but the more wide-scale ideas are very much in his mind. “The game will mainly follow the story of all three books from the Last Airbender series,” he tells me. “You will play as Aang and Momo (with Momo used for Puzzles and opening areas for Aang) in all major locations that were shown in the series. You will begin in the Southern Water Tribe, which will be used as a Tutorial Area to teach you all the essentials. After that, you will continue to the Southern Air Temple, and so on.” The idea right now is for the game to span 20 major locations from the show, culminating (as the show did) in Aang’s battle with Fire Lord Ozai, leader of the Fire Nation. It’s a game built from a love for the source material, offering the ability to relive it as authentically as possible, rather than an attempt to write fan-fiction around it. “As a huge fan of the series, I want to create an Avatar game that has the vibes of the show,” he explains. “You will be able to visit locations and explore them, relive moments from the show, and just feel like Aang. This includes some glider levels, Avatar State, major landmarks like the Fire Nation ship that Katara and Aang explore, an original soundtrack in the style of the one used in the show, and many other little references and nods to moments seen in The Last Airbender. I’m putting all my passion for Avatar into this project and hope that will show in the final release.” I’d argue that that’s showing through already. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/13/dreams-review"]

Aang For Your Buck

Gluth has one concern about his project: “I am also a little bit worried about the copyright side of things, as many would expect, but I really hope that the creators acknowledge such a passion project that literally millions of fans are enjoying. I am also not able to sell it in any kind or form since it’s made inside Dreams.” While the inability to make money directly should mean that Gluth’s free from official reproach, Media Molecule has made clear previously that it won’t manually feature creations in Dreams that could be seen to violate copyright. Yet even without that manual support, the sheer weight of user interest has pushed Aang Project to the upper reaches of several automated sections in Dreams’ search tools, meaning it’s a very visible project and becoming more visible by the day. Gluth’s clearly hoping that that visibility leads to a positive interaction with those behind Avatar, rather than a more difficult one with their lawyers: “I did try to contact [Avatar co-creator] Mike DiMartino to let him know about the game, but didn’t get a reply yet. If any officials [want to] contact me to get me on an official Avatar game I would absolutely love to help out with game design.” Like the millions watching his videos, and like me, Gluth just wants an Avatar game worthy of the show he loves so much. Unlike me, however, he happens to have the commitment and talent to potentially make that a reality. It’s a game made by someone who clearly feels they know exactly what an Avatar game should do, and how it should feel, born out of respect for the creators – a fan project in the purest sense. I can even feel that coming through in our interview: after an email chain full of long, well-reasoned responses, Gluth adds a single final line, written to the show’s creators, seemingly added as a hasty afterthought. It says almost everything about the loving fan mentality behind his work: “If they happen to read this: I would love to meet you guys!” You can play a the current build of Aang Project in Dreams right now, and check out regular video updates on its development on Elca Gaming's YouTube channel. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News, and he is frightened of the emotional potential of a Tales From Ba Sing Se bit of this game. Follow him on Twitter.

Command & Conquer Remastered Collection will be released on June 5 as part of the series’ 25th anniversary. The remaster collection will be available on both Origin and Steam and include: Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn, Command & Conquer: Red Alert, as well as its three expansion packs, Covert Ops, Counterstrike, and The Aftermath. Command & Conquer Remastered Collection will feature rebuilt graphics and textures that support 4k resolution, a remastered soundtrack, revamped UI, updated controls, and a map editor. Multiplayer has also been rebuilt to support custom games, 1v1 quick match, Elo-based matchmaking, leaderboards, and replays. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=command-and-conquer-remastered-collection-screenshots&captions=true"] The Command & Conquer Remastered Collection was first revealed back in October 2018 on the official game forums to gather community feedback on the project. Command & Conquer Remastered is being called a “passion project” for EA. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/10/28/command-conquer-remaster-first-gameplay-teaser-trailer"] So much so that the studio teamed up with Petroglyph Games, which is comprised of former members of the original Westwood Studios team that worked on the original Command & Conquer games. That means the original creators are once again at the helm for the popular strategy series. Furthermore, Command & Conquer Remaster will bring back the original music from the series with the help of original composer Frank Klepacki, and Tiberian Sons, a video game remix band. Command & Conquer Remaster will be available digitally, but special edition physical copies will be sold through Limited Run Games. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN.

Frontier Developments, the British studio behind Elite: Dangerous and Planet Zoo, has signed a multi-year deal to make a series of Formula 1 management games. An announcement of Frontier’s acquisition of the Formula 1 licence reveals that the first game aims to launch for the 2022 F1 season, and - provided it is successful - Frontier can then develop games for further F1 seasons up to and including the 2025 season. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/11/13/planet-zoo-review"] The deal allows Frontier to make games for PC and console platforms, which will all be developed on the Cobra engine, the tools used to make Elite: Dangerous and the Planet Coaster and Zoo games. Aside from “F1 management games” there are currently no details on what kind of game Frontier will make. Frontier also declined to comment with further information. The genre does make it clear this won’t be a driving simulation though - Codemasters has the licence for that - but whether this will be a Planet-style management game or something entirely different remains to be seen. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=igns-top-25-modern-pc-games&captions=true"] If you’re an F1 fan be sure to check out our F1 2019 review if you’ve yet to jump into Codemaster’s latest simulation. If Frontier’s work is more your thing, then our review of Planet Zoo may be more to your tastes. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter. 

LEGO and Nintendo are working together on an unannounced Mario project, according to a teaser video posted today. The video, posted to Twitter, seems to show Mario in minifig form, but with LCD elements for his eyes and mouth, and on a panel on his chest, which is rotating a question block image. As the video ends, the screen swipes up to reveal LEGO Mario standing on question and brick blocks rendered in LEGO style. The video ends with the LEGO and Super Mario logos side-by-side.

“It’s-a me, LEGO Mario!” Stay tuned… #LEGO #LEGOSuperMario #Nintendo pic.twitter.com/kSoboRFX2q

— LEGO (@LEGO_Group) March 10, 2020

The video makes it look as though this is a physical LEGO project, but that's unconfirmed. Neither company has said much more than the video already does, with the LEGO Group tweeting, "It's a-me, LEGO Mario!", and Nintendo of America posting, "Something fun is being built! Stay tuned…" This marks the first time LEGO and Nintendo have worked together. Nintendo's stepped up its licensing game in recent years - it's also recently partnered with Levi's to make Super Mario-themed clothing, and is preparing to open the first of its Super Nintendo World theme parks in Osaka, Japan this summer. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News, and that Mario Mini-fig is equally exciting and a bit frightening. Follow him on Twitter.